The Scrum Alliance product owner certification is the most recognized in the industry. By taking this course, I improved my knowledge about the framework, principles, and values that make scrum work, plus key skills and tools needed to be effective. I also learned new techniques on how to juggle multiple stakeholders’ needs, get hands-on practice creating a product vision, and found new ways to get to know customers to choose the right next piece of value to bring to market for them.

The Client Needs and Software Requirements course by the University of Alberta covers practical techniques to elicit and express software requirements from client interactions.

The DevOps Foundations course by the DevOps institute provided me with a baseline understanding of DevOps, the cultural and professional movement that stresses communication, collaboration, integration, and automation to improve the flow of work between software developers and IT operations professionals.

As a Certified SAFe 4 Practitioner (SP) I know how to use Scrum, Kanban, and XP in a SAFe environment. I‘m familiar with planning Program Increments and iterations, demoing value at a team and program level, and removing impediments to drive relentless improvement.

The Digital Product Management: Modern Fundamentals course by the University of Virginia helped me to gain new skills and techniques to successfully manage a product, use modern product management methods, learn to manage new products, and explore new ideas to amplify existing products.

As a product manager, I know how important it is to explain concepts and ideas clearly and make people feel valued and listened to. To improve my communication skills, I completed “Communication Strategies for a Virtual Age“, an online course that provides science-based tools and strategies to communicate in a world of online meetings.

My takeaways from the course:

* Do you want to 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲? Speak in the first person, use informal language, and don’t give too many details.
* Do you want to 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦? Recognize team members in front of their peers.
* Do you want to help your team to better 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬? Let them complain, it’s as human as breathing. Give your team a place to vent.
* Do you want people to 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧? Ask rhetorical questions and request your audience to do a physical action (e.g. typing an answer/opinion in the chat)
* Do you want people to 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫? Stick to the basics. They will only remember 5% of what you say. That is, one concept and a general impression of you. When it comes to presentations, keep text to a minimum (aka the lazy rule). The brain is better at processing images than written information.
* Do you want people to 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 in what you are saying? Use uncertainty to create curiosity. “Area 47” is an almond-shape part of your brain that shuts down when you know exactly what’s coming next and get bored. When people have to figure out something by themselves, Area 47 gets active and releases dopamine when they manage to solve the mystery (the so-called Aha! moment).

My Journey into the World of Data

Using Analytics to Prioritize User Stories