What do you think?
Rate this book
The Professional Scrum Series #2
The Professional Product Owner: Leveraging Scrum as a Competitive Advantage
The Professional Product Owner’s Guide to Maximizing Value with Scrum
“This book presents a method of communicating our desires, cogently, coherently, and with a minimum of fuss and bother.”
—Ken Schwaber, Chairman & Founder, Scrum.org The role of the Product Owner is more crucial than ever. But it’s about much more than it’s about taking accountability and refocusing on value as the primary objective of all you do. In The Professional Product Owner, two leading experts in successful Scrum product ownership show exactly how to do this. You’ll learn how to identify where value can be found, measure it, and maximize it throughout your entire product lifecycle.
Drawing on their combined 40+ years of experience in using agile and Scrum in product management, Don McGreal and Ralph Jocham guide you through all facets of envisioning, emerging, and maturing a product using the Scrum framework.
McGreal and Jocham discuss strategy, showing how to connect Vision, Value, and Validation in ROI-focused agile product management. They lay out Scrum best-practices for managing complexity and continuously delivering value, and they define the concrete practices and tools you can use to manage Product Backlogs and release plans, all with the goal of making you a more successful Product Owner. Throughout, the authors share revealing personal experiences that illuminate obstacles to success and show how they can be overcome. Define success from the “outside in,” using external customer-driven measurements to guide development and maximize value Bring empowerment and entrepreneurship to the Product Owner’s role, and align everyone behind a shared business model Use Evidence-Based Management (EBMgt) to invest in the right places, make smarter decisions, and reduce risk Effectively apply Scrum’s Product Owner role, artifacts, and events Populate and manage Product Backlogs, and use just-in-time specifications Plan and manage releases, improve transparency, and reduce technical debt Scale your product, not your Scrum Use Scrum to inject autonomy, mastery, and purpose into your product team’s work Whatever your role in product management or agile development, this guide will help you deliver products that offer more value, more rapidly, and more often. Register your book for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details.
“This book presents a method of communicating our desires, cogently, coherently, and with a minimum of fuss and bother.”
—Ken Schwaber, Chairman & Founder, Scrum.org The role of the Product Owner is more crucial than ever. But it’s about much more than it’s about taking accountability and refocusing on value as the primary objective of all you do. In The Professional Product Owner, two leading experts in successful Scrum product ownership show exactly how to do this. You’ll learn how to identify where value can be found, measure it, and maximize it throughout your entire product lifecycle.
Drawing on their combined 40+ years of experience in using agile and Scrum in product management, Don McGreal and Ralph Jocham guide you through all facets of envisioning, emerging, and maturing a product using the Scrum framework.
McGreal and Jocham discuss strategy, showing how to connect Vision, Value, and Validation in ROI-focused agile product management. They lay out Scrum best-practices for managing complexity and continuously delivering value, and they define the concrete practices and tools you can use to manage Product Backlogs and release plans, all with the goal of making you a more successful Product Owner. Throughout, the authors share revealing personal experiences that illuminate obstacles to success and show how they can be overcome. Define success from the “outside in,” using external customer-driven measurements to guide development and maximize value Bring empowerment and entrepreneurship to the Product Owner’s role, and align everyone behind a shared business model Use Evidence-Based Management (EBMgt) to invest in the right places, make smarter decisions, and reduce risk Effectively apply Scrum’s Product Owner role, artifacts, and events Populate and manage Product Backlogs, and use just-in-time specifications Plan and manage releases, improve transparency, and reduce technical debt Scale your product, not your Scrum Use Scrum to inject autonomy, mastery, and purpose into your product team’s work Whatever your role in product management or agile development, this guide will help you deliver products that offer more value, more rapidly, and more often. Register your book for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details.
246 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2018
453 people are currently reading
1074 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
July 14, 2018
I'm not a product owner, but I thought reading this book would give me more insight into what one does. It worked.
Each chapter begins with a quiz of yes/no questions. The answers are at the end of each chapter. I like this a way of focusing in on the learning objectives.
I like the anti-patterns of the “wrong” product owners. I also like the callout boxes with stories from the authors.
There were a number of good analogies that I hadn't heard before. One was renting vs owning a house in terms of feeling ownership. And the field of earless cows for getting what you measure (if you ask for cow ears...). And the “requirements can end up as an overzealous shopping list”
There were also some terms I hadn't heard before like the Wizard of Oz MVP that Zappos used. Just a UI and humans fullfilling orders behind the scenes at first. And the different types of requirements risk.
For the obvious vs complex vs complicated vs chaos, I would have wanted a chart or table comparing them all. As terms got introduced, they covered how it compares across the prior introduced types. But it was a lot to remember.
