From estimation to Vision, the contrasting performance of PO’s that focus on those two different items in their work.
The Great Product Owner: The PO that lives and breathes Product Vision
As Sjoerd describes it, the great PO lives and breathes the Product Vision. With that Product Vision in mind, the PO is able to make decisions as the product emerges thanks to the actions by the team. In this segment, we also talk about how Roadmaps can sometimes negatively impact the team’s ability to execute and the PO’s ability to make decisions.
In this segment, we refer to the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast episodes with Maarten Dalmijn.
The Bad Product Owner: The Estimation-driven PO
PO’s that focus on estimation, are often trying to cover their own backs and managing expectations with stakeholders at the expense of the Scrum team’s work. In this segment, we also talk about how the estimation focus by PO’s is more of a “scarcity mindset” perspective that drives teams to be afraid and always lacking in time to do the right things.
For more on how to work without estimates as a Product Owner, check out the NoEstimates Book.
Are you having trouble helping the team working well with their Product Owner? We’ve put together a course to help you work on the collaboration team-product owner. You can find it at: bit.ly/coachyourpo. 18 modules, 8+ hours of modules with tools and techniques that you can use to help teams and PO’s collaborate.
About Sjoerd Nijland
Sjoerd is a founder of Serious Scrum, and creator of the Road to Mastery co-creative online training. Previously E-commerce manager at Bugaboo, and then Manager of Operations at Digital Agency Triggerfish.
You can link with Sjoerd Nijland on LinkedIn and connect with Sjoerd Nijland on Twitter.
