refinement Archives - Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

Oguz Ozyurt: The Power of Partnership between Product Owner and Scrum Master in support of the Agile Team

The Great Product Owner: The Power of Partnership between PO and SM in support of the Agile Team

In this segment, we discuss the need to focus on, and develop a great partnership between a Product Owner (PO) and Scrum Master (SM). Oz shares the example of such a partnership, where the conversation between PO and SM focused on the value that the team can deliver. The PO was new to Agile but had an open mind and was an expert in the product domain. The PO was a natural leader and encouraged the team to pull stories from the backlog. He also asked the team to bring their perspective into the prioritization of the backlog. The PO acknowledged the team at every opportunity and brought an appreciation culture into the team. Oz highlights the importance of having a great partnership between the PO and SM, which is the main requirement for a successful Agile team.

The Bad Product Owner: The Importance of Empathy in Product Owner-Scrum Master Relationships

In this segment, Oz discusses the challenges of working with a product owner who lacks a product mindset and is more focused on tasks than the product vision. This can lead to them “making up” work and not prioritizing tasks effectively.

Oz suggested a few tips for dealing with bad POs. First, he recommended asking about prioritization and trying to understand the PO’s background. He also advised having a 1-on-1 coaching session with the PO to help them develop a better understanding of their role and how to prioritize tasks effectively.

Additionally, Oz emphasized the importance of focusing on empathy between the PO and the team. By fostering a positive relationship and working collaboratively, the PO and team can work together to ensure that the product is delivered effectively and meets the needs of stakeholders. Overall, Oz’s advice for dealing with this type of POs is to approach the situation with understanding and empathy, while also providing coaching and support to help the PO develop a product mindset and prioritize tasks effectively.

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 Oguz Ozyurt

Oz came from a technical background, and has worked across multiple industries, applying agile practices toward the technical and non-technical areas. He is passionate about agile, he has leveraged his passion for delivery value and agile practices by coaching, teaching, mentoring many teams to transform from traditional software development life cycle to Agile principles and practices.

You can link with Oguz Ozyurt on LinkedIn.

Caterina Palmiotto: The Phantom Product Owner, How Lack of Decision-Making Impacts the Team and Kills Innovation

The Great Product Owner: The Collaboration Between PO and Team as Key to PO Success

In this segment, Caterina shares a story of a great Product Owner who worked closely with their team. The PO took the time to share the high-level vision and timeline for a new module, collected doubts and comments from the team, and presented user stories with enough information to start a discussion. The PO listened to all suggestions and was available every day to collaborate. The refinement process was done in two parts, with the second part focused on investigating technical aspects. The PO even participated in retrospectives and worked with the team to improve the product based on either technical or functional ideas by the team. Caterina emphasizes the importance of building this kind of productive collaboration between POs and their teams, with the help of Scrum Masters.

The Bad Product Owner: The Phantom PO, How Lack of Decision-Making Impacts the Team and Kills Innovation

In this segment, Caterina talks about a Product Owner who only wrote user stories but was unable to make decisions. The Product Owner always needed to report to his boss, which caused a delay in decision-making. This led to delays in the team’s work, resulting in not completing the story in the sprint. Additionally, the team lost trust in the PO, and did not have enough information or support from the PO to bring their contribution to the product through technical innovation. Eventually, the team started to make decisions on their own and stopped suggesting ideas to the PO. Caterina emphasizes the importance of Product Owners being able to make decisions and not causing delays in the team’s work.

About Caterina Palmiotto

Caterina started as a software developer but soon realized that she was passionate about team dynamics and communication, and embraced agility from the moment she saw it.

Caterina believes a team can be more than the sum of its parts and that growing the right culture is essential. When people are surrounded by good examples they will be motivated to do their best. So the first step is doing your best to be a good example of the culture you want to nurture.

You can link with Caterina Palmiotto on LinkedIn.

Mher Nalbandyan: Reducing estimation arguments, and focusing on better refinement for Scrum teams

When Mher joined the team, he noticed that the team was going through the refinement meetings in a way that made the estimation the core aspect of the meeting. It took too long, and led to some team members to just sit there without participating. In this episode, we explore how to get over this estimation-centric refinement meeting anti-pattern!

About Mher Nalbandyan

Mher works at Mbition in Berlin, where they develop the next generation of information systems for Mercedes-Benz.

You can link with Mher Nalbandyan on LinkedIn and connect with Mher Nalbandyan on Twitter.