Declaration of Interdependence and Agile Projects
The Interdependence Declaration (Declaration of Interdependence) is an important document for the entire development team, however, it is most of all of interest to the Product Owner as it supplies the rules for this role. The declaration states:
Agile and adaptive approaches for linking people, Projects, and Value. We are a community of Project leaders that are highly successful at delivering results. To achieve these results we:
* Increase return on investment by making a continuous flow of Value our focus.
* Deliver reliable results by engaging Customers in frequent interactions and shared ownership.
* Expect uncertainty and manage for it through iterations, anticipation, and adaptation.
* Unleash creativity and innovation by recognizing that individuals are the ultimate source of Value and creating an environment where they can make a difference.
* Boost performance through group accountability for results and shared responsibility for team effectiveness.
* Improve effectiveness and reliability through situationally specific strategies, processes, and practices.
© 2005 David Anderson, Sanjiv Augustine, Christopher Avery, Alistair Cockburn, Mike Cohn, Doug DeCarlo, Donna Fitzgerald, Jim Highsmith, Ole Jepsen, Lowell Lindstrom, Todd Little, Kent McDonald, Pollyanna Pixton, Preston Smith and Robert Wysocki.
Increase Return on Investment
Firstly the Product Owner must ensure that the product achieves a return on investment by focusing effort on delivering value. The continuous delivery of value increases customer satisfaction as well as increasing the return on investment. By delivering incrementally, realizing value can be achieved earlier while identifying and dealing with risk can occur sooner. The Product Owner must prioritize the Product Backlog to ensure that the highest business value features are addressed, therefore enhancing the return on investment.
Deliver Reliable Results
Maximising customer involvement increases the chances of delivering reliable results and agile therefore promotes active customer involvement. The Product Owner must engage the customers through frequent interactions and also encourages a sense shared ownership within the product. The Product Owner represents the customer and is, therefore, the Voice of the Customer within the Scrum Team. As the Voice of the Customer, the Product Owner must portray the customers perspective, while also defining the Product Vision, and providing the acceptance criteria for the prioritized product backlog.
Expect Uncertainty
Firstly minimizing risk can be achieved by delivering work incrementally. This is because risks can be identified and dealt with sooner. Identifying and dealing with risks enables the Product Owner to manage the risks, therefore limiting the impact of these issues.
Unleash Creativity and Innovation
Self-organizing teams own the developed solution and they are responsible for organizing themselves as well as their work. Self-organizing teams promote commitment from each individual, therefore extracting the best from each team member. The development team take on ownership of the developed solution and furthermore it is the development team that commits to the sprint deliverable. It is the development team that determines the tasks to complete to meet their sprint goals, rather than the project manager in a more traditional command and control project. Self-organizing teams may be difficult for the more reserved individuals because all team members must actively participate.
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