In this episode, we refer to story mapping as a key tool for maintaining focus and alignment.
The Great Product Owner: Embedding Prioritization as a Daily Discipline
“She had this section called ‘Not Required Anymore.’ Every time, it was a very subtle and a very respectful way of saying to the team: great idea, but the goals changed. We don’t need it anymore.” – Bhavin Shukla
Bhavin describes a Product Owner who turned prioritization into a living discipline. She built a culture of co-creation where everyone contributed ideas to the backlog, but she also saw the biggest risk coming early: misalignment from siloed ideas. Her approach was to use story maps extensively in refinements and planning, communicating weekly with customers to collect feedback.
When the direction changed — and it regularly did — she articulated the shift clearly: “Goals changed, here’s what we’re doing now.” Her stroke of genius was a section on the story map called “Not Required Anymore,” where deprioritized ideas landed respectfully. Nobody felt offended; they understood customers’ needs had shifted.
This created a culture where people kept contributing ideas courageously, knowing that even if priorities changed, their input was valued. The result was a team that could adapt without chaos, maintaining focus while embracing change.
Self-reflection Question: How does your Product Owner communicate changes in direction? Is there a respectful, transparent mechanism for showing the team what’s no longer needed — and why?
The Bad Product Owner: The No-Feedback Product Owner
“I was looking for those keywords — a change in priorities, a change in the roadmap. Those conversations were missing. And when I asked about the roadmap, I got crickets.” – Bhavin Shukla
Bhavin shares the story of a Product Owner who was brilliant at articulating value in the backlog — customer-centric stories, well-structured work. On the surface, everything looked great: goals were being met, the team was delivering. But something subtle was wrong. The roadmap never changed. Priorities never shifted.
There were no conversations about customer feedback changing direction. When Bhavin got curious and asked to see the roadmap, he realized it was a static delivery plan, not a living document. The Product Owner wasn’t collecting feedback from customers, so there was never a reason to adapt.
The team was essentially building in a vacuum — shipping features nobody was validating. It’s an anti-pattern that’s easy to miss when the team is performing well on internal metrics but disconnected from real customer value.
Self-reflection Question: Is your team’s roadmap a living document that changes based on customer feedback, or has it become a static delivery plan? When was the last time a priority genuinely shifted based on what you learned from users?
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About Bhavin Shukla
Bhavin joins us from Australia. Bhavin is driven by unlocking potential and helping people thrive in ambiguity through clarity, honesty, and discipline. He believes growth comes from truthful conversations, thoughtful experimentation, and learning from failure. Guided by ownership, confidence, kindness, and purpose, he focuses on what matters most to build meaningful progress for himself and others.
You can link with Bhavin Shukla on LinkedIn.
