product owner anti-pattern Archives - Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

Tom Siebeneicher: The Agile Product Owner, The Necessary Adaptation of PO to a New Team

The Great Product Owner: The Software Designer PO Anti-pattern

In this episode, Tom highlights anti-patterns like a lack of trust in the team’s judgment and over-explanation of implementation details. Tom offers a valuable tip of using stories to illustrate the distinction between “how” and “why” for effective communication. He underscores the importance of clearly defining Acceptance Criteria (ACs) while avoiding dictating the solution’s appearance. Tom also emphasizes the need for coaching efforts directed towards the team’s understanding and collaboration, demonstrating the reciprocal nature of the Product Owner role.

The Bad Product Owner: The Art of Adaptation, The Necessary Adaptation of PO to a New Team

Tom delves into the nuances of an effective Product Owner (PO). Tom shares a cautionary tale of a PO’s performance shift after changing teams, emphasizing the importance of aligning behavior with team needs. He advises against expecting uniformity and highlights the role of self-awareness in fostering an environment of growth and effectiveness. He emphasizes the need to adapt PO behaviors between different teams, underscoring the need for refined communication. Prioritization, a crucial aspect, is explored in depth.

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 Tom Siebeneicher

Tom is an engaging speaker, who has delivered presentations at conferences like the Atos DREAM Conference, the Agile Leadership Day, and TED XKE by Xebia. Their enthusiasm for discussing Agile is evident in those talks.

You can link with Tom Siebeneicher on LinkedIn.

Toby Rao: The Part-Time Product Owner Anti-Pattern, And Its Consequences

The Great Product Owner: The Part-Time PO Anti-Pattern

In this segment, Toby discusses common anti-patterns associated with Product Owners (POs), particularly the issue of them treating their role as a part-time role. Many organizations assign PO responsibilities as a secondary task, causing problems like absenteeism during critical team interactions. This particular PO, who had a full-time job outside of their role, lacked both Agile and software development experience, along with emotional intelligence. The key takeaway was the importance of PO presence and engagement with the team, with a suggestion to have them spend a full day working alongside the team to improve collaboration.

The Bad Product Owner: User-Centric Leadership, a Critical Skill For POs

In this segment, Toby discusses the qualities of a great Product Owner (PO). The exceptional PO he describes, was known for their easy collaboration with the team and their constant availability. The PO emphasized understanding before imposing their views and consistently approached discussions from the perspective of the key Personas for the product. The PO also encouraged the team to consider the system from the customer/user standpoint, this PO deeply comprehended the team’s workflow, which made collaboration easy. Additionally, they recognized the efficiency of pre-refinement in the team’s processes, and made the necessary adaptation to their own workflow.

The Ultimate Guide to Supporting Product Owners as a Scrum Master

About Toby Rao

Toby is an ICF-credentialed Coach and accredited IC Agile trainer, and practices as a certified Executive coach. With a dynamic Agile journey beginning in 2007, he’s an active contributor to the global Agile community. He is based in Washington DC Metro, and speaks at Agile events worldwide and co-founded the A20 Agile conference. Toby also co-founded two thriving Agile meetups in the Washington DC area, with a combined 1300 members.

You can link with Toby Rao on LinkedIn and connect with Toby Rao on Twitter.

Seye Kuyinu: Learning and Leading through Experiments, The Scrum Master Who Turned Product Owner

The Great Product Owner: Learning and Leading through Experiments, The Scrum Master Who Turned Product Owner

In this episode, Seye highlights a remarkable product owner with a background as a Scrum Master. Her calm demeanor and willingness to experiment, even without a clear endpoint, stood out. She actively engaged in collaborative experimentation, asking “Can we try this?” and collectively defining and learning from experiments with the team. This experimental mindset contributed to her effectiveness as a Product Owner. Moreover, she adeptly interacted with all team members and had the valuable skill of calming down heated discussions.

The Bad Product Owner: Beyond To-Do Lists, Overcoming Anti-Patterns in Backlog Management

In this episode, Seye discusses the disengaged Product Owner (PO) anti-pattern. He underscores the significant impact of PO engagement on performance, highlighting the necessity for their active involvement in discussions that lead to clarity. Other anti-patterns include treating the backlog as a simple “to do list” and having insufficiently detailed backlog items (DEEP Backlog) for prioritization and estimation. These issues stem from diverse causes, such as organizational oversight of product ownership. Seye suggests assisting POs in understanding their role, offering guidance to rectify these patterns and enhance their effectiveness in Agile teams.

