Q&A blog with Joshua Agyemang

1. Tell us about your journey with ai and what led you to choose this area of work. 

My journey with The ai Corporation began three years ago when I joined as a Business Analyst. I was excited to be presented with the challenge not only to support the aiRiskNet^® team in practicing Agile methodology but also to develop myself. With 5 years of experience in a Business Analyst role within an Agile environment, I accepted the Product Owner challenge, as it aligned with both my business objectives and my personal objectives. I have always had a passion for Change Management and managing customers' expectations to deliver quality enhancement and new features to them using Agile Methodology. 

 2. How has your role evolved over the years at ai?

Over the past three years, my role at The ai Corporation transformed remarkably as I was promoted from Business Analyst to Product Owner. From defining requirements from a customer's perspective to owning the Product backlog and being part of the Scrum team to implement and deliver value to our customers, it has been an immense advancement in my career. This has led to three core responsibilities that I now manage: managing internal stakeholders, managing external stakeholders, and managing the product. 

3. What is a typical day like for you? 

A typical day for me is usually split into 3 sections. First section with the Scrum Team; second, I will meet with internal or external stakeholders; and third, I will administer my core Product Owner functions: 

Time with the Scrum: My day begins with a demo session, where our development team presents the changes implemented within a sprint for the product owners to accept. This is followed by a daily Scrum to receive updates on the previous day’s achievements and define what needs to be accomplished by the end of the business day (COB). The final session is a refinement session to review complexity and agree on proposed solutions to get the ticket ready for a sprint. 

Time with internal or external stakeholders: This time is spent discussing various priority issues and reviewing existing and new changes raised with either internal or external stakeholders.

Core product functions: This involves reviewing the product backlog, creating tickets, triaging raised tickets, reviewing the SSR backlog and managing changes, creating BRDs, creating release notes, and prioritising backlog items. 

4. What is your team like?  

The scrum team shares a common goal: to collaborate and work together to complete projects. This is the Scrum Master, Product Owner and a group of developers. To ensure quality delivery, the team also collaborates with the quality assurance team to review and sign off all changes or implementations made. 

5. How do you ensure that your training and knowledge remain current?  

Working in a fast-paced technological environment requires that I keep up with best practices and processes within the software development world. The ai Corporation has made this possible by providing access to leading online learning platforms such as Pluralsight and ESI. Our organisation also encourages gaining certifications that benefit the role we’re in, and I have personally benefited from this as I have been able to achieve the Certified Product Owner and Advanced Certified Product Owner certifications with Scrum Alliance. 

6. What’s the best part of your job? 

Eliciting, clarifying, and documenting requirements from stakeholders to deliver value to either the business or our customers. I enjoy collaborating with the Scrum team, whether it's from project initiation through to closure or from the start of a sprint to closure. Brainstorming issues, challenges, and potential solutions to ensure not only that new functionality works as expected after implementation but also that all bugs and defects raised are resolved. It is all highly rewarding. 

7.  What’s your proudest moment at ai so far? 

My proudest moment is establishing the change process and efficiently managing all changes and projects within the aiRiskNet^® fraud team. This includes implementing all the Agile ceremonies and processes to deliver value to our customers and the business. 

8. How would you describe ai in three words? 

Innovative, impactful, ethical 

9. What do you enjoy most about working for ai? 

I am truly excited to work for ai because the organisation believes in nurturing talent and fostering a positive company culture. There are opportunities for career development, a sense of purpose through the company’s mission, strong team collaboration, work efforts valued by leadership and the chance to learn new skills and develop professionally. 

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