Agile & Scrum for Product Managers

What is Agile?

Agile is a set of values and principles for software development that emphasizes:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan

Scrum Framework

Scrum is the most popular Agile framework. It provides structure for teams to deliver work in regular, predictable cycles.

Scrum Roles

Role	Responsibilities
Product Owner	Owns the backlog, prioritizes work, represents stakeholders, accepts work
Scrum Master	Facilitates ceremonies, removes blockers, coaches team on Scrum
Development Team	Self-organizing group that delivers the work

Note: In many organizations, the Product Manager fills the Product Owner role.

Scrum Artifacts

Product Backlog

The prioritized list of all work for the product.

Characteristics:

Single source of truth for what to build
Ordered by priority (most important at top)
Continuously refined and updated
Owned by Product Owner

Sprint Backlog

The work committed to for the current sprint.

Characteristics:

Subset of product backlog
Team commits to completing these items
Cannot be changed mid-sprint (scope protection)

Increment

The working product at the end of a sprint.

Characteristics:

Must be potentially shippable
Builds on previous increments
Meets Definition of Done

Scrum Ceremonies

Sprint Planning

When: Start of each sprint Duration: 2-4 hours Purpose: Decide what to work on this sprint

Agenda:

Review sprint goal
Product Owner presents prioritized stories
Team discusses and estimates
Team commits to sprint backlog
Break down stories into tasks

Daily Standup

When: Every day, same time Duration: 15 minutes max Purpose: Synchronize and identify blockers

Each person answers:

What did I do yesterday?
What will I do today?
Any blockers?

PM Role: Listen, note blockers, avoid turning into status meeting

Sprint Review (Demo)

When: End of sprint Duration: 1-2 hours Purpose: Show what was built, gather feedback

Agenda:

Demo completed work
Stakeholder feedback
Discuss what’s next
Celebrate!

Sprint Retrospective

When: End of sprint (after review) Duration: 1-2 hours Purpose: Improve team process

Common format:

What went well?
What could improve?
What will we try next sprint?

Sprint Cycle

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    2-Week Sprint                         │
├──────────┬──────────────────────────────┬───────────────┤
│ Sprint   │         Development          │ Review + Retro│
│ Planning │    (Daily Standups)          │               │
│ (Day 1)  │    (Days 2-9)                │ (Day 10)      │
└──────────┴──────────────────────────────┴───────────────┘
                         ↓
              ┌──────────────────┐
              │   Shippable      │
              │   Increment      │
              └──────────────────┘

Backlog Management

Purpose: Ensure upcoming work is ready for sprint planning

Activities:

Clarify requirements
Break down large stories
Estimate effort
Identify dependencies
Add acceptance criteria

Best Practices:

Groom 1-2 sprints ahead
Limit to ~10% of sprint capacity
Involve whole team

Story Points & Estimation

Story points measure relative effort, not time.

Common scale: Fibonacci (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21)

Points	Meaning
1	Trivial, well-understood
2-3	Small, some complexity
5	Medium, typical story
8	Large, some unknowns
13	Very large, should probably split
21+	Too big, must split