product owner Archives - Page 2 of 66 - Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

Cynthia Kracmer: The Visionary Product Owner, learning how to keep the vision alive through coherent decision making

The Great Product Owner: Visionary Product Ownership: How to stay disciplined in your decisions

In this episode, Cynthia talks about an example of a great PO who was an expert in life sciences with over 20 years of experience. The PO was open-minded and willing to be challenged, listened well to the team, and collaborated effectively with the Scrum Master. They had a clear vision for their product/service and made disciplined decisions that aligned with that vision. The PO was proactive about sharing information and communicating risks to the clients/customers. Cynthia suggests that a great PO should share information beyond the team and keep them inspired.

The Bad Product Owner: The Role of Scrum Master in Helping Product Owners Succeed

In this episode, we learn about a PO that lacked the necessary skills and was not assertive, which affected their ability to lead and communicate effectively with clients. We also learn about the Scrum Master’s role in that PO’s poor performance, as the Scrum Master took up too much space, leaving the PO without the necessary influence. Cynthia suggest that when a new person is assigned to the PO role, they should be trained and given a clear understanding of their responsibilities. She also recommends having the new PO shadowing another PO to learn. Scrum Masters should also offer help and support (See our Coaching Your PO e-course for tips and models you can use when helping your PO). Finally, Cynthia advises paying attention to what POs expect from the Scrum master and making sure that these expectations align with the PO’s task list.

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 Cynthia Kracmer

Cynthia Kracmer is a Business Transformation & Human Capital Managing Consultant passionate about creating innovative, stimulating and ‘healthy’ organizations for people. She is Agile agnostic, and has worked as a Scrum master, agile coach and agile transformation lead in the Life Sciences area. She loves singing, traveling (she’s been to 63 countries), cycling and running.

Connect with Cynthia Kracmer on LinkedIn.

Johannes Lindman: Owning the Business, and being ambitious, key skills for great Product Owners

The Great Product Owner: The Power of Ambition in a Great Product Owner

According to Johannes, a great Product Owner is someone who is ambitious on the business side, knows what they want, and is able to make decisions, and are given the mandate to do so. They show up to team stand-ups, have skills in the business, and are goal-oriented. We also discuss why it is so important for the team to have a great Product Owner as it’s a set of skills they rarely can master themselves. Johannes also shares a story about a Product Owner who was annoyed that she didn’t get what she wanted, but was able to be assertive and communicate her priorities effectively.

The Bad Product Owner: Overcoming The Proxy PO Anti-Pattern

In this segment, Johannes the PO anti-pattern that occurs when someone is put in the wrong position. The problem is not the person, but rather the fact that they might not understand critical aspects of the job. One such anti-pattern is having a proxy PO. To resolve this, Johannes advises supporting the product owner and giving them the basics. Scrum Masters should work to find the actual business owners and bring them into contact with the team and the proxy PO. It’s important to be careful and aware of expectations and not to step on people’s toes.

The Ultimate Guide to Supporting Product Owners as a Scrum Master

About Johannes Lindman

Despite many years of experience Johannes still learns new things every day in order to stay relevant. This aligns with his curiosity on life and people.

You can link with Johannes Lindman on LinkedIn.

Harri Tunturivuori: Communicating the Product Vision, A Key Skill for Scrum Product Owners

The Great Product Owner: Communicating the Product Vision, A Key Skill for PO’s

According to Harri, the best Product Owners have a clear and compelling vision for the product, and they are able to communicate this vision effectively to the team. They are also collaborative and include the team in decision making, and are not afraid to talk to customers and stakeholders to get their input. In addition, they are able to give a lot of feedback to the team and use personas to communicate the ultimate user and customer for the product. Finally, they communicate the roadmap to the team so that everyone is on the same page. All of these skills combine to create a strong, effective Product Owner who can help the team deliver a successful product.

We provide, FREE, an e-course that can help you facilitate a Vision workshop with your PO. You can our Create A Compelling Product Vision e-course here..

