• Agile & Scrum Basics

Download: New Product Goal Canvas

Scrum has a new component since January 2021: the Product Goal. I personally am very happy with this official addition. Why? I saw many teams struggling with their Product Backlog: they often got bogged down in the delusion of the day. Thanks to the Product Goal, the team can really focus on impact again. However, the new Scrum Guide only gives you the frameworks for the Product Goal. In this article, instead, you download a very practical and immediately applicable elaboration: the Product Goal Canvas.

What is the Product Goal?

The word Product puts many people on the wrong track. You quickly think of an item you check off at the supermarket, or something more technical like an app and then perhaps a new gadget. Yet the all-encompassing word Product in the term Product Goal has a more abstract meaning. Here, Product means: what you produce as a team. Think of it as the value of all your work. So it may be that you have multiple products on your team’s menu, which together bring you added value.

The Product Goal describes what connects your team. As such, it is also a long-term goal. As long as the Product Goal remains valuable, your team has a right to exist. Also read what the official Scrum Guide has to say about the Product Goal.

The Product Goal Canvas as a living document

Like all the artifacts of Scrum, the Product Goal is a dynamic document. It always describes the current understanding about your team’s long-term goal. That description really doesn’t have to be perfect. A Product Goal is good enough when it gives direction to the work and when it connects the team. So gradually you can update the Product Goal with new insights, nuances and better descriptions.

When do you use the Product Goal Canvas?

Scrum is an approach where, like lean, you try to avoid waste. If you were to complete the Product Goal once and then put it in a pile in a drawer, it’s of little use. We recommend Product Owners use the canvas at two key moments: the Backlog Refinement and Sprint Reviews. At these Scrum Events, the canvas helps prioritize work. Incidentally, it also helps to say no to work that doesn’t fit the team’s value-add (and thus the Product Goal). Good for focus!

Get the Product Goal Canvas

I would be happy to email you a template for the Product Goal Canvas. Enter your email address below and you will receive the canvas within minutes.

Having doubts afterwards about how best to fill in the canvas for your team? Then feel free to get in touch and simply reply to the email I sent you with the canvas attached. I look forward to seeing what my Product Goal Canvas template can do for you.