Agile Product and Project Management : A Step-by-Step Guide to Building the Right Products Right

Use this comprehensive Agile product and project management guide with real-world case studies and examples for self-learning or as a student textbook. Whether you are a CEO or a student, this book will take you from Agile delivery to team topology and product-market fit. Agile delivery is becoming a mainstream project management framework, increasing demand for an understanding of modern related concepts. Agile Product and Project Management covers IT delivery and project management basics while approaching IT as a customer-centric product delivery ecosystem. The book covers two major topics: building the RIGHT product and building the product RIGHT. Each chapter builds on the materials in the previous chapter. Terminology and exercises are introduced sequentially. The book takes you on a journey from identifying a product using Agile principles to delivering and iterating on this process, step-by-step. The final chapter provides practical advice on role-based interviews, career progression, professional certifications and affiliations, and communities of practice. You’ll Learn The Objectives and Key Results (OKR) framework, which explains why every project has to align with organizational objectives and how these objectives are used to measure project success Agile (Scrum, Kanban, XP), Waterfall, and hybrid product and project management practices, and how to apply the "working backwards" framework from the customer to IT projects The Lean Startup framework of product design, based on the "build-measure-learn" feedback loop, and compared with Waterfall requirements gathering and project scope management Design Thinking and customer research practices The product backlog taxonomy (epic, user story, subtask, bug, etc.), prioritization techniques, ongoing backlog maintenance, and stakeholder communication Major aspects of IT delivery, including Agile teams, roles, frameworks, and success criteria Waterfall planning and Scrum, in detail, including its Sprint structure, artifacts, roles, and ceremonies (meetings) as well as a comparison of Agile scaling frameworks Case studies of modern technology leaders, from startups to FAANG Examples of release plans and delivery reports based on actual projects in a wide range of companies, ways to minimize technical debt, implement DevOps, and establish quality management practices for software products Effective ways of managing dependencies and delivering products that delight customers and made the Silicon Valley giants successful and allowed for rapid business growth Who This Book Is For Graduate students specializing in computer science, information systems, project management, and related management areas; practitioners seeking professional development; and project management professionals looking to grow their careers into Agile product and project management Contents 4 About the Author 5 About the Technical Reviewer 6 Acknowledgments 7 Preface 8 Chapter 1: The Role of Project and Product Management in Software Delivery and IT Services 14 What Does It Mean to “Deliver” Software and IT Services? 14 The History of Project Management as a Profession 15 Lean 19 Agile 24 Key Points 31 Chapter 2: Starting with Why 34 Introduction 34 Organizational Mission and Vision 36 Product Vision 38 Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) 40 Four Steps in the Annual OKR-Setting and Alignment Process 47 Key Points 52 Chapter 3: Getting to Know Your Customer 54 Introduction 54 Product Definition 55 Persona Analysis 59 User Segmentation 65 Customer Journey 66 Empathy Map 70 Product Canvas 71 Technology Adoption Curve 73 Product Life Cycle 74 Lean UX Concepts 75 Key Points 77 Chapter 4: Validating the Product Hypothesis 80 Introduction 80 Lean Startup: Fail Fast, Succeed Faster 82 Customer Hypothesis: Fall in Love with the Problem, not with the Solution 87 Pivot or Persevere 90 User Research 94 Validation Canvas 98 Design Sprints and Design Thinking 100 MVP (Minimum Viable Product) 102 Key Points 103 Chapter 5: Creating and Maintaining IT Requirements 105 Introduction 106 Requirements in Software Development 106 Requirements in Traditional Project Management 108 Software Requirements Specification (SRS) 110 Software Design Specifications 112 Use Cases 113 Unified Modeling Language 116 User Stories 118 Product Backlog 126 Story Mapping 129 Key Points 131 Chapter 6: Waterfall, Agile, and Hybrid Delivery Frameworks 135 Agile Mindset 144 Agile Frameworks 146 Scrum 147 Kanban 152 Extreme Programming 157 Organizational Structure and Team Topology 157 Roles in Agile 162 Key Points 167 Chapter 7: Agile Estimation and Planning 169 Planning Fundamentals 172 Incremental Planning 173 Multilevel Planning 174 Estimation in Agile 179 Key Points 191 Chapter 8: Incremental Delivery and Continuous Improvement 194 Incremental Delivery 195 Product Roadmap and Release Plan 196 Agile Metrics 202 Continuous Improvement and Retrospectives 208 Product Life Cycle 210 Key Points 211 Chapter 9: Agile Implementation Beyond IT: Budget Management, Risk Management, and Procurement Management in Agile 213 Agile Beyond IT 214 Organizational Management and Agile Leadership 225 Using Agile in Sales 227 Agile Finance and Budget Management 227 Agile Risk Management 231 Procurement Management in an Agile Organization 235 Quality Management in Agile 238 Communications Management in Agile 238 Key Points 239 Chapter 10: Scaling Agile Delivery 241 What Does Agile at Scale Mean? 242 Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) 249 Large-Scale Scrum 251 Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD) 252 Spotify Scaling Model 255 Nexus 257 Scrum@Scale 259 Other Frameworks 260 Comparison of Scaled Agile Frameworks 260 Organizational-Level Agile Transformation 263 Key Points 265 Chapter 11: Final Project, Agile Career Progression, and Interview Tips 268 The Goal 268 The Format 269 The Grading Rubric 270 Agile Roles 271 Agile Career Progression 278 Agile Job Interviews 283