The Bad Product Owner: From Task Managers to Product Owners, Breaking the Anti-pattern

In the episode, Harri discussed the anti-pattern of Product Owners who act more as task managers rather than empowered decision-makers. When POs become overly focused on task lists and assigning work to team members, they lose sight of the bigger picture and fail to understand the product as a whole. In many cases, the actual PO is someone else, leaving the task manager PO without the necessary knowledge to answer questions from the team. This lack of empowerment and understanding causes agility to disappear and ultimately hinders the progress of the product. To avoid this anti-pattern, Harri emphasizes the importance of empowering POs and ensuring they are motivated to push the product forward.

The Ultimate Guide to Supporting Product Owners as a Scrum Master

About Harri Tunturivuori

Harri is an experienced leader, Scrum Master, and Agile Coach who was introduced to the world of agile software development in 2010. Since then, Harri has had the pleasure of leading great agile teams in various forms.

Harri enjoys working in a fun environment where there is room for innovation, and Harri is driven by the challenge of growing a group of good people into a great team.

You can link with Harri Tunturivuori on LinkedIn.

Harri Tunturivuori: How To Help Your Team Embrace Scrum Values and Principles

In this episode, Harri shares his experience as a Scrum Master who was hired to work with a team that had tried to implement Scrum before his arrival. He discovered that although the team had changed roles and adopted some practices from Scrum, they were not following the values and principles. The Product Owners were command and control oriented, and the team members were not engaged in the work. Harri took a step back, talked to all team members 1-on-1 and as a team, and communicated with the rest of the organization about Scrum to explain the contract with the Scrum team. He was able to get buy-in from around the organization by creating a shared image of what Scrum is and showing what’s in it for the rest of the organization.

Harri shares three tips for change leadership in this situation: first, educate the team on Scrum and the practices; second, communicate with the rest of the organization about Scrum to get buy-in; and third, hold a retrospective regularly. He emphasizes the importance of holding retrospectives to create a continuous improvement culture, and the need to get support from the manager to implement Scrum effectively. This episode is a great resource for anyone who is struggling to implement Scrum effectively in their organization and wants to learn more about change leadership.

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As Scrum Master we work with change continuously! Do you have your own change framework that provides the guidance, and queues you need when working with change? The Lean Change Management framework is a fully defined, lean-startup inspired change framework that can be used as the backbone of any change process! You can buy Lean Change Management the book at Amazon. Also available in French, Spanish, German and Portuguese.

About Harri Tunturivuori

Harri enjoys working in a fun environment where there is room for innovation, and Harri is driven by the challenge of growing a group of good people into a great team.

You can link with Harri Tunturivuori on LinkedIn.

Daniel Westermayr: Trusting Your Agile Team, The Foundation of Great Product Ownership

The Great Product Owner: Trusting Your Team, The Foundation of Great Product Ownership

In this segment, Daniel discusses the importance of the “leap of faith” that great POs take by letting go of control and trusting their team to deliver. By believing in their team, great POs are able to motivate and focus their team’s efforts. Daniel also mentions the NoEstimates movement and the idea that a forecast is a range rather than a single number. Great POs do not second guess their team or the data, and are willing to accept the team’s delivery even if they don’t fully understand it.

The Bad Product Owner: How to Help Your Product Owner Succeed by Saying “No” When Necessary

In this segment, Daniel discusses the tendency Product Owners have to say “yes” to everything in order to appease or please others, even if it means not properly prioritizing tasks. Daniel emphasizes the importance of understanding the PO’s perspective and using forecasting to help the PO say “no” when necessary. He also highlights the crucial role of Scrum Masters in helping the PO prioritize and say “no.” The ability for organizations to hear and accept “no” is also a key factor in mitigating this anti-pattern. Daniel encourages POs to say “no” when necessary and reassures them that it is possible to change their mind later.

The Ultimate Guide to Supporting Product Owners as a Scrum Master

About Daniel Westermayr

Daniel is a Kanban Trainer with a knack for all things Lean and Theory of Constraints. He wants to help teams achieve and measure their continuous improvements.

You can link with Daniel Westermayr on LinkedIn.