Why Do We Need a Product Owner? Flashcards
How did Pre Agile Organisations make product decisions?
Firstly, the team building the product is told what to do and how to do it by management external to the team. The belief is that those in management roles and further up the hierarchy will make the best decisions, which will lead to the best Product.
When a problem is encountered or a decision is needed, it is escalated up the management chain to the appropriate level in the hierarchy. The more experienced and trusted people make the decision.
For big issues or decisions, this is typically a committee of managers from different departments across an organisation. This committee is expected to review the information presented to them and send a decision back to the team.
What product related issues did a pre agile organisation have?
- Delays in decision making – The team have to wait for the committee to meet and decide what to do.
- Even more delays in decision making – The committee often lack the full information to make a decision. So they defer the decision and request more information from the team.
- This pattern repeats, but the time it takes is rarely reflected in the plan the team are working to. The deadline they are working towards becomes increasingly unlikely to be met.
And then it gets worse:
- The product team parks the issue and moves onto working on something else, which is often lower value.
- Any decisions the team make on behalf of the committee may be reversed at any time by the committee.
- The team will be blamed for any wrong decisions or waste that this creates.
- The pattern repeats. An issue is raised. No clear decision is made – The team is starved of decisions, leaves the valuable work and moves on to lower and lower value work in order to keep busy.
- The issues and unmade decisions pile up and compound.
What are the reasons for these product related issues and how they get even worse?
- The more senior the committee, the less often they will meet – So the more important the issue and decision, the bigger the delay.
- It is hard for a committee to reach consensus with difficult multi-dimensional issues that crosscut the interests of different departments – Each manager in the committee has their own unique motivations, interests and loyalties.
- Committee members do not want to be responsible for making incorrect hard to reverse a decision based on incomplete information.
- So the committee defers the decisions requesting additional information. But the information is always incomplete and subject to change in complex environments.
- We are caught in a vicious circle!
What is the outcome of these problems in a Pre Agile organisation?
- The big decisions get delayed.
- The work gets delayed. Deadlines are missed. Promises are broken.
- Customers are unhappy.
- Management are unhappy.
- The committee is unhappy.
- Management and the committee blame the team.
- The team is frustrated, demotivated and unhappy. This is reflected in the future work of the team.
This is the Decision / Issues / Information / Committee – Circle Of Doom. Otherwise abbreviated to the DIICC of Doom. Don’t get caught in a DIICC of Doom!
How does Scrum solve this problem?
The Product Owner is Scrum’s simple answer to the DIICC of Doom.
Scrum requires 1 person to occupy the Product Owner accountability. They may (and should) consult others, but ultimately this person is accountable for maximising the value of the product resulting from the work of the Scrum Team.
How does Scrum tackle the problem of insufficient information to make decision?
In complex environments, with limited information, it is often better to make a decision that is later proved to be wrong and reversed, rather than make no decision at all while waiting for perfect information that may never arrive.
The Product Owner builds trust with those around them by facilitating the decision making process with a wide group of stakeholders and despite incomplete information.
How does Product Owner and Developer works together to make decision transparent?
Product Owners are accountable for the effective management of a Product Backlog that makes decisions transparent. They work with the rest of the Scrum Team to deliver Done Increments of value each Sprint.
Developers support the Product Owner by building products in a way that minimises the cost of changing direction when new information emerges and decisions need to change.
What is the best person to fit into Product Owner role?
So the Product Owner accountability is a critical one and should be filled by someone with the requisite experience, knowledge, support and empowerment. This will allow for better decision making based on learning and experience.
Where no such person exists the organisation needs to empower and support someone to grow into the accountability and accept and manage the increased risk this will bring.
