Product Management in a Complex World - Scott Sehlhorst

Product Management Coach Scott Sehlhorst goes deep into how an
Agile Workflow Model and Product Management can enable a company
to thrive in an increasingly complex world.

Our Agile Workflow Model is a robust decision making system;
providing clarity and alignment at each decision point. This is
the only way we can manage the complexity AND stay aligned as we
execute. 

Scott explains the difference between a "regular workflow" and an
"Agile workflow" and much more: 


Cross-functional collaboration over multiple Product teams
and how they should work together. 

Product Teams should be focused on the prolems they are
solving. It's not about building the thing. It's about solving
the problem set before us and achieving the outcomes that result
from solving the problem.

Scaling and coordination across product teams is a challenge,
but it's a requirement for large companies. 

The tiers of our workflow model are not hierarchical, they
are a separation of concerns, they are looking at different time
horizons, they are making decisions on different levels of the
problem. They MUST work together. 

3 Amigos: Product Owner, Tech Lead and QA Lead. Each person
has their own vantage point and their own blind spots - but
together, you minimize the likelihood of shared blindspots. Add
the Scrum Master to those 3 roles and now the team can improve
their own execution and effectiveness. As the team gets better at
self-improvement, the Scrum Master role becomes more and more
about cross-team coordination. 

What do you do if you have too much work for a Product Owner?
Don't add a second product owner - then you have two cooks in the
kitchen. Instead, add a Business Analyst - someone who can think
like a PO, but doesn't hold the same role. 

T-shaped teams: some roles look broader at the situation and
context, other roles are very narrow and specific to a
topic/discipline. It's rare to find a single person who has both.
On our teams with 3 amigos, we improve our odds of seeing things
broadly and deeply (as in the T-shape). 



Link to Count Basie song Scott mentioned and incorrectly named:
Count Basie - Straight Ahead