Overall, the book was enjoyable to read and I learned from it.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of CodeRanch.
Each chapter begins with a quiz of yes/no questions. The answers are at the end of each chapter. I like this a way of focusing in on the learning objectives.
I like the anti-patterns of the “wrong” product owners. I also like the callout boxes with stories from the authors.
There were a number of good analogies that I hadn't heard before. One was renting vs owning a house in terms of feeling ownership. And the field of earless cows for getting what you measure (if you ask for cow ears...). And the “requirements can end up as an overzealous shopping list”
There were also some terms I hadn't heard before like the Wizard of Oz MVP that Zappos used. Just a UI and humans fullfilling orders behind the scenes at first. And the different types of requirements risk.
For the obvious vs complex vs complicated vs chaos, I would have wanted a chart or table comparing them all. As terms got introduced, they covered how it compares across the prior introduced types. But it was a lot to remember.
Overall, the book was enjoyable to read and I learned from it.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of CodeRanch.
November 26, 2019
It has a handful of techniques for Product Management and is overall a good study.
Goes beyond Scrum product management and it makes a solid point in going deeper into the subject beyond Scrum. Good to have it pocket wise and as reference material whenever you're stuck and ponder "hey, what was my job exactly?"
Goes beyond Scrum product management and it makes a solid point in going deeper into the subject beyond Scrum. Good to have it pocket wise and as reference material whenever you're stuck and ponder "hey, what was my job exactly?"
August 27, 2020
Such a great book! Easy to read and great information for PO's.
The book provides you with the toolkit to work as a Product Owner and is great of you want to get a certificate.
Highly recommended!
The book provides you with the toolkit to work as a Product Owner and is great of you want to get a certificate.
Highly recommended!
March 31, 2020
A successful child has many parents. A failure has none.
—based on Tacitus, Agricola, ca. 98 AD
If everything is important, then nothing is.
—Patrick Lencioni
Do not forget that the only real proof, though, is through the customer. Everything before is nothing but a hypothesis.
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
You may have crafted the best vision statement in the world, but if nobody ever hears it, it obviously is not much use. This happens way too often, when a small number of people who understand the vision just assume that everyone else does too.
The mind is the laboratory where products, both fake and genuine are manufactured. People grow wild weeds, others grow flourishing flowers!
—Israelmore Ayivor
But what exactly is value?
It depends on the context.
Release is the funnel toward value
As with many solutions in the agile world, get started with what you have and refine as you go. Nothing will be perfect at the beginning.
There is neither good nor bad news; there is only data. If you punish bad news, you will only get good news—or, more accurately, camouflaged bad news made to look good. Goodhart’s law expresses the same idea: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.
You can run your product by all the smartest people in the world, but there is only one true way to ultimately validate your idea: get it into the marketplace.
Vision without execution is hallucination.
—Thomas Edison
What good is it to have the best Development Team if the wrong product is being built? The Product Owner is the keystone on which the right product—the overall product quality—depends.
What is in the Development Team can be in the product, but what is not most likely cannot.
The written word is never the best way to communicate complexity.
I once heard this great example: A mother leaves a note for her son: “We are running low on milk, could you go to the store around the corner and buy a gallon of milk and if they have eggs, get six.” The son runs off to the store and when he returns, he puts six gallons of milk on the table and tells his mom, “Yes, they had eggs.”
A well-kept Product Backlog contains all the information needed for reporting.
—based on Tacitus, Agricola, ca. 98 AD
If everything is important, then nothing is.
—Patrick Lencioni
Do not forget that the only real proof, though, is through the customer. Everything before is nothing but a hypothesis.
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
You may have crafted the best vision statement in the world, but if nobody ever hears it, it obviously is not much use. This happens way too often, when a small number of people who understand the vision just assume that everyone else does too.
The mind is the laboratory where products, both fake and genuine are manufactured. People grow wild weeds, others grow flourishing flowers!
—Israelmore Ayivor
But what exactly is value?
It depends on the context.
Release is the funnel toward value
As with many solutions in the agile world, get started with what you have and refine as you go. Nothing will be perfect at the beginning.
There is neither good nor bad news; there is only data. If you punish bad news, you will only get good news—or, more accurately, camouflaged bad news made to look good. Goodhart’s law expresses the same idea: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.
You can run your product by all the smartest people in the world, but there is only one true way to ultimately validate your idea: get it into the marketplace.
Vision without execution is hallucination.
—Thomas Edison
What good is it to have the best Development Team if the wrong product is being built? The Product Owner is the keystone on which the right product—the overall product quality—depends.
