dictator po Archives - Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

Manuele Piastra: Customer-Centric Product Ownership, and how it grows the product IQ of the Scrum team

The Great Product Owner: Coaching the Uncoachable, Dealing with Difficult Product Owners

In this segment, Manuele talks about the anti-pattern of a Product Owner (PO) with a product manager background. PO’s with this background tend to focus on managing the work and the team, assigning tasks themselves, and writing solution-centric stories. They provide little focus on the “why” and the vision, which deviates from the idea of working as a team and breaks team dynamics. Manuele suggests nurturing the relationship if the PO is open to learning and working with you, but redefining the coaching contract with the sponsors if the PO is a senior person who is used to telling others what to do. If you can’t coach the PO, Manuele advises considering getting out of there.

For ideas, tips, and models to use when coaching your Product Owner, check out our Coach Your PO e-course, now on its second version.

The Bad Product Owner: Customer-Centric Product Ownership, and how it grows the product IQ of the team

In this episode, Manuele talks about the impact a great Product Owner (PO) can have on a Scrum team. He explains that great POs start from the “why” and develop a compelling vision for the product. They find out who the customers and personas are and help team members get in touch directly with customers and stakeholders. This helps raise the product IQ of the team, making them more product savvy. Great POs allow team members to talk to customers and stakeholders to understand their needs better. Manuele suggests that POs should frame the problems clearly and not worry about how the team divides the work. When working with a great PO, it feels easy.

The Ultimate Guide to Supporting Product Owners as a Scrum Master

Are you having trouble helping the team work 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 Manuele Piastra

Manuele Piastra moved to London in 2014, which was a life-changing experience for him. He gained access to more sources of learning, worked in fast-paced companies with complex technology stacks and ambitious goals, and developed open-mindedness, patience, and autonomy.

You can link with Manuele Piastra on LinkedIn and connect with Manuele Piastra on Twitter.

Bram De Block: Working with great Technical Product Owners, and how they use their technical expertise to help the team

The Great Product Owner: Working with great Technical Product Owners, and how they use their technical expertise to help the team

Great Product Owners can have a technical background, and use it to the team’s and their own advantage. Bram notes that the PO’s understanding of the impact of technical debt makes it easier for them to understand the team’s struggles. Leading to productive conversations, and the team being given time to handle technical debt issues.

Bram advises that a great Product Owner should be present and available to the team, sitting down with them during lunch breaks to discuss issues and concerns. He suggests helping the PO develop their own system to keep the product backlog manageable and addresses common counter arguments he gets from PO’s when asking them to limit the size of their backlog. Bram also provides tips on how to have a conversation about the consequences of adding too many things to the backlog and how to help the PO say “no” to stakeholders.

The Bad Product Owner: Working with technical PO’s to address dictatorial behavior and improve team motivation

Sometimes, Product Owners who have a technical background tend to dictate solutions to the team without considering other options. Bram notes that these PO’s are often not open to different or better solutions and even question the team’s progress. He suggests addressing this issue by making it transparent, showing the impact it has on the team, and discussing how team members feel about the collaboration with the PO.
Bram also highlights the impact this behavior has on team motivation and provides tips on how to handle this situation, such as using real situations to help the product owner reflect and encouraging open discussion of team feelings in the retrospective.

About Bram De Block

Bram is not an official trainer, consultant nor freelancer. He is just himself, supporting colleagues in applying and growing their own potential and getting stuff done. Bram started as a software developer for 10 years, then grew into a half-time agile coach, and finally, full-time “Global Agile Lead” at Skyline Communications. Something “special” he learned (even if he wishes it wasn’t special): the meaning and impact of “respect”.

You can link with Bram De Block on LinkedIn, or meet Bram face-to-face at this meetup he hosts in Belgium.

Stacey Taurah: Putting people first, a Product Owner lesson that Scrum Masters can amplify!

The Great Product Owner: Putting people first, a Product Owner lesson that Scrum Masters can amplify!

Great Product Owners put people first in their decision making. Whether it is the team, or the customers, or the stakeholders, they focus on the interaction and the improvements they can deliver to those people. Great PO’s consider the input from everyone in the process, and help the Scrum Master make work fun, because teams that have fun, are more creative and more productive!

The Bad Product Owner: Why PO’s want to act as dictators, and how we can help Agile teams change the dynamic

Sometimes Product Owners behave like dictators. They want to tell the team exactly what to do, and sometimes even how to do it! This pattern can be promoted by a PO with technical background, but it hides a seriously negative dynamic! Listen in to learn why PO’s sometimes want to act like dictators, and what to do about it.

About Stacey Taurah

A seasoned agile coach with a squiggly line into tech and delivery. From forensics to frameworks and all that’s in between.

You can link with Stacey Taurah on LinkedIn.

Ricardo Ribeiro: Setting Scrum teams free! A Product Owner superpower

The Great Product Owner: Setting Scrum teams free! A Product Owner superpower

Great Product Owners are able to focus the team on concrete goals that the team feels committed to achieve. They are available to the team when necessary, and through the use of clear goals gives the team the decision power on how to achieve the goals!

The Bad Product Owner: Helping PO’s stop dictating the “how” to their Scrum teams

When Product Owners want to dictate how developers work, it can lead to conflict, and lack of motivation from the part of the team! But how to detect the more subtle ways in which PO’s try to dictate to developers the “how”? In this episode, we talk about several different aspects of this PO anti-pattern, and then discuss how Scrum Masters can evaluate how they can help the Product Owners.

About Ricardo Ribeiro

Ricardo is a Scrum Master (PSM) and certified Professional Scrum Product Owner™ (PSPO) with over 10 years of experience leading high-performing teams and delivering complex Transformational Programmes within the Banking, IT, Computer Hardware and Oil & Gas companies.

You can link with Ricardo Ribeiro on LinkedIn.