TRENCHBUILT
The Product Owner's Field Guide, Volume 1: The Core
The Product Owner's Field Guide, Volume 2: Release & Scale

The Product Owner's Field Guide · Volumes 1 and 2

The book you keep beside your laptop

while you do the job · The Field Guide series by Olu Durojaiye

Swing a book, or tap it to see what's inside. See both tables of contents · Meet the author

What's inside

Not a textbook. A field kit for the job nobody fully explained to you.

What to build, how to say no, how to keep delivery on track, what to do on release night, and what to do when something breaks in production. Written by Olu Durojaiye, a product and program leader who has worked with Microsoft, the Options Clearing Corporation, TD Bank, Cencora, and more.

157Tear-out tools you can use the same day
35Chapters across two volumes
630Illustrated pages, with room to write
11Recurring characters you'll recognize from work

Tear-out tools

Templates, scripts, and scorecards, many with a worked example already filled in. Copy them for yourself and your team.

From the Field

True stories from real delivery work: the stakeholder who pushed to ship with open defects, the release night that went wrong, the regulator in the room.

A cast, not a lecture

Maya and her team talk on the page in speech bubbles, so you see the tension with engineering, the business, and leadership, not just read about it.

PO Field Checklists

One page per pitfall: warning signs, red flags, the questions to ask, and what good looks like.

Method-neutral

Agile, waterfall, or hybrid. Regulated or not. The guide works in the delivery model you actually have.

From roadmap to career

Volume 2 takes you from idea to production, through release night, onto the release train with SAFe, and into your next role.

Sample page from Volume 1: an illustrated chapter opener showing the tension between the cast
The tension, drawnEvery chapter opens on the conflict, not just the topic.
Sample page from Volume 1: The PO Journey map
The PO Journey mapThe whole role on one page, before Chapter 1.
Sample page from Volume 1: Meet the Cast
Meet the castEvery character, and the question they always ask.
Sample page from Volume 2: Anatomy of a Release, From Idea to Production
From idea to productionFollow one change from request to live.
Sample page from Volume 2: a real-life roadmap
A roadmap that survives realityLane by lane, with the freezes in plain sight.
Sample page from Volume 2: the Go/No-Go Gauge tear-out tool
Go/No-Go GaugeA tear-out that turns release night into an evidence-based call.
Table of contents

Know exactly what you're getting.

Volume 1 · The Core

18 chapters · 4 parts · 344 pages · 97 tear-out tools

Part 1 · Foundations2 chapters
  1. 1What a Product Owner Actually Does
  2. 2Your First 30, 60, and 90 Days
Part 2 · Discovery and the Backlog6 chapters
  1. 3Discovery: Knowing What to Build
  2. 4Writing Requirements and User Stories Teams Trust
  3. 5Acceptance Criteria and the Definition of Done
  4. 6Prioritization That Holds Up
  5. 7Triage and the Daily Backlog
  6. 8Backlog Refinement and Readiness
Part 3 · People4 chapters
  1. 9Stakeholder Mapping, With Scripts
  2. 10Saying No Without Burning Bridges
  3. 11Earning Trust With Engineering
  4. 12Leading Without Authority
Part 4 · Delivery and Production Support6 chapters
  1. 13Delivery Rhythms: Agile, Waterfall, and Hybrid
  2. 14Keeping Delivery on Track
  3. 15Bugs and Defects: Keeping the Defect Backlog Honest
  4. 16Production Incidents: When Something Breaks Badly
  5. 17When the Regulator Is a Stakeholder
  6. 18Metrics That Matter (and Vanity Ones to Drop)

Volume 2 · Release & Scale

17 chapters · 3 parts · 286 pages · 60 tear-out tools

Part 5 · The Release Cycle9 chapters
  1. 19Anatomy of a Release: From Idea to Production
  2. 20Release Planning and Roadmaps That Survive Reality
  3. 21Environments and Quality Gates
  4. 22Release Readiness and the Go/No-Go Call
  5. 23Change Management and the CAB
  6. 24Deployment and Cutover
  7. 25Release Notes and Communication
  8. 26When a Release Goes Wrong
  9. 27Hypercare and Measuring Outcomes
Part 6 · Scaling With SAFe6 chapters
  1. 28The Agile Release Train
  2. 29PI Planning
  3. 30PO vs. Product Manager
  4. 31Epics, Capabilities, and Features
  5. 32Release on Demand
  6. 33Where SAFe Breaks, and What to Do
Part 7 · Career2 chapters
  1. 34Interviews, Portfolios, and Certifications
  2. 35Your Next Move
The series

One series. Same cast. Different seat.

Ebook, spiral-bound to lie flat beside your laptop, or paperback. Print editions ship worldwide. Plus the Field Guide Bootcamp: live training over four Saturdays, built on the guides.

What's inside