I wrote the first edition of my Scrum Product Ownership book in 2009. Looking back, twelve years seems like an eternity in the agile universe. Perhaps it is. Since then, I’ve published two more editions, with the last hitting the streets in 2019. At this point, I don’t envision there being a 4th edition, but you never know.
Around 2012, I developed a Product Ownership maturity and assessment tool to accompany the book’s themes and ideas. It was a simple spreadsheet with ~20 areas of consideration for individual product owners or agile product organizations.
I was always somewhat disappointed with the ease of use and approachability of the assessment tool, but I really never had the time to change the delivery format. Nonetheless, there were quite a few people who were actively using it and gaining value from the insights.
But enough background…
Product Ownership with Lean Agile Intelligence
About a year ago, Michael McCalla, the CEO of Lean Agile Intelligence, approached me to engage with them in creating a Product Owner/Ownership assessment to include within their assessment framework. Not only was I honored to be asked, but I was incredibly excited about the opportunity to gain much wider exposure of my ideas on Product Ownership maturity and excellence. And it didn’t hurt that LAI has a wonderful user interface and reporting capabilities that my meager efforts significantly lacked.
So, it took all of a minute to agree to integrate my assessment into LAI.
What I like about the LAI assessment approach
First, I really appreciated the learning and growth transition model that LAI supports. It’s balanced, meaningful, and focused on improvement over measurement.
0. Blocked – A traditional approach to the practice is being used, blocking agility.
1. Developing – The team or individual understands the value of the practice and the foundational pieces in place.
2. Emerging – The practice is embraced by the team or individual, and they are utilizing it consistently for their benefit.
3. Adapting – The team or individual is leveraging the practice’s advanced techniques and coaching other teams on the value of the practice.
4. Optimizing – the team or individual shares the learnings and advanced techniques of the practice organization-wide, accelerating adoption and agility.
As you can see level 0 is where everyone enters. Levels 1-2 are where the individual or team experience and application grow. And levels 3-4 are where the individuals, teams, and the organization begin to grow together.
I also like the fact that the assessment framework is focused on growth and outcomes. It’s really a wonderfully targeted platform for the coaching team, and to some degree we’re ALL coaches, to guide an entire organization’s agile journey.
And as I’ve already said, LAI is a mature, robust, and usable framework. One that I’m proud to join.
Wrapping Up
I’d encourage anyone interested in growing their practice of Product Ownership excellence to investigate the new product owner assessment, and frankly all of the features, in Lean-Agile Intelligence.
I’m very proud of my collaboration with Michael on this project and I incredibly excited to gain additional exposure to my thoughts and ideas on how to grow your product ownership capabilities.
If you have any questions surrounding what’s in the product owner assessment or if you’d like an introduction to the folks at LAI, just email me – bob@rgalen.com
Stay agile my friends,
Bob.