The Ultimate Guide to Supporting Product Owners as a Scrum Master

About Seye Kuyinu

Seye has been a Scrum Master for about a decade now. He first connected to Agile, frustrated with the lack of adequate communication that plagues traditional complex projects. He finds People and Interactions over Processes & Tools cannot be overstated, while seeing that everything is a fractal- our individual, team, organization and societal challenges are the very same. The solution in every layer is the same- an understanding of ONENESS!

You can link with Seye Kuyinu on LinkedIn and connect with Seye Kuyinu on Twitter.

Khwezi Mputa: The Product Owner that knew how to collaborate with the Agile team

The Great Product Owner: The PO that knew how to collaborate with the team

In this segment, Khwezi highlights an exceptional Product Owner (PO) she collaborated with. The PO possessed a deep understanding of the product’s market, customers, and business context, enabling her to continuously update the product effectively. She exhibited excellent teamwork despite the distributed nature of the team, showing awareness of diverse cultures. Her proficiency in user story mapping facilitated smoother processes, including onboarding new team members. Overall, the PO’s comprehensive grasp of the product’s ecosystem and her collaborative skills stood out as instrumental in driving the team’s success.

The Bad Product Owner: The Unavailable and Bossy PO

While POs typically hold respected roles with authority over the product backlog, some misuse this status, behaving as if superior to the team. Often from management, such POs pose various challenges, including not being available often enough when the teams need their presence. Scrum Masters play a role in educating POs, advising team lift-offs to define roles, and coaching the POs to be active team participants. Khwezi emphasizes the Scrum Master’s mediation role, and we discuss the “Coach Your PO e-course” which aims to help Scrum Masters have an effective PO collaboration.

The Ultimate Guide to Supporting Product Owners as a Scrum Master

About Khwezi Mputa

Khwezi is an experienced Agile coach, trainer, and IT professional since 2008. With diverse roles like Scrum Master, Agile Project Manager, and Business Analyst, she’s active in the Agile community, promoting diversity. Passionate about teaching, she empowers individuals and organizations to reach their full potential through coaching and mentoring.

You can link with Khwezi Mputa on LinkedIn.

Zach Stone: Strategies for Healing a Disrupted Team-Product Owner Connection

The Great Product Owner: The Ideal Product Owner, Balancing Strategy, Collaboration, and Care

In this episode, Zach highlights an exceptional Product Owner (PO) who showcased a unique blend of tactical and strategic prowess. This PO’s deep care for the team was evident in their collaborative and engaging approach. They fostered open dialogue, valuing team input and seeing engineers as partners in solving problems. The PO’s commitment to understanding stakeholder requests in-depth allowed them to effectively shield the team. Their transformative and protective actions were a testament to their collaborative leadership style, making them a beloved and effective bridge between stakeholders and the engineering team.

The Bad Product Owner: Restoring Harmony, Strategies for Healing a Disrupted Team-PO Connection

In this episode, Zach reflects on a challenging experience with a struggling Product Owner (PO). The PO’s performance was hindered by environmental factors and burnout, leading to breakdowns in team collaboration and psychological safety. A lack of connection with the team and berating behavior adversely affected team morale and relationships. The adversarial atmosphere hindered healthy conflict resolution and led to self-sabotage. Zach shares valuable tips for improving such situations, emphasizing the importance of gauging safety for conversations, individual validation, and creating a secure space for difficult discussions. He underscores the potential for growth through acknowledging mistakes, highlighting that the PO eventually transformed into a sought-after collaborator through positive change.

The Ultimate Guide to Supporting Product Owners as a Scrum Master

About Zach Stone

Zach has worked as a process facilitator for over 17 years, as a specialist in behavioral science. He co-founded a firm that uses techniques to rebuild war zones for organizational dynamics. He has been an agilist for the past 7 years and was recently a speaker at the Global Scrum Conference. He lives in Santa Fe with his Wife and spends his time exploring canyons and trails.

You can link with Zach Stone on LinkedIn.