prioritization Archives - Page 2 of 5 - Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

Agile in Construction: The Product Owner Role in Construction—Voice of the Customer Across Every Phase With Felipe Engineer-Manriquez

In this episode, we refer to Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Team of Teams by General Stanley McChrystal, as well as our Agile in Construction episodes.

The Great Product Owner: Bringing the Voice of the Customer to Every Decision

“I want you to think like the owner, and bring that to the team meetings, because we can’t have the owner in the meetings with us.” – Felipe Engineer-Manriquez

The Product Owner role in construction is radically different from software—and Felipe has learned to find it in unexpected places. When Jeff Sutherland told his class to “tear up your business cards” because only three roles exist (Developer, Scrum Master, Product Owner), construction people were confused. Felipe’s approach: ask the team who can bring the voice of the customer. Sometimes it’s the superintendent, interfacing daily with charge nurses and doctors in a working hospital. Sometimes it’s a project executive. Rarely, it’s the project manager. The key is that the PO role changes across phases because every day in construction is brand new—the building is physically taking shape. Felipe studied military leadership in Extreme Ownership and Team of Teams and found strong product owner culture—leaders who brought customer voice to cell-level teams against hierarchical norms. Great product owners speak in terms of what the customer wants, transforming how teams prioritize and align naturally.

Self-reflection Question: Who on your team currently embodies the voice of the customer, and how might you coach them to bring that perspective more explicitly to every team interaction?

The Bad Product Owner: When Gut Decisions Override Value

“Value is a beneficial transformation of materials, information, or a combination of both. Let’s not do things that don’t transform information or materials.” – Felipe Engineer-Manriquez

Felipe shares a powerful anti-pattern: owners who make gut decisions based on past project trauma without checking if conditions are still true. On a $100 million project, an owner repeatedly introduces work that doesn’t add value—reacting to bad things that happened on previous projects, even when those conditions no longer exist. The result? Teams waste time on activities that don’t transform materials or information. Felipe teaches teams an industrial engineering definition of value: “a beneficial transformation of materials, information, or a combination of both.” Status updates that don’t change behavior are waste. Markings on metal decking that will be buried under 5 inches of concrete are waste. The fix? Make the backlog visible and ask: “Where should we zipper this in so it has the most impact on transforming materials or information?” For construction, prioritization always comes back to getting the right materials in place, one time, at the right time—not touching things twice.

Self-reflection Question: When stakeholders introduce work based on past experiences, how do you help them evaluate whether those conditions still apply to the current situation?

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About Felipe Engineer-Manriquez

Felipe Engineer-Manriquez is a best-selling author, international speaker, and host of The EBFC Show. A force in Lean and Agile, he helps teams build faster with less effort. Felipe trains and coaches changemakers worldwide—and wrote Construction Scrum to make work easier, better, and faster for everyone.

You can link with Felipe Engineer-Manriquez on LinkedIn.

You can also find Felipe at thefelipe.bio.link, check out The EBFC Show podcast, and join the EBFC Scrum Community of Practice

Sara Di Gregorio: Facilitating Deeper Retrospectives—When to Step In and When to Step Back

“When they start connecting and having an interesting discussion, I go to the corner, and I’m only trying to listen.” – Sara Di Gregorio

Sara faces a challenge that many Scrum Masters encounter: teams that want to discuss too many topics during retrospectives without going deep on any of them. The team had plenty to talk about, but conversations stayed surface-level, never reaching the insights that drive real improvement. Sara recognized that the aim of the retrospective isn’t to talk about everything—it’s to go deeper on topics the team genuinely cares about.

So she started coaching teams to select just three main topics they wanted to discuss, helping them understand why prioritization matters and making explicit which topics are most important. But her real skill emerged in how she facilitated the discussions. When she saw communication starting to flow and team members becoming deeply connected to the topic, she moved to the corner and listened. She didn’t abandon the team—she remained present, ready to help shy or quiet members speak up, watching the clock to respect timeboxes.

But she understood that when teams connect authentically, the Scrum Master’s job is to create space, not fill it. Sara learned to ask better questions too. Instead of repeatedly asking “Why? Why? Why?”—which can feel accusatory—she reformulated: “How did you approach it? What happens?” When teams started blaming other teams, she redirected: “What can we influence? What can we do from our side?” She used visual tools like white paper, sharpies, and sticky notes to help teams visualize their discussion steps and create structured moments for questions.

Sometimes, when teams discussed complex technical topics beyond her understanding, she empowered them: “You are the main expert of this topic. Please, when someone sees that we’re going out of topic or getting too detailed, raise your hand and help me bring the communication back to what we’ve chosen to talk about.”