What is in the Development Team can be in the product, but what is not most likely cannot.
The written word is never the best way to communicate complexity.
I once heard this great example: A mother leaves a note for her son: “We are running low on milk, could you go to the store around the corner and buy a gallon of milk and if they have eggs, get six.” The son runs off to the store and when he returns, he puts six gallons of milk on the table and tells his mom, “Yes, they had eggs.”
A well-kept Product Backlog contains all the information needed for reporting.
June 12, 2023
This is not a book I read for fun, but I must say it helped me in growing into the role of product owner, and its has many ideas and goals still for me to explore. The writing is light and accessible, and injected with numerous examples. A good guide into this particular scrum role.
Read
February 21, 2025Finally read the book. As service designer stepped into the PO role already many times - it was nice to see it from this perspective. I do believe the SCRUM framework does not cover the full reality, but I got from it what I needed. Now to see if I can pass the exam..
February 25, 2022
Of all the product books I've read, this one has been the most useful and dense in terms of information, while also providing fun theoretical asides (the story about the cows!). For me, what set this book apart is its use of many examples and not assuming the reader had any knowledge coming in (even though this is a book for people with a relatively high level role). While it did get to the point where the examples and scenarios were too theoretical and you just felt like at this point you had to be in the room observing things in action, for the most part I was able to visualize the processes from how they were described. For many years I had wanted to understand Scrum, and now I feel like I understand it as best I can without having actually worked in it. I am not a product owner, but I find reading about product management to be very relatable to life and any project you work on. For example, as a writer, get a minimum viable product out as often as you can for constant feedback and you'll get to the finished product more quickly!
January 30, 2024
Here's a fun little exercise for you: if you have friends that work in software development take them out for drinks and about 3 drinks in, ask them what they think of Scrum or Agile. There's a surprisingly high chance they'll start cursing like sailors and get super mad.
I read this book for work, preparing to get a certification but after I finished it I don't want to let this review be about Scrum or Agile as frameworks. It's been 3 years since I took on the first job as a Product Owner so I'm trying to think, if I read this book 3 years ago before starting the job, would it have been helpful?
The answer is actually yes, quite helpful. There are quite a few sections and concepts that I picked up at work over time, and understanding a bit of a theory before getting into the thick of things would have been valuable I think. I especially enjoyed the section about Monte Carlo estimations, it's a concept I haven't had a chance to try out yet but I did read about at some point a while ago and I'd love to see how it plays out in the wild.
I think it's a good starting point if you're just starting out in your first job as a PO or really, and more likely, if you're considering a career switch to become a PO in the future, it's a pretty safe way to understand some of the aspects of the job and see if it's something you might enjoy.
Now obviously, the big caveat emptor is that a product job really cannot be judged on a theoretical level, what you do and what is expected of you will vary a lot depending on the company and organizational culture you find yourself in. It's important to understand what is described in this book is similarly to other product books very much aspirational: what it says your job will be and what you'll be actually be allowed or able to do are very likely to be 2 very different things, at least early in your career. This is why if you are considering becoming a PO I would recommend besides reading this book or others about product people, I'd also recommend trying to find some people that have been doing this job for a while, that have gone through the ups and downs, have seen the good the bad and the ugly, this way you'd have a much more balanced view and better understand if it's something you might enjoy doing.
Overall a fun little read, maybe 3.5/5 would be a better rating but since I don't know how to just give a 3.5 rating on Goodreads I decided to be generous today.
I read this book for work, preparing to get a certification but after I finished it I don't want to let this review be about Scrum or Agile as frameworks. It's been 3 years since I took on the first job as a Product Owner so I'm trying to think, if I read this book 3 years ago before starting the job, would it have been helpful?
The answer is actually yes, quite helpful. There are quite a few sections and concepts that I picked up at work over time, and understanding a bit of a theory before getting into the thick of things would have been valuable I think. I especially enjoyed the section about Monte Carlo estimations, it's a concept I haven't had a chance to try out yet but I did read about at some point a while ago and I'd love to see how it plays out in the wild.
I think it's a good starting point if you're just starting out in your first job as a PO or really, and more likely, if you're considering a career switch to become a PO in the future, it's a pretty safe way to understand some of the aspects of the job and see if it's something you might enjoy.
Now obviously, the big caveat emptor is that a product job really cannot be judged on a theoretical level, what you do and what is expected of you will vary a lot depending on the company and organizational culture you find yourself in. It's important to understand what is described in this book is similarly to other product books very much aspirational: what it says your job will be and what you'll be actually be allowed or able to do are very likely to be 2 very different things, at least early in your career. This is why if you are considering becoming a PO I would recommend besides reading this book or others about product people, I'd also recommend trying to find some people that have been doing this job for a while, that have gone through the ups and downs, have seen the good the bad and the ugly, this way you'd have a much more balanced view and better understand if it's something you might enjoy doing.
