SAFe 5.0 Product Owner Product Manager POPM Questions and Answers

Core Values of SAFe - Answer-- Built-in Quality - Program Execution - Alignment - Transparency Value Streams - Answer-- series of steps an organization uses to implement Solutions that provide a continuous flow of value to a Customer - used to define and realize portfolio-level business objectives and organize Agile-team to deliver value more rapidly - contains the system, the people who do the works, and the flow of information and materials Operational Value Stream - Answer-Contains the steps and the people who deliver end-user value using the business Solutions created by the development Value Stresms Development Value Streams - Answer-Contains the steps and the people who develop the business Solutions created by the Operational Value Streams Solution - Answer-may be a product, product line, a set of systems or a service that enables an Operational Value Stream House of Lean - Answer-- Goal: Value - Foundation: Leadership - Pillars Respect for People and Culture, Development Flow, Innovation, Relentless Improvement Agile Manifesto - Answer-- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools - Working software over comprehensive documentation - Customer collaboration over contract negotiation- Responding to change over following a plan SAFe Lean-Agile Principles (#1-#5) - Answer-#1 Take an Economic View #2 Apply System Thinking #3 Assume variability, preserve options #4 Build incrementally with fast, integrated learning cycles #5 Base milestones on objectives evaluation of working systems SAFe Lean-Agile Principles (#6-#10) - Answer-#6 Visualize and limit WIP, reduce batch size, and manage queue lengths #7 Apply cadence, synchronize with cross-domain planning #8 Unlock the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers #9 Decentralize decision-making #10 Organize around value PI Planning - Answer--cadence-based are the heartbeat of the Agile Enterprise - 2 days every 8-12 weeks (10 weeks is typical) - attend in person (if possible) - PM owns Feature priorities - Agile teams own Stroy planning and high-level estimates - architect/engineering and UX work as intermediaries for governance, interfaces, and dependencies PI Planning Preparation - Answer-- Create/update Vision and Roadmaps - Socialize the Top 10 Features and Enablers to set expectations for the PI Planning meeting - too much preparation can inhibit exploration, interaction, and emergent designs/solution during PI Planning NFR - Answer-Non-functional requirements are key architecture concerns and system qualities that are sometimes known as "ilities" - reliability, usability, scalability, etcProduct Manager's Role in PI - Answer-Negotiate scope Daily Stand Up (timebox) - AnswerValue at the Portfolio Level described - Answer-as Business and Enabler Epics Product Manager area of focus - Answer-- Owns Program Backlog - Defines features, PIs, and Release - Owns Vision, Roadmap, pricing, licensing, ROI - Collaborates on Enablers - Establishes Features acceptance criteria (benefit hypothesis) - prioritize Features for optimum economic value Product Owner area of focus - Answer-- Owns/prioritize Team Backlog - Defines Iterations and Stories - Contributes to Vision, Roadmap, ROI - Accepts Iteration Increments - Establishes Stories acceptance criteria - Drafting Iteration Goals Product Owner's Role on the Agile Team - Answer-- representing the customer (for dev questions) - defines and accept stories - works with Product Management to plan PI 3 components to Cost of Delay - Answer-- User business value (relative value to the Customer or business) - time criticality (how user/business value decays over time) - risk reduction & opportunity enablement{RR&OE] (what else does this do for our business)WSJF - weighted shortest job first - Answer-general case, give preference to jobs with shorter duration and higher CoD WSJF = [user-business value + time criticality + RR&OE]/Job Size Product Management collaborates with - Answer-- System Architects to balance business Features and Enablers to ensure investment in just enough Architectural Runway Scrum Master's Role on the Agile Team - Answer-- Coaches the Agile Team and facilitates team meetings - Removes impediments and protects the team from outside influence - Attends scrum of scrum meetings ART - Agile Release Train - Answer-- 5 to 12 teams (50 to 125+ individuals) - has all the capabilities needed to define, implement, test, and deploy new system functionality - Operates with the goal of achieving Continuous flow of value - Synchronized on common cadence (a Program Increment) - Aligned to common mission via the Program Backlog Release Train Engineer - Answer-- facilitates ART processes and execution - acts as the Chief Scrum Master for the train (escalate impediments, helps manage risk, helps ensure value delivery, and drives continuous improvement) System Architect-Engineering - Answer-provides architectural guidance and technical enablement to the team on the train System Team - Answer-Provides processes and tools to integrate and evaluate assets early and often Business Owner - Answer-the key stakeholders on the ART PO sync - Answer-- provides visibility into ART is progressing towards meeting PI Objectives -assess any scope adjustments- facilitated by RTE or PM - weekly or more frequently - 30 to 60 min - communicate adjustments to their team afterwards - participants: PMs, POs, other stakeholders and SMEs as necessary System Demo - Answer-- Demonstrate the full system to stakeholders every iteration - happens after the teams' Iteration reviews (may log by as much as one Iteration) - Demo occures from the stagging env or the nearest proxy - PO and PM lead the demo - Attendees: Business Owners, executive sponsors, customer, and customer proxies System Demo Best approach - Answer-- Maintain timebox - ensure that the team commits to the Iteration goals - verify that the PO or the managers dont influence the team to overcommit - challenge the team to exceed their previous accomplishments - ensure that the improvement item from the retro are put into effect - ensure time is allocated for technical debt activities IP Iteration Purpose - Answer-- provides an estimating buffer for meeting PI Objectives - Provides dedicated time for innovation, continuing education, PI Planning and Inspect and Adapt (I&A) events IP- Innovation is - Answer-Opportunity for innovation spikes, hackathons, and infrastructure improvements IP- Planning is - Answer-Provides for cadence-based planning and is an estimating guard band for cadence-based delivery Innovation and Planning (IP) Iteration anti-pattern - Answer-- planning work for the IP Iteration in PI Planning- leaving testing or bug fixing to the IP Iteration - leaving integration of the whole system to the IP Iteration Innovation (one of the pillars - House of Lean) - Answer-- Producers innovate; customers validate - create time for innovation, exploration and creativity - avoid succumbing to the tyranny of the urgent - enable education and learning System Demo anti-patterns - Answer-- a lot of timeis spent preparing for the demo - demo is mainly talk/slides as opposed to working software and /or hardware - PO sees things for the first time in the Team Demo - System Demo is not done because "the Team Demo is enough" - Team members are not invited to the System Demo to save time - Demos are not interesting or revelant to Program-level stakeholders - using test data Agile Team - Answer--Create and refine User Stories and acceptance criteria - Define, build, test and deliver Stories - Develop and commit to team PI Objectives and Iteration Plans - Five to Eleven members - Builds Quality-In, evolves Agile Architecture - Owns estimates - Evolves the Continuous Delivery Pipeline Hackathon - Answer-- is a one or two-day event in which teams get to work on new ideas that are often added to the Program Kanban - Two key guidelines balance creativity and focus: 1.People can work on whatever they want, with whomever they want, so long as the work reflects the mission of the company2.The teams demo their work to others at the end of the hackathon Supplies Showcase - Answer-is a structured demo from an internal or external supplier designed to help your team better leverage the products or services offered by the supplier - helps teams: 1.Reduce work by better leveraging the Supplier's product 2.Enable Architects and POs/PMs to identify Enablers and improve Roadmaps