Product Owners
Another post on my series on Scrum and how it relates to my art business. You can read all of the posts here: Scrum and Art.
Product Owners
There are 3 roles that people can play when they are on a Scrum team: Product Owner, Scrum Master and Team Member. All 3 of these roles apply to activities I do as an artist so I’ll cover them in differing amounts of detail. I feel the product owner role is a key role so I’ll probably talk about it the most.
A product owner is responsible for something called a Product Backlog in the scrum world. In simple terms this is a list of things, called user stories, that need to be done. In the software world this is the set of requirements of the system being implemented. The product owner creates the back log and, maybe more importantly, they prioritize the items on that back log. They are the ones with the vision for what the product should and could be.
Today I became a product owner for one of the scrum teams at work. As the former requirements engineer of the team, I got elected (and I agreed) that I would do well in this role, as writing user stories is a lot like writing requirements. Okay, actually it’s the same thing. The entire team will help out with prioritizing the list and the vision as we all have a vested interest in the outcome of this experiment.
The Artist as Product Owner
This role of product owner applies to me as an artist in couple of ways.
First with my art itself, I need to determine what type of artwork I want to make. Oil paintings? Textile paintings? Ceramic pigs? That’s all pretty straight forward and obvious that an artist needs to do this, although not always easy. Nor is it always simple to restrict ourselves to just one or even two mediums. Today I found my self hunting through the Denver Art Students’ League class schedule thinking about taking oil painting classes.
In addition to the art, I also need to define my art career business objectives and prioritize the activities. Should I blog or should I enter a juried show tonight? What is the ROI (return on investment) for each of these activities? How long will it take to do these activities? Should I have a facebook account? Should I sell my art on etsy? Should I make reproductions of my work?
Some of the aspects of scrum can help me figure all of this out. Or at least organize it in a way that will help me see what my options are. The first piece is to figure out what the art product backlog is – what are all the projects and business ideas that I have. For those that like the Getting Things Done lists – this is very similar to a project list, although with more detail so prioritization and estimation of the size of the job can be more easilty determined.
The other day I created a bunch of user stories for my art business, in the next post I’ll share info on the details of that activity and what goes into a user story.
Remodel Update
The builder has come up with a very cool design for my house. Scope creep (ie it’s getting bigger) is occurring again but hopefully not horribly so. It is by far the best design so I’m excited to see some plans soon.
A huge bonus will be I don’t have to move out of my house for them to do the remodel. I was not looking forward to moving out a few months after moving in. The last design, which I eventually rejected, involved picking up my house and setting it in the backyard to put in a basement. Hard to live in a house when that happens. The new idea is just a backyard addition, with some remodel work in the existing house to fix stuff in need of repair. Not as much entertainment, but more realistic.
Posted by Lisa in: Goals and Intention
Tagged: art business, Getting Things Done, Priorities, remodel, scrum, user stories
Lisa,
I only discovered that I could create original art in 2004 and in 2006 I was selling a bit on etsy and seriously considering a lot of those “product owner” questions and how to make my art a business. I enjoyed thinking them and the marketing efforts through so much that I’m getting my MBA to help transition my day job from chemist to product manager, or a similar role. Art has been pushed back to a hobby, which will give me time to play and develop my skills. It’s definitely interesting hearing you apply your experiences in software development to the development of your art overall.
Hope the house remodel goes well,
Beth
Sounds like you and I are on similiar wavelengths right now, trying to establish the focus of our art businesses.
This Scrum work is interesting, although I am finding its language a bit overly complex! I am curious: is there functional difference between a “user story” and a product requirment? Could you share an example of what one or your art-related user stories might be?
I always enjoy reading your posts, and today’s made me think of a comment I heard yesterday made by Rev. T.D. Jakes…take it’s necessary to take the time to prepare a Mission Statement when we are beginning a business, and to re-visit it often to make sure we’re on track, focusing on what is important to reach our goals and removing the hindrances. He also mentioned that we need to do that in our daily lives, focusing on who we want to be.
By the way, I’m really glad to hear about the house plans. Sometimes plans that don’t work out are a blessing in disguise, allowing for something better.
Such an interesting perspective, Lisa!
I enjoy hearing about taking a business model and applying it to your art world. I think it’s so helpful to view what we do from a different lens; can’t wait for more!
Another good post, Lisa – I’m going to have to come back and read these posts again.
Good news on the remodel – about not moving out…
Beth – how cool is that – you found a new career through your art. I think that’s fabulous!
Daniel – I agree – they made up new words for scrum – maybe not always that intuitive. I’m going to talk about user stories more when I next write about scrum. Good questions.
Veronica – Wow – great connection – focusing on goals and removing hindrances is very scrum like. The job of the scrum master is exactly that of removing hinderances.
Tracy & Cynthia – thanks! And yes – hurray for not moving out!