Overall a fun little read, maybe 3.5/5 would be a better rating but since I don't know how to just give a 3.5 rating on Goodreads I decided to be generous today.
January 7, 2022
This is typically the kind of book I like to read: very hands on, with clear explanations to understand the logic.
I goes into all sort of precious details which you will definitely need while building your own product. Nowadays, as most tech activities should be "product driven" (even internal, non customer facing activities), what is said on this book is proving itself very useful
Besides, product management is actually always a bit blurry to get as it seat at the intersection of many disciplines. It is not that easy to grasp what it takes to be a good PM. I feel this book is a good one.
Another book that I loved in this regard was "Escaping the build trap", which was more on organizational structures at scale
That gave me the idea of passing the PSPO II certifications as this book is from the "scum.org" structure.
Highly recommended for any person looking to improve his product mindset
I goes into all sort of precious details which you will definitely need while building your own product. Nowadays, as most tech activities should be "product driven" (even internal, non customer facing activities), what is said on this book is proving itself very useful
Besides, product management is actually always a bit blurry to get as it seat at the intersection of many disciplines. It is not that easy to grasp what it takes to be a good PM. I feel this book is a good one.
Another book that I loved in this regard was "Escaping the build trap", which was more on organizational structures at scale
That gave me the idea of passing the PSPO II certifications as this book is from the "scum.org" structure.
Highly recommended for any person looking to improve his product mindset
April 1, 2019
Although I am a big fan of lean manufacturing, lean start-up and I have applied concepts of Scrum to research and develop my products as well as projects building products for companies with development teams for a long time, exactly Scrum is simple to understand but is obviously difficult to master. When I was taking a PSPO assessment, facing the challenge I can lose my USD$300 (USD$200 for assessment and $100 for books, mock exam), facing the only 1-time trade-off then I got the value of deep Scrum grasp. ^^. Of course, continuous learning is a must in this day and age but the execution is everything. This is just one of many cool books you and I should read for leveraging Scrum road. Here is some suggestion you might love https://www.scrum.org/resources/sugge....
March 19, 2022
This book didn't feel like it added much to the existing body of knowledge on Scrum or agile development. There are much better books for folks that haven't been exposed to agile practices ("The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries and "Agile Estimating and Planning" by Mike Cohn are my tops). It also never really dug in and got specific enough to help handle practical situations that arise in the day to day work of doing product. It was mostly a mash up of other ideas from other books and only skimmed the surface of any given topic.
It was still a valuable read as a refresher that caused me to refocus on the hunt for value on a couple of my projects. I suspect I would have gotten more out of reading one of the many other books it drew it's material from though.
It was still a valuable read as a refresher that caused me to refocus on the hunt for value on a couple of my projects. I suspect I would have gotten more out of reading one of the many other books it drew it's material from though.
January 7, 2025
As a Product Owner, I found 'The Professional Product Owner: Leveraging Scrum as a Competitive Advantage' incredibly practical and immediately applicable. McGreal and Jocham provide clear, actionable guidance on leveraging Scrum for competitive advantage. This isn't just theory; it's a hands-on guide that has already improved my approach to product ownership. I highly recommend it for any PO looking to up their game.
October 7, 2021
Just great! Very methodical, very detailed, well-structured.
Some prior familiarity with scrum would be an advantage to take the most of this book. Honestly, it seems like something that is great for a rookie to intermediate level of product ownership. I.e., if taking the book with absolutely no prior experience, reading and learning experience may be daunting.
However, the best text to read about the process aspect of product ownership.
Some prior familiarity with scrum would be an advantage to take the most of this book. Honestly, it seems like something that is great for a rookie to intermediate level of product ownership. I.e., if taking the book with absolutely no prior experience, reading and learning experience may be daunting.
However, the best text to read about the process aspect of product ownership.
October 17, 2021
A clear and well-written guide to the critical role of Product Owner within the scrum framework. Scrum is increasingly being used for activities outside of its traditional software development origins, and although this book is written very much from a software development perspective, it still has much to offer in terms of explaining the basic principles. It's quite easily digestible, with anecdotes and examples to help illustrate the main text.
September 30, 2023
I have not read many Scrum books and articles, but this helped me to expand my knowledge of Scrum Product Management and the responsibilities of a Product Owner.
Methodoly-dense book on the idea and implementation of Scrum Product Development. The book not only explains the best-case scenarios but also gives practical examples from imperfect real cases.
