Hey Product Owners! Life Goes Beyond Scrum

Product Owner is a role, the real job goes beyond it.

When I got my first assignment as a Product Owner, I didn't even know what that was. I ran to educate myself about it quickly.

Back then, I was a Business Analyst and had around six years of experience with software development. I knew how to connect the dots between business and tech. At least, I thought so.

When I first read the Scrum Guide, I saw the Product Owner as a kind of bridge between business and tech. Then, I had my first training. And here's what I learned:

• Please your stakeholders. Ensure they are happy.

• Keep your Product Backlog full to guarantee the team has enough work.

• Run refinement sessions to estimate your backlog items and increase predictability.

• Write precise Product Backlog Items so developers can implement them without talking to you.

• Lead the team to deliver output at a stable pace.

I wish I had never learned that.

For years, that's how I acted as a Product Owner. That's as embarrassing as it can get. The worst thing is that I was not even doing Scrum right. It was just a process we strictly followed.

One of the biggest problems where the question I used to ask myself. Some examples:

• How do I run better Sprint Planning?

• How do I run more engaging refinement sessions?

• How do I get stakeholders interested in our Sprint Reviews?

• How should I keep our Product Backlog valuable?

What's the problem with these questions? Actually none. All of them could help me improve how I played Scrum, but the problem was limiting myself to that. I was blind to Scrum and couldn't go beyond it. Shame on me.

Life Goes Beyond Scrum

If you limit yourself to Scrum, you're doomed. You've got little chance to stand out.

You have only one chance to create value steadily: Going beyond Scrum.

Do you know how Amazon, Netflix, or Apple work? You can learn that by reading books like Working Backwards, No Rules Rules, That Will Never Work, Build, etc. Curiously, you won't find the word Scrum there or agile. That says something.

Scrum is a means to an end. The goal is to create value, not to do Scrum better.

Here are some aspects Scrum tells you nothing about, but you will for sure fail without them:

• Product Vision

• Product Strategy

• Business Model

• Market analysis

• Value Proposition

• Product Discovery

• Value-driven mindset

• Go to market

• Customer segmentation

The above points are just some examples. We could talk about them for weeks or months. The most important is knowing what will help you in each moment of your product life cycle (another thing Scrum doesn't help you with).

It’s important to mention that Product Owner is a role, not a job. To live up to the Product Owner’s expectation, an experience Product Manager is often the best fit. Which I wasn’t. I had to make my up to become one.

Product Owner Beyond Scrum

I share most of my insights in a written format. I do that because I love helping people avoid traps I've fallen into, but I think that's not enough. I decided to start hosting live training for those who want to excel in their journey.

Last year, I hosted the first live session of Product Owner Beyond Scrum, and given its success, I've decided to open a new group. That takes place on the 18th of March and the 1st of April. Two hands-on sessions. No Bullshit.

If you want to fail as a Product Owner. Stick with Scrum and ignore going beyond it. But if you're longing for growth and to excel in your journey, let me help you with the training Product Owner Beyond Scrum.

No worries, if you attend it and feel bullshited, you'll get a full refund. No hard feelings.