The Product Owner Anti-Patterns

Who is a Product Owner?

Accountable for the Product Success

Maximizes the value of work done

by development

team

Manages the Product Backlog

Ensures that the Product Backlog

is visible, transparent,

and clear to all

Inaccessible Product Owner

• PO is not available for a quick feedback.• PO is completely customer facing.

Remedies that worked for me

• Block dedicated PO time• PO needs to full time, not proxy• Raise impediment at organization level

Inadequate Product Backlog management•Not enough PBIs are Ready to be picked up for the next sprints.• PO does not provide clarity or does not have enough clarity on PBIs in Product Backlog• PO does not understand how to make PBIs meet INVEST criteria.

Remedies that worked for me

• Coach PO with advantages for Product Backlog refinement• Coach PO why PBIs need to meet INVEST criteria.

Partially completed PBIs accepted

• PO keeps accepting PBIs which are incomplete.• Team also does not focus on building a releasable increment of the product.

Remedies that worked for me

•Help PO and team create a DoD and coach the impact of not delivering a releasable increment.• Emphasize on the purpose of the sprint.

Failure to Trust

• Identify additional work for the team.• Create stretch objectives for the team.

Remedies that worked for me

• Create a fail safe environment.• Supporting the culture of self-organization within boundaries.• Coaching PO how Trust is the foundation for Scrum to work.

Product Owner is not empowered

• There is a product management team that directs PO•No single Product Owner• Proxy Product Owner• Role Confusion

Remedies that worked for me

• Bring in the clarity associated with the accountability of each Role in Scrum framework.• Create an alignment that PO is accountable for product success. For PO to succeed the entire organization must respect the decisions made by PO.

Quantity over quality

•Doing more and more PBIs without focus on quality• Churning the backlog without spending enough time in planning•New PBIs get added to sprint backlog• Focus keeps changing•Unfinished code

Remedies that worked for me

• Create a Product vision and make PO and stakeholders commit to it.•Have some release plan in place which gives an overview in which direction we are moving.• Emphasize on quality, help define a DoD.

Estimates as deadlines

•Holding team estimates as commitment• Forcing team to adhere to estimates

Remedies that worked for me

• Bringing the shared understanding that team commits to sprint goal.• Commitment is to collaborate with PO.• Estimates are only good to bring in some level of predictability and nothing else.

Stakeholder Management

• Stakeholders are not identified from the start.• Stakeholders are not invited to reviews for getting feedback on time.• Always saying Yes to all the requirements, ideas coming from stakeholders.

Remedies that worked for me

• Identifying the key stakeholders • Coaching PO that having stakeholders during reviews helps team to inspect and adapt quickly.• Coaching stakeholders how Sprint Review is an inspect and adapt event which fosters collaboration.

Thank You