Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about SAFe and the product owner role | Melissa Perri (author, founder of Product Institute)

Nov 10, 2024 1h 24m 23 insights Episode Page ↗
Melissa Perry, author and CEO of Product Institute, discusses the product owner role, Scrum, and Scaled Agile (SAFE) in large, non-tech companies. She shares the history of these frameworks, what works and doesn't for digital transformations, and how leaders and product owners can level up their organizations and careers.
Actionable Insights

1. Avoid Scaled Agile Framework (SAFE)

Do not recommend using SAFE, as it’s often overkill, leads to process over outcomes, and companies frequently abandon or heavily modify it. It can cause organizations to get so caught up in process that they fail to deliver essential services or value.

2. Build Holistic Product Operating Model

When undergoing digital transformation, recognize that agile methodologies only provide a development operating model. You must also build a comprehensive product operating model that includes strategy, organizational design, product operations, and culture to ensure success.

3. C-Suite Must Drive Transformation

For successful digital transformation, the C-suite must unequivocally set the direction and commit to a whole new way of working. Transformations run by middle managers often fail due to resistance from those whose jobs may be in jeopardy.

4. Elevate Software Strategy to C-Suite

Ensure software and digital strategy are integrated into C-suite-level discussions and overall company strategy. Delegating it solely to IT will hinder innovation and competitive advantage, causing the company to fall behind.

5. Hire Experienced Product Leaders

To successfully navigate digital transformation, bring in experienced product leaders who have previously run large-scale technology organizations and understand effective product development. This provides crucial guidance and expertise that frameworks alone cannot offer.

6. Mix Internal & External Talent

Foster successful transformations by combining existing internal talent with experienced external hires, creating an environment where internal staff can learn from seasoned product professionals. This mix helps level up skills and ensures continuity.

7. Enable Product Managers

Leaders must understand the product management role and actively remove bureaucracy and provide infrastructure, such as data access and customer interaction channels, to enable product managers and development teams to succeed. This empowers teams to do good product work.

8. Reward Value, Not Output

Shift organizational incentives to reward delivering value and achieving business goals, rather than simply shipping as many features or filling backlogs. This ensures teams focus on meaningful outcomes that benefit the business and customers.

9. Develop Clear Product Strategy

Establish a clear product strategy that explicitly ties all work back to company goals and desired business value. This provides transparency and ensures that product efforts contribute directly to organizational objectives.

10. Ensure Transparency & Efficiency

Implement necessary processes and tools, such as roadmapping tools, to gain transparency into what thousands of teams are doing and ensure organizational efficiency in product delivery. This helps coordinate efforts and track progress against goals.

11. Standardize PM Career Paths

Establish a clear, unified career path for product managers (e.g., Associate PM, PM, Senior PM) and avoid confusing separate ‘Product Owner’ and ‘Product Manager’ titles. This provides clarity, growth opportunities, and retains talent.

12. Product Owners: Seek Strategic Ownership

If you’re a Product Owner lacking strategic involvement, proactively seek opportunities to engage in customer research and challenge given tasks. This helps you develop broader product management skills and influence product direction.

13. Inquire About Career Path

Product Owners should proactively ask leaders about their career path to prompt organizational thinking and development of clear progression opportunities. This helps leaders recognize the need for defined growth trajectories.

14. Focus on Release Outcomes

Before releasing features, ask ‘What do we hope will happen when we release this?’ and ‘What metrics are we going to change?’. This ensures alignment on desired outcomes and enables measurement of success, shifting focus from output to impact.

15. Value-Oriented Resume for PMs

When applying for product management roles, focus your resume on the value delivered to users and the business metrics you influenced, rather than detailing agile processes or scrum cadences. This highlights your impact and strategic thinking.

16. Dual Title for Product Owners

If you have a Product Owner title but perform Product Manager duties, consider using ‘Product Owner / Product Manager’ on your resume. This clarifies your capabilities and helps overcome potential negative connotations associated with the PO title.

17. Skepticism Towards Agile Certs

Be skeptical of agile certifications (like CSPO) for transitioning into product management at top tech companies, as they often prioritize experience and demonstrated value over short-course certifications. Focus on gaining practical experience instead.

18. Adapt Scrum, Cut Meetings

Don’t follow Scrum dogmatically; regularly inspect and adapt your processes, eliminating unnecessary meetings or practices that don’t serve your team’s efficiency or product goals. The ‘inspect and adapt’ principle means you should question if current practices are working.

19. Skip Frameworks if Effective

If your team already communicates effectively, breaks down work, and understands tasks, you don’t need rigid frameworks like Scrum. These frameworks can add unnecessary overhead when organic collaboration is already strong.

20. Scrum Alone Insufficient

Don’t rely solely on Scrum for product excellence; it’s only one piece of building great products and needs to be complemented with broader product management practices. Scrum is a development operating model, not a complete product strategy.

21. Evaluate Existing Roles & Skills

During transformation, critically evaluate if existing roles and personnel, such as project managers or business people, are suitable for new product-centric ways of working. Assess their ability to learn and adapt to software development to ensure the right talent is in place.

22. Consider New Opportunities

If your current organization prevents you from practicing effective product management, consider seeking opportunities in other companies or moving internally to a more product-mature division. This can be crucial for career growth and job satisfaction.

23. Hire Chief Product Officers

Organizations should hire Chief Product Officers to the C-suite to champion how software can drive significant business advantage, innovation, and competitive differentiation. This ensures product strategy is integrated at the highest level.