Agile delivery is like music to my ears

Agile working practices revolve around time-bound sprints or iterations. As a product owner it can sometimes feel like these agile ceremonies come around at an alarming rate. In order to stay on track, it is important to consider development items at all points in the delivery cycle, from ideas and demand for new features, to management and maintenance of existing solutions. Tools such as Kanban boards can help organise this thinking.

Another way to think of this is to consider how we listen to music. At one single point in time a piece of music consists of multiple different instruments and sounds; bass notes, treble, vocals, etc… In an agile working environment at any single point in time multiple changes are also being progressed. Some ideas in their infancy, some items will be in development or testing phases, and some items will be deployed and require active management.

As a product owner considering the allocation of time spent on items at different levels of maturity can help ensure that clients get the solutions that they need and that the product owner doesn’t become the blocker preventing the development team from working on new features. A good understanding of how to progress items at all points in the delivery cycle in any given week is critical for effective product ownership.