Beer Miles!
A Product Owner Simulation Game
Robin Dymond
David Douglas
Innovel LLC

Agile 2008
Released under the Creative Commons License

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Page 1


Beginner’s Mind

• One of the most profound secrets of learning anything new is
keeping what has been called a "Beginner's Mind".
• To begin, we should empty our thoughts of all the preconceived
ideas, concepts, techniques and methods that prevent us from
receiving the new. This seems like a simple thing to do, but can be
quite difficult in practice.
• At first we think we are being open, but as we drink from the new
knowledge we detect residual tastes of the "old". Sometimes this
new mixture can be sweet, like adding honey to tea, but sometimes
even a little residue can curdle the whole mix, like adding lemon
juice to milk.
• Another important part of developing the beginners mind concerns
getting rid of the "Been There, Done That" concept that seems so
prevalent in today's society. It may be true that you have been
there, and you may have done that, but perhaps your conception of
reality was not the whole concept, "the big picture" if you will.

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Page 2


Room setup

• Rounds/pods
• 4-6 per table
• Projector for powerpoint
• Printed business case (2 pg.) for each person
• Printed A6 index cards, a 39 card set per table

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Page 3


Where are you?

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Product Owner Training Agenda

• Where are you?
• Why this exercise? The trainer’s goals.
• Setup: Thinking about value.
• BeerMiles! From Business Case to Product Backlog
• Facilitation Notes


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Page 5


Why this exercise?

• Product Ownership is a different role from traditional product
management
• The skills required for a good Product Owner (PO) are different
• A key stumbling block is re-planning based on new information
• Can we show that releasing in a few iterations really is
possible?
• Moving from business case to product backlog and first release

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Page 6


The Trainer’s Goals

• Shift the mindset from:
– Planning to delivery
– From we can’t release to we must release
• Shift the focus from guessing at value to testing for value
• Focus on customer value not features.

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Page 7



The Product Owner’s World

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The Value Conversation

How do the best companies in
the world think about value?

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The Research…

Good To Great
by Jim Collins
Found and
researched over 6
years 15
companies that
went from
mediocre to great
performance.
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Page 10



The Hedgehog Concept

“The Hedgehog concept is
a simple, crystalline
concept that flows from
deep understanding about
the intersection of the
three circles.”

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What are your three circles?

What are you deeply
Passionate about?

What you can
be the best in
the world at

What drives your
economic engine

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The Hedgehog Concept

“If you could pick only one ratio, profit
per x to systematically improve over
time, what “x” would have the greatest
and most sustainable impact on your
economic engine?”

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Example: Walgreens

 Key Metric: Profit per customer
visit
 Drove decisions regarding:
 Store location
 Store layout
 Product mix
 Supply chain requirements,
etc.
 "Walgreens' hedgehog concept is
to run the best, most convenient
drug stores with high profit per
customer visit"

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Example: Nucor Steel

 Profit per ton of steel produced
 Drove decisions including:
 Getting into the foundry business
 Small distributed mills
 High level of innovation, new technology
 Shared performance based compensation
strategy

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ZARA: World’s Fastest Mass Fashion Retailer

• EU’s largest fashion retailer with over
1100 stores.
• Concept to clothing in 1100 stores in 4
weeks, small batches, rarely have sales
• New items entering stores twice per week
• 11,000 designs per year vs. 4000 at Gap
• EU wages up to 20 times more expensive
• Air ship clothes on hangers for fast
stocking in stores
• Spend 0.3% revenue on advertising vs.
3.5% at competitors,
• Invest in locations
• “Fashion is like bread, you need to

change it often” - Chairman

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The Hedgehog Concept

“A Hedge Hog concept is not a goal to
be the best, a strategy to be the best,
an intention to be the best, a plan to
be the best. It is an understanding of
what you can be the best at.”

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Page 17


The Business Case

Business Case
Undertaking a project needs to make
economic sense. The return required to
achieve a tangible output must justify
the investment made.
Like all other things Agile, the business
case is a living document that will
adjust as the situation changes.

Product Owner Responsibilities

 Craft and update the business case
 Ensure all parties are continually aware of overarching
goals
 Ensure alignment of project to corporate strategic goals

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The Business Case
The effort to create a business case
is usually commensurate with the
level of investment and the
perceived risk.
There are no format or effort level
rules as this is often a function of
standard and acceptable practices
within a company.
 Don’t fall into the trap of analysis paralysis
 If you go beyond two weeks of effort you have probably done too much

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Page 19


Product Ownership Framework

Business
Case


Business
Drivers

Categorize
Prioritization
Capabilities

Backlog &
Release
Plan

Business case
• Examine the business case, looking for key elements of value
creation.
• Look for opportunities to deliver value incrementally
Business Drivers
• Find the categories of value creation “Why do this project”, “What
kind of value are we creating and for whom”, “What do I really care
about”, “What do our customers really care about”
Prioritization
• With input from your stakeholders, prioritize the business drivers
• Don’t allow everything to be a number one priority
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Framework #2

Business
Case


Business
Drivers

Categorize
Prioritization
Capabilities

Backlog &
Release
Plan

Create and Categorize capabilities
• Create high level capabilities based on customer value, with
the help from the business. User stories provide a good
approach.
• Categorize the capabilities into which business driver they
support.
• Some capabilities may support more than one driver, pick the
most relevant capability

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Framework #3

Business
Case


Business
Drivers

Categorize
Prioritization
Capabilities

Backlog &
Release
Plan

Create Product Backlog and Release plan
• Use your prioritized business drivers and list of capabilities to
build the product backlog.
• Don’t forget to consider items that require long lead times and
infrastructure necessary to support the creation of value
• Identify points where you think there has been enough value
created to release capabilities to production

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Let’s Apply
the Framework
Let’s
apply
the framework……..

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Page 23


Value Creation and Business
Scenario

Business
Case

Business
Drivers

Categorize
Prioritization
Capabilities

Backlog &
Release
Plan

Part 1 -- Read the business case
handout.
Exercise -- At your tables determine
what are the top 3 business drivers for
this new business?

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Business Drivers Discussion

 What was your conclusion and how did you arrive at
it?…..
 What other data do you think you would need to
make you feel confident about your decisions?
 If you’re receiving internal and external pressures
regarding business drivers/priorities, how would you
handle that?

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