Agile Experience Group Meeting - The Product Owner / Customer Role in Agile Development

December 6, 2005

Location: University of St. Thomas - O' Shaughnessy Science Hall

Agile Experience Group Meeting Notice
Tuesday, December 6, 2005

The Product Owner / Customer Role in Agile Development
                          and
                       Free Pizza

   *** Don't forget to RSVP to kylel@acm.org for Pizza! ***

Agile development has proven itself to be successful, especially with small teams of 6-10 developers. The two most popular small-team agile methods are eXtreme Programming (XP) and Scrum, and they have much in common. One of the major things they have in common is a close working relationship with their Product Owner, or Customer. In fact, the existence of a qualified, empowered, Product Owner / Customer is one of the major success
factors in these processes.

Unfortunately, there is little written about the Product Owner / Customer Role other than what the benefits and responsibilities are. It is arguably the hardest job in software development, but there is little guidance about how to be a good one.

The basic responsibilities of the Product Owner / Customer will be introduced,

   * Determine what the Stakeholders want the Product to do
   * Decide what will actually be delivered
   * Describe the requirements to the development team
   * Validate that the product delivered is the one asked for

and for each of these areas the challenges and some clues about how to solve them will be offered.

Biography of Presenter:

Dan Rawsthorne is a Certified Scrum Trainer and Use Case expert who lives at the process end of things at Net Objectives. His focus is on helping organizations get products out the door using agility, and he has been doing so for over 20 years. He has a PhD in mathematics from the University of Illinois, and is currently writing a book on use cases. He concentrates his training and coaching in Use Case Driven Analysis and becoming a Certified Scrum Master.

Agile Experience Group

Tuesday, December 6, 2005

6:15 - 6:30 p.m. : Pizza and socailizing

6:30 - 8:30 p.m. : Presentation + Q & A

O' Shaughnessy Science Hall
3M Auditorium
University of St. Thomas
St. Paul, MN

*** Please RSVP to kylel@acm.org for the FREE PIZZA & DRINKS ***

COST:

There is no cost to attend, but please RSVP to kylel@acm.org for free pizza and refreshments.

ABOUT THE AGILE EXPERIENCE GROUP:

The Agile Experience Group meets and collaborates to share experiences, suggestions, and ideas about moving software development efforts towards more agile, more lightweight practices. Extreme Programming (XP), SCRUM, Crystal, Lean, and ASD are agile approaches.

See www.agilealliance.com.

We meet in the Twin Cities, Minnesota area and are a special interest group (SIG) of the Object Technologies Users Group (OTUG). See www.otug.org.

To get meeting announcements, subscribe to our low-volume list server by sending an email to: Agile_Experience_Group-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or subscribe from the web at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Agile_Experience_Group/

DIRECTIONS:

From Downtown Minneapolis (Eastbound I-94):

Exit I-94 at Cretin-Vandalia.
Go right (south) on Cretin about one mile,
   past Selby Ave to...
Just past (south of) the football stadium, turn left.
Go through 1st parking lot, turn left.
Enter Visitors Parking ramp.

From Downtown St. Paul (Westbound I-94):

Exit I-94 at Cretin-Vandalia.
Go left (south) on Cretin about one mile,
   past Selby Ave to...
Just past (south of) the football stadium, turn left.
Go through 1st parking lot, turn left.
Enter Visitors Parking ramp.

From the south on I-35:

When I-35 splits into 35E and 35W, follow 35E toward St. Paul.
Take 35E north to the Randolph Avenue exit.
Make a left on Randolph (crossing over 35E) and follow it
   a little more than two miles to Cretin Avenue.
Turn right onto Cretin and go about 1.5 miles,
   past Summit Ave to...
Just before (south of) the football stadium, turn right.
Go through 1st parking lot, turn left.
Enter Visitors Parking ramp.

From the Airport:

Take Highway 5 east from the airport.
Exit at Shepard Road-Edgcumbe where there will be a
   fork in the road.
Veer left at the fork onto Edgcumbe.
At the second stoplight, turn left onto St. Paul Avenue.
In about three-fourths of a mile, St. Paul Avenue becomes
   Cleveland Avenue.
Stay on Cleveland for about two miles to Summit Avenue.
Turn left on Summit. The first stoplight is Cretin Avenue.
Turn right onto Cretin Avenue.
Just before (south of) the football stadium, turn right.
Go through 1st parking lot, turn left.
Enter Visitors Parking ramp.

Parking:

Lot parking: Enter the University from Selby Avenue at Finn Street and follow the road down towards the stadium playing field to the underground visitors pay lot. You can also enter from the northeast lot at Summit and Cretin, cross the lot, and drive in back of the stadium to the same underground visitors pay lot.

Street parking: In general, parking on the street is not allowed within three blocks of campus without a permit, and this rule is enforced by city police. Permits are not required where the streets border campus. Signs are posted where permits are required or other restrictions apply. Parking on a street that is posted as permit-only will cost you $20.

Campus Maps:

http://www.stthomas.edu/campusmaps/stpaul.asp