However, I still believe it needs more information on budgeting and feature estimation product development.
Methodoly-dense book on the idea and implementation of Scrum Product Development. The book not only explains the best-case scenarios but also gives practical examples from imperfect real cases.
However, I still believe it needs more information on budgeting and feature estimation product development.
September 2, 2018
Well-explained mindset and set of practical tools for software product managers, going well beyond Scrum into practices which authors happened to learn during their work. Highly recommended for everyone who works with software and wants to increase their knowledge about the process of building the right things the right way.
November 2, 2018
Very good book. I’m actually surprised to find such a good book for the role. Worth reading. Whether you need tools for the role, you will get quite a few of them. It called my attention Evidence Based Management, how forecasting has been adapted in Sum and a visual representation of the product backlog.
May 17, 2020
Got this as a recommendation from a colleague - and as it turns out it's also recommended by scrum.org as reading material for the product owner exam.
Atypical for a book recommended for certifications (see my review for the IREB required reading) well laid out, well written and full of useful stuff. Probably will serve as a reference on the coming time.
Atypical for a book recommended for certifications (see my review for the IREB required reading) well laid out, well written and full of useful stuff. Probably will serve as a reference on the coming time.
January 16, 2023
This book is required reading for new or mid-level Agile Product Owners or teams wondering, "Why agile?" It starts out a bit slow but picks up in the middle and finishes strong. It is absolutely packed with practical tools and measures to get your Product Ownership on the right track. Any Product Owner can definitely level up by consuming this book.
August 2, 2023
It started when I was about to take Product Owner certification. I found that it was beyond my current understanding, so I dug deeper to sharpen my knowledge through this book. Although some of the theories here are outdated since the 2020 scrum guide was released, this is still the best initial kit to go with as a Product Owner. And finally, I passed the exam and obtained the badge!
February 9, 2020
Verumy good book for Product Owner
This is an exellent conolementary book for Product Owners. Necessary to be read for them becouse it give a deep explication about the rol. It has an ibteresting maturity evolution of the rol that I like it.
This is an exellent conolementary book for Product Owners. Necessary to be read for them becouse it give a deep explication about the rol. It has an ibteresting maturity evolution of the rol that I like it.
April 9, 2020
I have enjoyed the book a lot. Very practical and to the point. Connecting the business strategy, product visions and tactics with daily operations and monthly sprints. Showing that Scrum is "just" a framework within the product owner can apply many methods, tools or approaches.
June 3, 2020
Great book about product ownership, the scrum process and the team
Great relatable stories throughout the book -and the progression is perfect on how and why to build a team using Scrum. Good read, buy it!
Great relatable stories throughout the book -and the progression is perfect on how and why to build a team using Scrum. Good read, buy it!
December 7, 2020
Must read for all Product Owners and everyone who develop or manage (digital) products.
Important reading for anyone who do not have much time and want to read one book around the topic. It's a good start for understanding scrum and product (vs project) mindset.
Important reading for anyone who do not have much time and want to read one book around the topic. It's a good start for understanding scrum and product (vs project) mindset.
April 4, 2021
Must Read for all Product Owners
Awesome book about being a Product Owner in a world becoming more and more agile. A Must Read for aspiring and functioning Product Owners - and inspiring read for Scrum Masters and Leadership.
Awesome book about being a Product Owner in a world becoming more and more agile. A Must Read for aspiring and functioning Product Owners - and inspiring read for Scrum Masters and Leadership.
April 7, 2021
I am not a Product Owner, rather a Scrum Master studying for my PSPO Certification. This book not only helped me attain my certification it gave me a better understanding of the role and how I can best coach my current Product Owners to success. Excellent book, easy to read and understand.
July 6, 2021
A perfect book, well written. A lot of good ideas from all perspectives. All very practical - tools, activities, good practices.
Read twice and I will definitely read again. But first, I need to test some ideas.
Read twice and I will definitely read again. But first, I need to test some ideas.
January 29, 2022
By far the best source for a Product Owner. Learned more by reading this book than attending a 2-day course. Every concept is clearly explained, and supported by practical examples. Kudos to the authors.
April 27, 2023
Really good reference for a starter (and maybe beyond) PO or someone interested in the role, like me.
It goes through the main topics, that day-to-day, the challenges and the traits of a good PO and takes the reader even beyond, touching upon more advanced topics.
It goes through the main topics, that day-to-day, the challenges and the traits of a good PO and takes the reader even beyond, touching upon more advanced topics.
November 1, 2023
Great practical guide to future and current product owners. Also for any person that is somehow linked to product development efforts. Explains well the expected technical and nontechnical set of skills you should look for in a product owner.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews