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  • ICP-APO certification
  • Self-paced, start now
  • Digital workbook (Companion)
  • AskMike - digital coach
  • Money-back guarantee
  • Bonus: Kanban course
  • Bonus: 20+ tools & templates

Top 10% of ICAgile Orgs

Thousands Certified

Decades of agile experience

Proven Strategies
Actionable Tools
Battle-tested Insights

Agile Product Owner (ICP-APO) is a practical, hands-on course that will elevate your career as a Product Owner. Whether you're new to the role or looking to sharpen your edge, this course delivers proven strategies, battle-tested insights, and actionable tools that will help you deliver the right thing, to the right people, at the right time. We co-created ICAgile’s standards for self-paced learning and maintain a five-star learner rating for relevance and engagement.

Proven Playbook

Proven Playbook

Drive value and accelerate product delivery with practical, battle-tested tools and strategies.

Advance your Career

Advance your Career

Stand out for promotions, new roles and bigger opportunities with a globally recognized certification.

100% Self-Paced

100% Self-Paced

No deadlines. No stress. Learn when and how you want - on YOUR terms.

HI, I'M MIKE LYONS!

In 2006 I read the Agile Manifesto for the first time and it changed my career. Before Agile was even “a thing”, I saw how working in small batches, fast feedback, and shipping often was key.

From that point on, I became dedicated to helping teams and organizations become faster, nimbler and more adaptive. Across my 30 year career I’ve worked with startups, non-profits, state and local governments and fortune 100 enterprises to get real results with agile.

But it hasn't all been rainbows and lollipops.

I’ve made plenty of mistakes and seen agile fail miserably. Today I look back on these blunders with gratitude, because they gave me the wisdom needed to move beyond the theory of agile and really get results.

And I've distilled what I've learned into the fastest most effective way to earn the ICP-APO certification.

WHAT'S COVERED

Agile Product Owner is packed with everything that Product Owners need to build, enhance and maintain ground-breaking products.

Understand what constitutes value in various organizational contexts (corporate, nonprofit, government) and customer types (internal/external). Learn to define value as outcomes that address customer needs while remaining viable for the organization.

Apply facilitation techniques to build shared understanding of product vision, value delivery, and desired outcomes. Address concerns and risks through effective communication, not just in meetings.

Differentiate between customers and stakeholders across various contexts. Understand that stakeholders fund or influence work while customers use the product and whose problems Product Ownership seeks to solve.

Use tools like empathy maps and personas to gain deep insight into customer contexts, needs, problems, and goals.

Apply techniques such as user journeys and prototypes to discover and validate customer problems, facilitating innovation and avoiding premature solution focus. Communicate findings effectively with teams and stakeholders.

dentify stakeholders and assess their engagement using tools like stakeholder maps and power-interest grids. Understand organizational dynamics that affect stakeholder influence.

Communicate transparently about priorities, progress, and risks. Foster alignment by proactively involving stakeholders in discussions about product outcomes and decisions.

Align delivery work with the product vision to maintain flexibility, manage scope, and set stakeholder expectations while providing team members with purpose.

Define and track both qualitative and quantitative success metrics early in the product lifecycle. Differentiate between outcome-based and output-based measures to ensure meaningful delivery.

Create and manage a dynamic product backlog through collaborative techniques and continuous refinement, ensuring it evolves with customer feedback and product vision.Implement objective prioritization using tools such as Business Value Definition, Kano Analysis, and MoSCoW. Drive clarity and decisiveness in backlog management and trade-off discussions.

Build product plans (roadmaps, release plans) that clearly communicate value delivery, dependencies, and risks. Align plans with the broader product strategy and proactively mitigate constraints.

Establish clear Definitions of Done at various levels of work to ensure shared understanding of completion. Differentiate between Definition of Done and acceptance criteria to avoid delivery risks.

Regularly evaluate delivered value using outcome-based metrics. Provide constructive feedback to teams to foster continuous learning and improvement.

Utilize multiple techniques (demos, telemetry, focus groups) to capture actionable customer feedback. Adapt methods based on customer interaction opportunities and product context.

Continuously assess whether ongoing work is delivering needed value. Apply principles of experimentation and validated learning to make informed decisions about pivoting, continuing, or stopping development.

LEARNERS LOVE KAIRISE

Hillary E

Consultant

I appreciated this comprehensive course ... To have a coherent, cohesive summary has been really insightful. I enjoyed the pace and the relevant anecdotes, and I will definitely be revisiting the templates and handy checklists for my next client engagements. Worth the $

Francisco D

Application Developer

This course is truly next level on content engagement and the way information is presented. Mike is a truly great teacher! If you are unsure about this course don't be!

Dmitrii A

Founder

This course is practical, actionable, comfortable, and easygoing. Strongly recommend!!!!

Scott J.

Sales Manager

Very engaging facilitator with great context and examples to ensure learning is real world practical Highly recommend!

Rob T.

Project Manager

The format of the course allows you to continue working and when a quiet moment arises you can do a short stint in the course.

Melissa G.

System Analyst

Mike was great and presented the material in a fun way that made it easy and enjoyable to learn. I liked how I could easily pick up right where I left off with my busy schedule and had no issues working through in the go on my phone. 5 stars!

Kelly K.

Engineer

This course is the perfect length, at the correct level of detail, and in a well-organized format. The video lessons are engaging, and the knowledge checks at the end of each section quickly ensure understanding of the material.

Jennifer A.

Instructional Designer

This course was just what I needed to get started working in an Agile environment. The variety of presentation methods and activities helped keep me engaged.

Jamie S.

Business Analyst

I have never been in a more fun and engaging course than this one. Every single style of learning is covered and the knowledge checks really help cement the material. Bravo!

Lindsey P.

Projects Coordinator

I am a Certified ScrumMaster, but I truly believe this course has set me up for broader organizational success. This self-paced course is the perfect fit for developing more Agilists in our organization.

Galina S.

Program Manager

The course included the "what" and laid out well the "how", so I am walking away with actionable ideas for how better to run my own projects and run a team.

Rachel N.

Consultant

I'm so happy that this course was offered! It's fully comprehensive for beginning a path toward more advanced training and certificates.

Daphne P.

Consultant

Highly recommend for the bite sized well designed course, that includes relevant easy to apply activities, and a great instructor who speaks to you, not at you. Very well done and would take more courses designed like this.

Ryan D

Web Developer

I loved this course! Mike was thorough and fun throughout the course. He was easy to follow, and the pace of the course was just right.

ZERO RISK MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE

If you didn't feel like this course was worth every penny, we'll happily refund you - no questions asked.

Frequently Asked Questions

Prior to taking this course, we recommend that you have a basic grasp of agile ways of working, including methods like Scrum. 

If you don't, check out our Agile Foundations course.

FOREVER! With your registration you'll get lifetime access to the full course content in including new lesson, tools and other course enhancements.

Once you've registered you'll get instant access to all of the lessons online via any computer or mobile device.

You can access your courses through the My Dashboard link in the header. 

Send an email to [email protected]

We are pretty quick to respond. 

Once you've purchased the course you'll instantly get access to all the assets in Toolkit+. 

Simply click the Toolkit link in the header. 

Yes, your registration includes everything required to earn the ICP-APO certification.

Learners can claim 16 PDUs. Please note that PMI PDUs are earned for course attendance and not for passing a KaiRise final assessment. 

Students can claim PDUs under PMI's "Education courses provided by other third party providers” category. 

Students of KaiRise courses are able to claim SEUs after completing all of the lessons in the program. Learners can claim 16 (sixteen) SEUs. Students can claim SEUs under the Scrum Alliances's "Learning" category. SEUs can be claimed online at https://www.scrumalliance.org/get-certified/scrum-education-units

The course concludes with a multiple choice quiz. The quiz is embedded in the course itself, you will not need to go anywhere else to take it. There are no time restrictions for completing the quiz. You can attempt the quiz as many times as you like. Questions are drawn from quizzes in preceding lessons. Your passing score must be 80% or higher to receive the certification. Learners may attempt the exam multiple times to achieve a passing score.

That's the beauty of a self-paced course, you can move through it at whatever speed works best for you. We've seen determined learners finish the course in a day. But most learners prefer to spread the course out over 3-5 days, working a few hours each day. 

No, the fundamentals are not covered in this course. 

This course assumes that you have a basic grasp of  agile ways of working including methods like Scrum. 

If you don't, check out our Agile Foundations course.

The problem with instructor-led courses is that you're not in control. You have to learn at the instructor's pace and you have no ability to go back and refresh yourself on the material after the class ended. 

With our course, you can complete the lessons when it's most relevant to your work and go back and review whenever you need to. 

By integrating the learning into your flow of work, it becomes far more relevant, timely and effective.