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Agile Product Owner & Backlog Management Training Course

Equips product owners to set product vision and goals, manage and prioritize the backlog, and maximize the value that agile teams deliver to customers.

APH · Agile, Scrum & Hybrid Project ManagementAll Levels#2311ClassroomEnglish , Arabic
Duration
5 Days
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Free substitution at any time · 30+ days' notice: full refund minus 10%. Cancellation policy

Course Overview

The Agile Product Owner & Backlog Management Training Course equips product owners, product managers, business analysts, and business representatives with the knowledge, techniques, and practical tools needed to maximize the value delivered by agile teams through effective product ownership and backlog management. In government entities, ministries, public authorities, banks, healthcare systems, telecommunications, technology, energy, and service organizations, and large corporations, agile teams are increasingly responsible for digital services, customer and citizen platforms, internal systems, and continuously evolving products. The product owner plays a central role in these teams: defining the product goal, understanding user and stakeholder needs, deciding what to build and in what order, and ensuring that each increment delivers meaningful value. Many organizations assign the product owner role to individuals without the authority, time, or skills needed to perform it effectively. Product owners may act as order takers who pass requests from stakeholders to the team, backlogs may grow into long, unordered lists of features and tasks, and user stories may be vague, too large, or lacking clear acceptance criteria. Prioritization may be driven by the loudest stakeholder rather than value, product goals and roadmaps may be missing, and teams may deliver outputs without measuring whether they achieve outcomes for users. In public sector and regulated environments, product owners may also struggle to balance policy, compliance, and stakeholder demands with user needs and iterative delivery. This course provides a comprehensive and practical guide to agile product ownership and backlog management, informed by the Scrum Guide and widely used product management and agile requirements practices. Participants learn the accountabilities of the product owner, the product mindset and the difference between outputs and outcomes, and how product owners collaborate with developers, Scrum Masters, stakeholders, and leadership. The program covers defining product vision, product goals, and product strategy, developing outcome-based roadmaps, and understanding users through research, personas, journey mapping, and value hypotheses. Participants then learn backlog management practices, including building and ordering the product backlog, maintaining a backlog that is appropriately detailed, estimated, emergent, and prioritized, writing high-quality user stories, using story mapping, splitting stories effectively, and defining acceptance criteria in clear, testable formats. The course also addresses prioritization techniques, including value and effort analysis, MoSCoW, cost of delay, weighted shortest job first, and customer satisfaction models, minimum viable products and experimentation, release planning and forecasting, backlog refinement, sprint reviews and stakeholder feedback, measuring product outcomes with metrics and objectives and key results, managing stakeholders and saying no constructively, product ownership in public sector and regulated environments, and product ownership at scale. This course builds practical product owner capability and is not an official certification program; participants interested in product owner certifications should confirm requirements with the relevant certifying bodies. The course is delivered through an interactive, experiential approach with product vision and roadmap workshops, user research and persona exercises, story writing and story mapping sessions, prioritization simulations, and backlog refinement practice. Participants leave with a product vision and product goal template, an outcome-based roadmap template, persona and customer journey templates, a user story and acceptance criteria guide, a story mapping and splitting guide, a prioritization toolkit, a backlog health checklist, a product metrics and outcome framework, and a personal product owner action plan.

Learning Objectives

  • Analyze the accountabilities of the product owner and the importance of a product mindset focused on outcomes and value on Day 1.
  • Define product vision, product goals, and product strategy aligned with organizational objectives and user needs.
  • Develop outcome-based product roadmaps that communicate direction without committing to fixed detailed scope.
  • Apply user research techniques, including personas, customer and citizen journey mapping, and value hypotheses, to understand needs.
  • Build, order, and maintain a product backlog that is appropriately detailed, estimated, emergent, and prioritized.
  • Write high-quality user stories and define clear, testable acceptance criteria.
  • Apply story mapping and story splitting techniques to structure work and deliver value incrementally.
  • Apply prioritization techniques, including value and effort analysis, MoSCoW, cost of delay, weighted shortest job first, and customer satisfaction models.
  • Design minimum viable products and experiments to validate assumptions and reduce risk.
  • Plan releases, forecast delivery, and lead effective backlog refinement and sprint reviews with the team and stakeholders.
  • Measure product outcomes using product metrics, analytics, and objectives and key results, and manage stakeholders and competing demands constructively.
  • Apply product ownership in public sector, regulated, and scaled environments and develop a personal product owner action plan by the end of Day 5.

Who Should Attend

This course is designed for new and aspiring product owners, current product owners seeking to strengthen their practice, product managers, business analysts, and business and service owners who represent users and stakeholders in agile teams. It is also highly relevant for Scrum Masters, agile coaches, project managers moving into product roles, and managers responsible for digital services and products. It is particularly valuable for professionals in ministries, government entities, and public authorities responsible for digital government services and citizen platforms; in banks and financial institutions responsible for digital banking channels and products; in healthcare systems responsible for digital health services and internal systems; and in telecommunications, technology, energy, utilities, and service organizations managing customer-facing and internal products. Leaders who sponsor digital products and want to strengthen product ownership across their organizations will also benefit from the course.

