Welcome to the first of three blogs that touch on Product Owners’ personalities and behavioral traits that can be problematic. The Product Owner is the most crucial member of a Scrum Team, and therefore it’s essential to get the right person for the job. Let’s start with the first five things to watch out for:
Control freak
Problem
Are you a Product Owner who likes to dictate what everyone else should do? Do you require regular status reports from your team members? Would you prefer to do things yourself rather than delegating to the team? Then you might be a control freak – and while in some circumstances, this might be okay, in most situations, it isn’t. You’ll be perceived as a despot, and your team will feel like underlings, not competent professionals.
Solution
Don’t be this person. You are not a Project Manager – you’re a Product Owner, and there is a massive difference between these two roles. You are not responsible for controlling every aspect of your product – that’s why you have a team. Your job as the Product Owner is to provide the vision and work with stakeholders to maximize value for the customer – not to create the product yourself. Get out of the business of being in everyone else’s business.
Lack of confidence
Problem
If you are timid and lack confidence as a Product Owner, you won’t inspire anyone – not your team or your stakeholders. And a lack of confidence leads to a loss of trust, which never produces good results.
Solution
Have you ever heard the phrase “Fake it ’til you make it”? Well, that’s my advice if you don’t feel confident in your Product Owner role. If it’s your first time as a PO, you may think that you lack the skills to do the job effectively. Don’t let that deter you from forging ahead. You will learn what you need to know as you go, and as you gain experience, your confidence will naturally grow.
Inability to say “No”
Problem
When your Product Owner can’t say “No,” your Product Backlog may become large and bloated. And, even though an item is in the backlog, it may never get prioritized, leading to angry and disgruntled stakeholders. Plus, if you say “yes” to everyone, how will you decide what takes priority? You can’t promise everything to everyone and expect it to work out.
Solution
Learn how to put your foot down and say “No”! I know it’s hard to do, especially if you’re a people pleaser, but your primary responsibility is to serve and advocate for your customers. That means sometimes turning stakeholder requests down. Or you may accept a request, but communicate that you’ll evaluate it when the time is appropriate (not necessarily right away). Setting those expectations should go a long way in quelling any upset stakeholders.
Micro-management
Problem
Are you staring over the shoulder of your Developers? Do you constantly monitor the Sprint Backlog to see what tasks are (and aren’t) getting done? Do you breathe down the neck of your teammates when things aren’t going according to plan? Are you making life miserable for everyone else because you can’t stay out of the weeds? I know I don’t like to be micro-managed, and I imagine most other adult professionals would feel the same.
Solution
Trust your team until they prove unworthy of it; allow them the freedom to work together to create solutions. Get out of their way and stay out of the details of their work. Your focus as a Product Owner should not be about managing the team – you should be working ahead of the team on refining items in the Product Backlog, so you’ll be able to feed the group with “ready” backlog items. Just step back, take a few breaths, and let the Developers do their thing.
Inflexibile
Problem
If your Product Owner is inflexible about their desires, it will lead to a miserable team. The Product Backlog is NOT a promise or guarantee that anything in it will get prioritized or built.
Solution
Being agile is about flexing and adapting to changing circumstances. Even if you have a beautifully defined Product Backlog and you think you nailed the priorities, watch out for surprises. There are always new problems that come up or new opportunities to explore. As a Product Owner, you must be flexible and embrace change, not resist it.
Final Thoughts
As a Product Owner, you need to empower your team, not try to control or micro-manage them. You also need to be flexible and have confidence. Finally, you need to be able to say “No” when it’s appropriate, so you make the best decisions for your customers.
In the next episode in this series, I will cover five more ways that Product Owners should not behave.
Now, it’s your turn! Tell me what you think about these problematic behaviors – have you seen them before? Has this been you at some point in your career? How did you adapt to the situation? Let me know in the comments below!