Trying to Hire a Product Owner? Read This!

Recently, someone asked Collaborative Leadership Team about a good Product Owner job description. Did we have one?

The short answer we provided was no. The longer answer involves questions that need answering of course. Why is a Product Owner being hired? If the company has been in existence for any amount of time and has an existing product, there already is a Product Owner there. That person’s title may not be “product owner” but there is somebody performing in that capacity or the product and/or company wouldn't exist. Scrum isn’t something done in addition to doing work. It is a different way of doing the work.

Follow up questions would need asking of whoever is performing in that role currently. Do they know that Scrum is a different way to do the work? Do they not want to use Scrum to do the work? Are they saying they don’t want to be involved with that product any longer? Is that person leaving the company or moving to a different role?

Product Owners need extensive market, customer and product knowledge. It's rare for someone off the street to walk in with that.

Or is this a case of fake Scrum. The question to ask is this: Does the company want a Business Analyst but they are calling it P.O.? Or do they want a Project Manager but they say it’s a P.O. role?

According to the official Scrum Guide (https://scrumguides.org) Product Owners’ decisions are respected; they are not overturned. Another question to ask an organization who is hiring for a Product Owner, as opposed to identifying one, is about authority. Product Owner’s have the authority to make decisions about the Product. Those decisions are respected. , a Product Owner will seek input before making a decision but asking for input is not the same as having to ask for permission.

There are companies moving into a new market but still want a knowledgeable Product Owner. They might have to look outside the company.

But that’s another question to ask about why this position is available.

Ok how do you identify a Product Owner in the company? Start with what the Product is. Look at your company from the point of view from a paying Customer. What is your Product. Let’s say you sell insurance. The “system” is not the product. The coverage is. There would be someone who has the knowledge, the authority over scope, schedule and budget or you wouldn’t be able to offer that insurance. When you find that person, you have identified your Product Owner. Start by asking the questions at the beginning of this post about wanting to do their work differently.

If you’d like to learn how to be an exceptional Product Owner, please join us for an In Person, socially distanced class or a Virtual class here

Is "Definition of Ready" Part of Scrum?

Is “Definition of Ready” part of Scrum?

The short answer is no. If you read the free, official Scrum Guide (https://scrumguides.org/ ) you can verify this answer for yourself.

So “Why isn’t there a Definition of Ready in Scrum?” may be a follow up question that requires a longer answer.

Scrum is about approaching work differently. It is the Product Owner’s responsibility to refine Product Backlog Items (PBIs) soliciting input from stakeholders, customers, subject matter experts, etc. to determine if the item or idea is worth pursuing. If they decide the PBI is something they want to pursue with the Development Team, the Product Owner (P.O.) engages the Development Team for further refinement on the item.

This requires the P.O. and Development Team to engage in a pretty advanced technique that is becoming harder for people to understand.  It’s called talking to each other.  That’s right! The Product Owner and the Development Team engage in conversation, in collaboration, in discussion which is refinement.

While some in the Agile and Scrum community propose Definition of Ready as a good idea, our experience at CoLeadTeam is that it’s causing damage and doing harm in many Scrum adoptions.

Here are just 3 of the anti-patterns we see as a result of a well-intentioned “coach” or Scrum Master prescriptively calling for a Definition of Ready:

·       Development Team Excuses: a Definition of Ready gives an unmotivated Development Team an excuse to push back on work the P.O. brings to them. The P.O. is responsible for the who, what and why. We are looking for motivated, cross-functional Development Team members to creatively come up with the solution. If they are used to being spoon-fed every detail so that they do not need to engage in creative product development, a Definition of Ready only negatively reinforces bad behavior that we are not looking for in Agile or in Scrum adoptions.

