PO Camp 2022: Raffaele, Maurizio and Pasquale tell us about their experience
After participating in the PO Camp at the Poggio All’Agnello Resort on 9, 10 and 11 September 2022 in Piombino, we let Raffaele, Pasquale and Maurizio tell us what it was like to participate in an Un-conference.
The PO Camp is organized with the Open Conference formula, a format that is well suited to the Agile philosophy. In fact, there is no detailed program with the various talks scheduled, and the contents of the conference are decided by the participants themselves.
Is this the first time you have participated? And what topics were covered?
Raffaele: No, it's the second time. Since it was an un-conference, there were no predefined topics and talks, everyone could choose a topic to talk about, or ask others to talk about it, or decide to discuss it all together. We talked about Agile, the role of the Product Manager, the Product Owner, sustainability and ethics linked to the product concept, methodologies.
Maurizio: Last year I was there only briefly, but this year I strongly wanted to participate because I deal with product ownership, and this is a conference focused on this theme. And because it is an un-conference, so there is no passive listening, but a collaboration, an exchange of ideas with different people who are involved in the same work as you. We talked about many topics, I specifically introduced issues related to product ownership and Agile.
Pasquale: For me it was the first time at the PO Camp and in general in an un-conference, an unstructured event in which everyone participates in the construction of the program. Everyone contributes with their own point of view, compares their experiences with those of others, always trying to improve. I followed various issues, especially metrics, Release Planning, discovery applied to products.
What topics did you talk about?
Raffaele: I dealt with Cloud Sustainability, that is, what the current state is and how the production of software impacts the environment, and this speaking of the Cloud, of how the software is released into production.
I talked about how to transfer the concepts of value and need related to a product to the customer, and then I talked about the Product Team as a Service. Finally, I asked for a meeting with the PO Camp organizers to find common goals between the PO Camp itself and the Product Management Day.
Maurizio: I talked about the Volcano, and we talked about how a Product Team as a Service works to see if others had this kind of experience both as providers and as users of this service. We then discussed more specific issues and talked about how to best apply Agile Methodology in a team.
Pasquale: We created a small session on the Impact Mapping model we use in 20tab, a broader model than Gojko's which also provides for the mapping of the opportunities we want to satisfy, which we want to intercept from users interested in the product we are building.
Was there any speech or topic that struck you most?
Raffaele: Yes, in a session moderated by Dimitri Favre we talked about product ownership, the role of the PO and the differences (if any) with the Product Manager.
I was also very impressed by a talk in which we talked about how to expand the community even outside the PO Camp, and how to bring the topics of the various talks to other contexts as well.
Maurizio: I really enjoyed a talk in which we talked about a tool that I had used in the past, but that I had never seen applied to product ownership: Process Mining. We then also talked about it in 20tab.
Pasquale: I enjoyed many talks. Surely the one on Release Planning, an activity that we will almost certainly bring to 20tab, and that we need to have a longer vision on the Sprints to carry out to achieve the more general goal.
What added value do you bring to 20tab?
Raffaele: The importance of confrontation, of mutual exchange, and a huge wealth of experience from others. And then an important network of possible collaborations and partners.
Maurizio: Process Mining applied to other realities, and its possible use in 20tab. And the importance of sharing ideas for continuous improvement.
Pasquale: The values that concern sharing, horizontality, the absence of hierarchies. And the concept of inclusiveness.
