Alex Pukinskis, Rally Software, Boulder, Colorado
These days, it seems like every software company has some agile or agile-ish teams. But how do you carry agile values beyond the team and into the business prioritization process? Over the last few years, I’ve worked with a group of stakeholders from VPs to support representatives to form a Product Council team that guides our development process. We ship software frequently (every week) and so this process is key for keeping a large number of stakeholders engaged in close contact with the delivery team.

The Product Council consolidates feedback, develops the roadmap, and maintains stakeholder buy-in for a continuously evolving plan. In this workshop, i’ll introduce two different Product Council structures and the pros and cons of each. We’ll also talk about voting methods, managing ‘persistent’ stakeholders, using lightweight business cases to avoid waste, and whether your Product Council should be a democracy or an advisory team.

About Alex
Alex Pukinskis has helped over 30 software teams transition to Agile development since giving XP a try in 2001. He has worked as an agile coach through Rally, ThoughtWorks, and as an independent, helping organizations of all sizes succeed with Agile. Prior to coaching, Alex was developer and manager of software teams. Alex is a regular presenter at conferences, including Agile, SD Best Practices, and Better Software. He is a Certified ScrumMaster Practitioner, and holds a B.A. from the University of Connecticut. Alex currently works as a product owner for Rally Software in Boulder, Colorado.