·       Big Up-Front Requirements Gathering: a Definition of Ready forces locking into up front requirements gathering which is the opposite mindset and behavior desired when using Agile or Scrum. The value of a proactive P.O. is bringing work to the Development Team just enough, just in time to keep the organization “nimble” or “agile”. It enables them to turn on a dime for a dime. Big up-front requirements gathering is pure waste. By the time the item makes it into the hands of the Development Team getting through the Definition of Ready, things have changed.

·       Avoiding Talking to Each Other: a Definition of Ready also enables the bad behavior of not talking to each other. Which is…the whole point. Recall the first value in the Agile Manifesto “individuals and interactions over processes and tools” or the third value “customer collaboration over contract negotiation”.  The very act of holding Product Backlog refinement between the P.O. and Development Team is to allow the emergence of detail. Those details can be captured as they emerge. To insist that they are written down early in a process isn’t approaching work differently at all. It’s doing work the old way but calling it something else.

Hopefully this “longer answer” has been helpful. While some maintain Definition of Ready would be an improvement to the Scrum framework, that’s not what CoLeadTeam is seeing in the world of work. Please leave us a comment with your thoughts about Definition of Ready!

- Angela Johnson

Learn more about scrum by attending one of our upcoming trainings! Check out our course schedule here.

"So Tell Me More About This 'Kanban' Thing. . ."

"So tell me more about this ‘Kanban’ thing..."

Is this another stereotypical Zoom class?

No one sided chalk talk learning here. TKP uses cutting edge concepts to help adults learn. Group discussions, simulations and self-directed modules allow participants to engage instead of endure. By the end of the session you’ll know how to apply Kanban to both work and home. 

How does Kanban help my team? 

The Kanban method is an attempt to balance supply and demand. Any organization or non-profit has a perceived level of ability to deliver work. That same organization also has a variable amount of demand for that work. Kanban shows us how far out of balance those two things are and shows some choices to better align them. 

Kanban enables organizations making decisions using actual data instead of guesses or hopes. Kanban also enables workers to achieve organizational goals instead of running out the clock. These results are what to expect out of the Kanban method. 

How does it help me? 

Being part of a struggling team is stressful. Negative feedback from all sides leads to checking out and little desire to fix things. Just being told to make it happen instead of making it better. 

The Conference Board reports that 46.3 percent of workers are unsatisfied overall at their job. Consider that for a second. Almost half of the workforce is unhappy.  (Levanon, Gad, et al., 2019)

And that was pre-Covid! Working from home brings more stress and more demands, but it doesn't have to be like this. 

Tools exist to see our work in a different light. The Team Kanban Practitioner course shows actionable learning instead of theory and more guesses to improve your work environment immediately. 

Join us and see! Check out our course schedule here.

Levanon, Gad, et al. “Job Satisfaction 2019.” The Conference Board, Aug. 2019, www.conference-board.org/publications/publicationdetail.cfm?publicationid=8736.

Get your Hands Off Everyone's Work!

Hey Remote ScrumMaster…” Get your Hands Off Everyone’s Work”!

In Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) courses, Scrum myths are busted.  One such myth is the ScrumMaster is an administrative assistant to a Development Team, to a Product Owner or to an Organization.  Our #CSM is now being offered virtually and you’re working as a Remote Scrum Master so hasn’t that changed?  No! It becomes even more important for Scrum Masters to get their hands off of everyone’s work in a virtual world.

The Scrum Guide notes that the Scrum Master is the Servant Leader to a Development Team, to the Product Owner and to the Organization:  http://scrumguides.org/ 

The guide describes this service as coaching, guiding, enabling understanding, enabling outcomes and so on.  It does not describe or prescribe the ScrumMaster as typing or writing anything for anyone.

Getting Your Hands Off the Team’s Work

When ScrumMasters insist on “taking notes” or scribing at Scrum Events they are actually:  

• Taking away the Development Team’s Learning Opportunities

• Taking away the Development Team’s Accountability

• Taking away the Development Team’s Group Memory

Will the team ever learn accountability and collective ownership if there’s an admin who takes that away from them?  No. According to brain science the people who write the most learn the most.  Does your organization really want a team of producers knowing the least about what they are doing but one administrator who continues to learn?  Organization leaders say they want accountability, they say they want high performing teams who continue to learn and yet the first thing they do is put in layers of Adult Daycare Providers in place they call Scrum Masters and begin taking away learning opportunities and accountability.

