Welcome to Part 2 of my blog series on how Product Owners should NOT behave; this is tricky because some of these behaviors are part of a person’s inborn personality and are not easy to change. But, with some self-reflection, you can figure out ways to improve how you interact with others on a Scrum Team.
Unapproachable
Problem
Are you a grumpy cat or Oscar the Grouch? Do you keep your office door shut or your phone turned off, so no one bothers you? Is your preference for working alone? Are you happiest keeping your own company versus being with other people? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you might be considered unapproachable. People who exhibit this behavior may not even realize they’re doing it, but it’s very off-putting to others.
Solution
During each Sprint, your primary job as a Product Owner is to be available to the Scrum Team. Ask yourself these questions, and if any are a problem for you, you may want to make some changes to how you operate. Maybe you could adopt an open-door policy or keep “office hours” that are free and available to anyone for anything. You can still have your “me” or “focus” time, but ensure it’s communicated, so the team knows how to get answers to their questions.
Lack of discipline
Problem
As a Product Owner, you need to have discipline. If you aren’t, you will get behind and drag your team down. The Scrum Team depends on you to provide them with a well-managed, continually refined Product Backlog with enough “ready” User Stories to feed the team at Sprint Planning. If you don’t keep up on this, you become your own team’s blocker.
Solution
You are responsible for keeping pace, preparing User Stories and Acceptance Criteria for a Sprint or two ahead of the team. Maintaining the backlog requires a regular cadence of requirements elicitation, analysis, elaboration, and confirmation. It also involves maintaining a product roadmap that drives your product development. These artifacts are crucial to the success of your Scrum Team, so don’t neglect them!
Domineering
Problem
Have you ever met someone so dominant and intimidating that you would go out of your way to avoid that person? I have, and it’s not fun. Domineering personalities may be successful in specific environments (usually command-and-control style organizations), but in an Agile environment, this personality trait won’t go over well.
Solution
If you think this might be your personality type, you might want to do a little bit of introspection to see if being on a Scrum Team as a Product Owner is a fit for you. You might learn that you are much better suited to another role, such as a traditional (waterfall) Project Manager or maybe a Program or Portfolio Manager. If, after thinking it through, you believe you can overcome this trait somehow, make sure you share your insights with your team so they can give you feedback and help you improve.
Too optimistic and not realistic
Problem
It’s great to have a positive attitude and outlook on life, but reality rarely matches expectations, especially when it comes to building products. And when things don’t go as planned, you’ll inevitably be disappointed. Not meeting Sprint Goals is demoralizing to you as the Product Owner, along with the entire Scrum Team.
Solution
Do a reality check and tamp down your enthusiasm. Teams can only do so much in an iteration, and you should be realistic about what they can accomplish. Use the empirical evidence available to you (in the form of average velocity) to forecast and use that as a guide to determine the number of story points to tackle in an iteration.
Lack of empathy for the team
Problem
Have you ever had a manager or leader who didn’t give a @#$% about your team? I once had a manager who exhibited no sympathy (let alone empathy) when my grandfather died. I wanted to fly to another state to attend the funeral, but I wasn’t allowed to go because our project was “more important.” Other managers don’t bother getting to know anyone on the team and treat them more like commodities than people. But we are all people – not machines, and we have feelings.
Solution
Don’t be a douche. Seriously. Please get to know the people on your team and treat them with the respect their humanity deserves. Ask how people are doing and be genuine in your interest. Learn about your teammates’ hobbies and interests, spouse, and children or pets. It’s essential to appreciate the other activities people have going on in their lives and care about them. Building relationships is an investment of time that will undoubtedly return dividends.
Final Thoughts
As a Product Owner, you need to have emotional intelligence, which means you need to sense when something is wrong with others to respond appropriately. You not only need to be available, but you need to be reasonable, approachable, and not overbearing. It’s also important to use discipline to keep ahead of the team and make sure your expectations align with reality.
There’s one more blog to go in this subseries, so check back soon for the final installment.
In the mean time, if you have any thoughts or experiences you would like to share about Product Owner personality and behavior problems, I’d love to hear about it! Let me know what you think in the comments section below!