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SAFe 4.0 Product Owner/Product Manager Training and Certification (2 day)

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In this two-day course, you will learn how the roles of Product Manager, Product Owner, Solution Manager, and Epic Owner drive the delivery of value in the SAFe enterprise. You’ll get an overview of the Scaled Agile Framework®(SAFe®), the Lean-Agile mindset, and an understanding of how the Product Manager and Product Owner roles operate in the enterprise to drive the delivery of value. Finally, you will get an in-depth understanding of the specific activities, tools, and mechanics used to effectively deliver value to the enterprise.

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By the end of this course, you should be able to write Epics, Capabilities, Features, and User Stories within the context of SAFe, and have a solid foundation for managing backlogs and programs in a Lean-Agile enterprise.

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  • Identify the major components of the Scaled Agile Framework

  • Connect the Scaled Agile Framework to core Lean-Agile principles and values

  • Identify key roles and responsibilities within a SAFe implementation

  • Contribute to Portfolio content using epics and the Portfolio kanban

  • Apply Value Stream strategies to define and manage solution value

  • Engage in Product Manager strategies

  • Operate as a SAFe Product Owner

  • Develop a stakeholder engagement plan

  • Build and grow communities of practice

  • Prepare for the exam to earn your PMPO Certification

 

Course Outline

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  1. Introduction with Agenda

  2. SAFe Overview

    • Keeping Pace

    • The Management Challenge

    • The Scaled Agile Framework

    • Roots of SAFe

    • SAFe Contributors

    • SAFe Delivery Business Results 

    1. Lean-Agile & Business Benefits

  1. SAFe Core Values

    • SAFe House of Lean (Value, Respect for People & Culture, Flow, Innovation, Relentless Improvement & Leadership)

    • Agile Manifesto

    • Agile Teams

    • Code Quality

      1. Scale to Program Level

      2. Develop on Cadence, Release on Demand

    • Program Execution

      1. The ART

      2. What’s a PI

      3. Scale to Portfolio

    • Alignment

      1. Program Portfolio Management

      2. Agile Program Portfolio Management

    • Transparency

  1. Leadership

  1. Delivering Features

    1. Product Owner/Product Manager Roles

    2. Traditional v/s Agile Product Management

    3. Product Manager & Product Owner

    4. Product Manager Attributes

    5. Product Owner Attributes

    6. Release Content Governance 

  1. Enterprise Backlog Model

    • Governance: Content Authority

    • The Enterprise Backlog Model

    • Connecting the Portfolio to the Business

    • Formulating Strategic Themes

    • Influence of Strategic Themes

    • Centralize Strategy. Localize Execution

    • Epics Carry Centralized Initiatives

    • Epic Owner

    • Lightweight Business Case

    • Epic Value Statement Template

    • Features & Product Backlog

    • Stories & The Team Backlog

    • Agile Software Requirements – Elaborated Information Model

    • Backlogs Bring Ideas Together 

  1. Delivering Features – Program Activities

    • Delivering Features in the Enterprise

    • Activity: Build/Maintain Vision & Roadmap

    • Program Vision & Roadmap

    • Program Vision

    • Common Formats For Vision

    • Roadmap

    • NFRs are Key Architectural Concerns

    • Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs)

    • NFR Examples

    • NFR Types

    • NFRs in the Agile Testing Quadrants

    • Activity: Refine Program Backlog

    • Define Features by Type of Service

    • How much Architecture?

    • Prioritizing Program Backlog for Optimal ROI

    • CoD Economics: Shortest Job First

    • Equal Cost of Delay

    • CoD Economics: High Delay Cost First

    • Equal Duration

    • CoD Economics: Weighted Shortest Job First

    • Components of Cost of Delay

    • How do we calculate Duration?

    • Relative Sizing with Story Points

    • The Fibonacci Sequence

    • SAFe Estimating

    • How Much Time to Spend Estimating?

    • Features & Benefits Template

    • WSJF Prioritization Matrix

    • Estimating Features Effort

    • Preliminary: Gross, Relative Estimating

    • Refined: Estimate in Story Points

    • Final: Bottom-up, Team-Based Estimating

    • Estimating Cost

    • Starting Fast with Capacity-Based Planning

    • Estimating Development Time

    • Splitting User Stories

    • Split by Workflow steps

    • Split By Business Rule Variations

    • Split By Major Effort

    • Split By Simple/Complex

    • Split By Variations in Data

    • Split By Data Methods

    • Split By Deferring System Qualities

    • Split By Operations

    • Split By Case Scenarios

    • Split – If All Else Fails, Break Out A Spike

    • Activity: Prepare For Release Planning

    • Balance Technical Debt

    • Program Event – Release Planning

    • The Release Planning Process

    • Event: Release Planning Meeting

    • Each Team Contributes to Release Planning Results

    • Event: Scrum Of Scrums

    • Execute the PI

    • Program Execution

    • Activity: Frequently Integrate

    • Event: Release Management Meeting

    • Event: Manage Dependencies

    • Event: System Demo

    • Event: Inspect & Adapt

    • Inspect & Adapt For Program Performance

    • Activity: Build/Maintain Development & Deployment Infrastructure

    • Activity: Build/Maintain Architectural Runway

    • Architectural Runway

    • Develop on Cadence. Release on Demand

    • Activity: Release on Demand

    • Other Significant Touch Points

    • PI Progress Tracking

    • Release Predictability Report

    • PI Feature Completeness Report

    • PI Performance Summary

SAFe PO/PM Workshop – Day 2 

  1. Delivering Features – Team Activities

    • SAFe ScrumXP

    • Sources Of Backlog Items

    • Prioritization & Sequencing

    • Team Backlog Sequencing

    • Team Activities: Sprint Planning Meeting

    • Sprint Planning Flow

    • Team Activities – Daily Scrum

    • Track Sprints At Story Level

    • Big Visible Information Radiators (BVIRs)

    • Track Sprint Status With Burndown Charts

    • Mid-Sprint Events

    • Mid-Sprint Review

    • Team Ceremonies/ Team Backlog Refinement

    • Team Ceremonies/ Team Specification Workshop

    • Team Activities/ Sprint Demo

    • Definition Of Done

    • SAFe Definition Of Done

    • Concluding the Sprint Demo – Two Views

    • PI Release Burn-Down Chart

    • The Sprint Retrospective Meeting

    • Story Completion – Lessons Learned

    • Summary – SAFe Events

  1. Agile Requirements

    • Features Driven User Stories

    • User Stories

    • Solution Roles

    • Identifying Roles

    • Understanding Roles

    • Role Modeling Examples

    • The Requirements Workshop

    • Brainstorming & Idea Reduction

    • Specification Workshops Get Specific

    • Acceptance Test Driven Development (ATDD)

    • User Story Guidelines – 3 C’s

    • Card: User Story Voice Form

    • Applying User-Voice Format

    • Conversation: Story is a placeholder for Conversation

    • Confirmation: Acceptance Criteria

    • Acceptance Criteria vs. Definition of Done

    • Acceptance Criteria and Splitting Stories

    • Stories Are Lumpy

    • Just-In-Time Story Elaboration – When?

    • Leverage The “Whole Team” Story Writing

    • Accepting User Stories

    • Not All Stories Are User Value Stories

    • Spikes – Not Everything Is a User Story

  1. Stakeholder Management

    • The Stakeholder Management Process

    • Rights And Responsibilities

    • Communicating Expectations

    • Intervening Stakeholders

    • The Influence/Interest Matrix

    • The Stakeholder Map

    • Sample Stakeholder Management Plan

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