The Great Product Owner: The Absolute User Who Works Two Quarters Ahead
“The Product Owner needs to be the absolute user of the software—the user’s journey so well defined in their mind that every engineer’s question already has an answer, with context.” – Wasim Osman
Wasim’s best Product Owner works ahead of the team without doing the team’s work. Their product roadmap is well-defined at least two quarters ahead of the development cycle, so nobody is panicking against tomorrow’s deadline. Designers and product people work on concepts months before development starts, which gives them room to show early ideas to engineers and gather feedback while there’s still time to change course.
Crucially, this PO is the absolute user of the software—so completely inside the user’s journey that when an engineer asks “how does this connect to that module?”, the answer is ready, with context. Wasim connects this to how his team uses AI today: the PO can run ahead, spin up prototypes, and iterate on the ideas without burdening the team with building throwaway work—while staying the voice of the customer.
Self-reflection Question: How far ahead of your team is your Product Owner really working—and could they answer an engineer’s design question today without going back to the drawing board?
The Bad Product Owner: When Optimism Overrides the Data
“They were optimistic without any data. We had the data—they were just being wishful.” – Wasim Osman
The worst anti-pattern Wasim has seen is the Product Owner whose optimism overrides the evidence. In one company, a customer asked for a delivery estimate, and the product team promised an aggressive date—”optimistic without any data,” even though the data existed. When the engineering team sat down with the numbers, it was obvious the date was impossible, but that gap never reached the customer.
The product team stayed disconnected from both the engineers and the customer, so expectations kept drifting from reality. Wasim, who held the data, finally bridged the two and told the product team the real timeline was several months later. They “lost their minds”—but by then it was too late to renegotiate gracefully.
The deeper anti-pattern: features handed down without enough depth, so the moment engineering hits real questions mid-development, the PO panics and rushes back to the drawing board while development is already in motion. As Wasim says, “optimism just took over too much.”
Self-reflection Question: When was the last time optimism—not evidence—set a delivery date on your team, and who had the data that should have been in the room?
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About Wasim Osman
Wasim Osman is a seasoned Agile Coach and a Product Owner at Orkestra SCS. He launched his agile career at a Silicon Valley startup based in New York, then spent years coaching teams across Canada, helping organizations transform how they deliver value. Wasim brings a rare blend of agile discipline and product thinking. He’s passionate about building technology that drives real business impact.
You can link with Wasim Osman on LinkedIn.
