Be Careful Product Owners! Transparency Obsession Overwhelms Scrum Teams!
Developers are often overwhelmed because Product Owners don’t understand what transparency means.
Developers are often overwhelmed because Product Owners don’t understand what transparency means.
Every day the world becomes a little bit faster. People are unwilling to wait for answers. They become angry if they have to wait more than five minutes. But is this behavior sustainable? Let’s take an example. Many Scrum Teams struggle to focus on one challenge at a time because everything is important and urgent, and they have to provide results to the pressuring stakeholders.
This stressful pattern forces teams to work mainly on distractions instead of focusing on what really matters. What’s the root cause of this problem? I’ve reflected on it for a while, and I think the Product Owner is the main problem. She frequently bombards the Scrum Team with too much information.
With power comes responsibilities. Are Product Owners ready to take such responsibilities?
Allow me to elaborate on why I believe Product Owners bring the Scrum Team down. Hopefully, at the end of this article, you can avoid these traps in your situation.
The Master of Interruptions
How often do Product Owners distract the team with something trivial? Reflect for a minute on it, please. I did that many times; I was ashamed of myself because it shocked me how many distractions I brought to the team. Some examples are:
Daily Scrum: I like attending the daily because I feel better connected to the team, but I used to hack it with topics unrelated to the Sprint Goal, e.g., new requests, bugs, doubts, etc. I was generally the last to say the result was horrible; the team would forget what they agreed upon and focus on taking care of the distractions I brought them.
Curiosity: many times, I wanted to evaluate if something would be possible or not. Therefore, I often flooded developers with petty details. What was supposed to be a “five minutes” conversation often became the reason for failing the Sprint.
Too many details: whenever we started a new challenge, I used to bring all pieces I had to the team, which inevitably scared everyone and slowed us down. I thought I had to be as transparent as possible because it’s one of the Scrum pillars.
I think I am not the only one who fell into such traps. Unfortunately, I’ve observed more Product Owners being the master of distractions. That’s why I believe Product Owners are their own worst enemies. We are supposed to maximize the value of the product, but often we maximize distractions to the team, which impedes them from progressing.
To enable teams to focus, we have to reflect before taking action. Still, I am not sure Product Owners do that. Mainly, we flood the team with information. I think this behavior is not sustainable. Recently, James Clear shared three questions to consider before you speak. I believe these questions to be helpful for everyone! Especially Product Owners like me.
“Does this need to be said?
Does this need to be said by me?
Does this need to be said by me right now?”
How much information should you share with developers before starting a new product? Although transparency is a Scrum pillar, it doesn’t mean you should overwhelm the team with details. Great Product Owners know what is essential for the moment and what is not.
Focus on One Step at a Time
Let’s imagine the following: you want to build your dream house, but for now, all you have is empty land. How do you communicate your vision to the builders? Would you tell them which color you want the walls to be and which bathroom tiles you imagined? Or would you focus on how big the house should be, how many floors, bedrooms, and so on?
Builders don’t need to know all the minor details you envisioned at the beginning. If you don’t want to shock your team, you should only tell them what is relevant for the moment.
Do you see any similarities with software development? Product Owners and Product Designers love sharing details that are irrelevant for the moment. Examples of this would be refining something that won’t make it to a Sprint in months or discussing details that don’t help the team with the next step.
“Always ask yourself: “What will happen if I say nothing?”
― Kamand Kojouri
Still, what to share and what not to is a blurry zone. Sometimes the lack of information will lead the team to deliver a non-scalable solution. I think experience teaches us better than anything else. The crucial aspect is to provide digestible content to the team.
After years of experience and countless setbacks, I learned the importance of thinking before speaking. For me, it’s not about what to say; it’s about what not to. Many times, what slows the team down is trying to solve everything at the same time.
“Talk low, talk slow and don’t say too much.” — John Wayne
As a Product Owner, you have to provide guidance to the team, ensure they understand the big picture, and help them achieve the next step. Still, you need to be mindful not to overwhelm the team with unnecessary information for the next step.
The simpler you communicate with the team, the bigger are the odds of succeeding. But don’t underestimate the challenges of simple communication; you have to think in-depth and evaluate the consequences of what you share with the team.
“Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” — Steve Jobs
Final Thoughts
Product Owners should develop their communication skills continuously. It’s challenging to help teams become high-performing units. Focus is what enables the flow effect, yet, it’s easy to bring distractions without noticing.
Too much information harms transparency. The team can’t determine what is important now. Although transparency is vital in Scrum, don’t use it as an excuse to overwhelm the team. If you insist on bombarding the team with all the information you have, be ready for sub-optional results.
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