Learning Outcomes

  • By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
  • Explain the product owner's accountabilities and how they differ from those of a project manager or business analyst.
  • Create a compelling product vision and clear product goals.
  • Develop a roadmap that focuses on outcomes and adapts to learning.
  • Understand users and stakeholders through practical research techniques.
  • Maintain a healthy, well-ordered product backlog.
  • Write user stories and acceptance criteria that the team can deliver and test.
  • Use story mapping and splitting to plan valuable increments.
  • Prioritize transparently using appropriate techniques.
  • Use minimum viable products and experiments to test ideas early.
  • Plan releases and run productive refinement sessions and sprint reviews.
  • Measure whether the product is achieving its intended outcomes.
  • Manage stakeholder expectations and make difficult trade-off decisions confidently.

Course Outline

Course Outline:

Day 1

The Product Owner Role and Product Mindset

  • The product owner's accountabilities in agile teams
  • Product mindset: outputs versus outcomes and value
  • Collaboration with developers, Scrum Masters, stakeholders, and leadership
  • Common product owner challenges and anti-patterns
  • Practical application: participants assess product ownership in a case study and define key product owner responsibilities for their context
Day 2

Vision, Strategy, Users, and Roadmaps

  • Product vision, product goals, and product strategy
  • Understanding users: research, personas, customer and citizen journey mapping
  • Value hypotheses and minimum viable products
  • Outcome-based product roadmaps
  • Practical application: participants develop a product vision, personas, a journey map, and an outcome-based roadmap for a case study product
Day 3

Building the Product Backlog

  • Product backlog structure and characteristics of a healthy backlog
  • Writing effective user stories
  • Acceptance criteria and testable formats
  • Story mapping and story splitting techniques
  • Practical application: participants create a story map, write user stories with acceptance criteria, and split large items
Day 4

Prioritization, Planning, and Refinement

  • Prioritization techniques: value and effort, MoSCoW, cost of delay, weighted shortest job first, and customer satisfaction models
  • Release planning and forecasting
  • Backlog refinement and estimation with the team
  • Sprint reviews and incorporating stakeholder feedback
  • Practical application: participants prioritize a backlog using multiple techniques, plan a release, and run a refinement session
Day 5

Measuring Value, Stakeholders, and Product Ownership in Context

  • Product metrics, analytics, and objectives and key results
  • Managing stakeholders, competing demands, and saying no constructively
  • Product ownership in public sector, regulated, and scaled environments
  • Continuous discovery and product owner growth
  • Final workshop: participants present a product plan including vision, roadmap, prioritized backlog, and outcome metrics, and develop a personal product owner action plan

Upcoming Dates

Selected date

Istanbul · 26 – 30 Jul 2027 · Classroom

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CityDatesPrice per ParticipantEarly Bird
IstanbulScheduled
2 – 6 Nov 2026€4,700—
LisbonScheduled
9 – 13 Nov 2026€5,400—
LondonScheduled
9 – 13 Nov 2026€5,600—
MadridScheduled
16 – 20 Nov 2026€5,400—
MakkahScheduled
23 – 27 Nov 2026€4,200€3,780until 2 Nov
ManamaScheduled
30 Nov – 4 Dec 2026€4,700€4,230until 9 Nov
MarrakeshScheduled
7 – 11 Dec 2026€4,300€3,870until 16 Nov
MilanScheduled
14 – 18 Dec 2026€6,000€5,400until 23 Nov
MunichScheduled
21 – 25 Dec 2026€5,400€4,860until 30 Nov
MuscatScheduled
21 – 25 Dec 2026€5,300€4,770until 30 Nov
OnlineScheduled
27 – 31 Dec 2026€1,700€1,530until 7 Dec
ParisScheduled
4 – 8 Jan 2027€5,700€5,130until 14 Dec
RomeScheduled
11 – 15 Jan 2027€5,800€5,220until 21 Dec
SalalahScheduled
18 – 22 Jan 2027€5,300€4,770until 28 Dec
Sharm El-SheikhScheduled
25 – 29 Jan 2027€4,300€3,870until 4 Jan
ViennaScheduled
1 – 5 Feb 2027€5,700€5,130until 11 Jan
AmmanScheduled
7 – 11 Feb 2027€3,100€2,790until 18 Jan
AmsterdamScheduled
8 – 12 Feb 2027€5,400€4,860until 18 Jan
CairoScheduled
15 – 19 Feb 2027€3,300€2,970until 25 Jan
DohaScheduled
22 – 26 Feb 2027€4,400€3,960until 1 Feb
DubaiScheduled
28 Feb – 4 Mar 2027€4,400€3,960until 8 Feb
GenevaScheduled
8 – 12 Mar 2027€6,300€5,670until 15 Feb
IstanbulScheduled
15 – 19 Mar 2027€4,700€4,230until 22 Feb
LisbonScheduled
22 – 26 Mar 2027€5,400€4,860until 1 Mar
LondonScheduled
22 – 26 Mar 2027€5,600€5,040until 1 Mar
MadridScheduled
29 Mar – 2 Apr 2027€5,400€4,860until 8 Mar
MakkahScheduled
5 – 9 Apr 2027€4,200€3,780until 15 Mar
ManamaScheduled
12 – 16 Apr 2027€4,700€4,230until 22 Mar
MarrakeshScheduled
19 – 23 Apr 2027€4,300€3,870until 29 Mar
MilanScheduled
26 – 30 Apr 2027€6,000€5,400until 5 Apr
IstanbulScheduled
26 – 30 Jul 2027€4,700€4,230until 5 Jul

Available in: Istanbul · Dubai · London · Doha · Amsterdam

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