This balance—knowing when to step in with structure and when to step back and listen—is what transforms retrospectives from checkbox events into genuine opportunities for team growth.

Self-reflection Question: In your facilitation, are you creating space for deep team connection, or are you inadvertently filling the space that teams need to discover insights for themselves?

Transform Your Agile Teams with Hard-Earned Lessons from Super-Experienced Scrum Masters

About Sara Di Gregorio

Sara is a people-centered Scrum Master who champions trust, collaboration, and real value over rigid frameworks. With experience introducing Agile practices, she fosters empathy, inclusion, and clarity in every team. As an Advanced Scrum Master, she helps teams grow, perform, and deliver with enthusiasm and purpose.

You can link with Sara Di Gregorio on LinkedIn.

BONUS: Keeping Backlogs Lean With The Now-Next-Later-Never Roadmap Framework with Kent McDonald

In this BONUS episode, we explore the art of backlog management with product management expert Kent McDonald. As someone with decades of experience in software product development, Kent shares practical strategies for keeping backlogs lean, meaningful, and focused on outcomes that truly matter. Learn how to escape the trap of bloated backlogs and implement a Now-Next-Later-Never approach that will transform your product management practice.

The Problem with Bloated Backlogs

“Some teams use backlogs as ‘long term storage’ devices.”

Product backlogs often become unwieldy and difficult to manage because teams view them as a permanent repository for every idea that comes along. Kent explains that this “storage mentality” is one of the primary reasons backlogs grow out of control. Another common mistake is diving in too early and splitting items before they’re actually ready to be worked on, which multiplies the backlog size unnecessarily. These practices lead to confusion, lost focus, and ultimately decrease a team’s ability to deliver value efficiently.

The Now-Next-Later-Never Roadmap Framework

“You want to group things together on roughly categories of when you will attack it.” Continue reading BONUS: Keeping Backlogs Lean With The Now-Next-Later-Never Roadmap Framework with Kent McDonald

Keir Lumsden: How a Great Product Owner Shapes Team Success Through A Clear Focus

The Great Product Owner: How a Great Product Owner Shapes Team Success Through A Clear Focus

Keir discusses a positive example of a Product Owner who exemplified clarity and focus, working closely with the team to refine and prioritize the backlog. This PO understood the importance of a well-curated backlog and actively worked to remove noise, ensuring the team could work effectively towards a clear product vision. How do you foster a strong relationship between the team and the Product Owner? Keir offers insights into the traits that make a Product Owner truly great and how they can set a team up for success.

The Bad Product Owner: When Too Many Ideas Derail Agile Team Progress

Keir shares a story of working with a Product Owner who constantly shifted focus to the “next idea,” causing the team to lose sight of validated goals. This anti-pattern of chasing too many ideas led to a lack of direction and split focus. How can you help your Product Owner stay aligned with the product vision? Keir discusses the use of cost-of-delay visualizations and the importance of maintaining clear communication about the product goal.

About Keir Lumsden

Keir Lumsden joins us from the UK. A former developer, Keir has been fully immersed in Agile practices for the past 10 years. With a mind that constantly seeks lessons beyond the realm of software development, he enjoys writing and speaking about these insights.

You can link with Keir Lumsden on LinkedIn.

Kirsi Sahlstén: The Role of Psychological Safety in Scrum Mastery

In this episode, Kirsi defines success for Scrum Masters through her experience. She discusses the joy of seeing teams achieve their goals independently and the importance of psychological safety. Kirsi shares a story of how practicing prioritization techniques with Product Owners led to improved collaboration and decision-making. She emphasizes the need for Scrum Masters to create a safe environment for teams to practice and grow, ultimately leading to their success.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: Start/Stop/Continue

Kirsi shares her favorite Agile retrospective format, “Start/Stop/Continue.” She explains how its simplicity leads to actionable results, especially when time is limited. Kirsi also highlights an anti-pattern where retrospectives run out of time for discussing improvement actions. She provides tips on how to open retrospectives with a focus on the team’s ways of working to ensure meaningful outcomes.

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About Kirsi Sahlstén

Kirsi is a wanna-be neuroscientist and wanna-be full-stack developer who, in real life, ended up as an Agile coach. She is passionate about sparking and enabling learning and unlearning, working together across boundaries, and focusing on the essential. Her favorite question is “Why?” and she is fascinated by the complexity of simplicity.

You can link with Kirsi Sahlstén on LinkedIn.