Getting Your Hands Off the Product Owner’s Work Too

A great ScrumMaster also needs to serve the Product Owner.  Coaching the Product Owner on proactive refinement and stakeholder management doesn’t mean touching their backlog, creating burndown charts for them and being a go between with stakeholders. The Product Backlog is for the Product Owner.  It is the way they manage the work that is needed for the Product.  The Product Owner is the stakeholder manager. It is their responsibility to build a forecast, keep it up to date and keep the stakeholders informed about what is happening with the Product. The Scrum Master can assist in not only coaching the Product Owner on doing work differently, but also teaching and coaching stakeholders on things working differently in Scrum. Scrum Masters who pursue advanced credentials and improve their neutral facilitation skills can add a lot of value to facilitate those conversations because the Product Owner of all people is NOT neutral.  If they go down rabbit holes with stakeholders and nothing gets decided, how productive is that?  Effective Scrum Masters keep the producers producing and it’s not by doing the work for them.

This Doesn’t Change when You work Remotely

The need for effective Scrum Mastery doesn’t go away when working remotely…it is needed more than ever! It will take more preparation and focus from a Scrum Master given the tools involved and reading emotions over web cameras.  Which is pretty hard to do if you think your job has anything to do with typing or writing notes. Let’s get you started with 5 things you need to be doing right now as a Remote Scrum Master:

• Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools.  YES you may be using a tool to “dial in” or connect with each other but that isn’t a license to forget about the Individuals and the Interactions. Do people have the correct information?  Do people know how to turn on their web camera? Do people know how to find the mute button? Do people know how to use the chat? Are you assuming the answer is yes to all this without having checked in with the people in question? Effective Scrum Masters prepare and ensure everyone is prepared

• Those Interactions. If you had not facilitated the creation of a working agreement before being forced into a virtual world, you are behind the curve. There needs to be a working agreement for the Scrum Team (PO, SM and Development Team) that includes what behaviors are acceptable and which ones are not acceptable. Briefly remind everyone of these agreements at the start of your session. If there are visitors from outside the Scrum Team joining, ensure that they understand the “ground rules”.

• Set Office Hours. People may have kids being homeschooled, have pets to care for or extended family staying with them. As a Scrum Team, talk to each other and determine if there are any hours that need to be respected for people or pet duty and block those as not available. Conversely, show those Office Hours that are fair game for conversations via phone calls, chats or web cam.

• Simplicity…Avoid Cognitive Overload. This is a real thing. It’s a big change for someone to learn how to use a web camera and integrated audio on a tool unfamiliar to them. Especially if people try add virtual polling, white boards, chat windows, estimation tools, backlogs, games, email and more. Keep it simple! Start slowly and build up to being able to add in functionality if it’s useful. Why make someone search for a virtual hand to raise when they can raise their real one on camera? Same with a thumbs up or down.

• Avoid System Overload Too. Many of these tools eat up bandwidth and computer resources. How effective is your online conversation when people can’t hear you due to your computer’s fan humming loudly working overtime? They won’t see or hear you when your machine keeps crashing. The fewer devices plugged in and the fewer pieces of software running simultaneously the better. People can write things down for themselves and enter it into another tool later…don’t try to cram too much technology into each online session.

Conclusion

The Remote Scrum Master is still not an administrative assistant or a secretary.  They are the master of the Scrum framework.  A process enabler.  An advocate for the Development Team, the Product Owner and the Organization.  Great Scrum Masters who focus on servant leadership and outcomes enable delivery of business value with each Sprint.  Keep your hands off everyone’s work!

Hone in & elevate your skills as a Scrum Master by checking out The Scrum Master Files!