Product Owner Anti-Patterns
 

A Scrum Team’s Product Owner can be defined by the voice of the customer, who is specifically offered the responsibility of enhancing the business value of the organization (and the product) by prioritizing, formulating, and communicating requirements along with relevant suggestions from the stakeholders. But, there are moments when the Product Owner guidelines for Scrum are bypassed or ignored and workarounds that are counter-productive are implemented. 

Such counter-productive measures shown by the Product Owner are known as Product Owner anti-patterns. These anti-patterns are quite widespread in the Agile work environment (especially software development) and therefore need to be addressed so that performance of the Scrum Team can be maximized. Thus, in this guide, we’ll be taking a look at some of the most common Product Owner antipatterns and the ideal ways you can solve them. 
 

The Responsibilities Of A Product Owner
 

• Maintaining and developing a market strategy and product vision.
• Helps in the management of the product.
• Managing as well as ordering the Product Backlog.
• Helps in the involvement of the stakeholders as well as end-users in the product development cycle. 
• Maintains the clarity of the desired outcomes for the stakeholders as well as the Scrum Team. 
   

List Of Product Owner Anti-Patterns
 

1. One Product Having Multiple Product Owners
 

Having multiple Product Owners for a single product is a common occurrence and such an issue takes place when transitioning from traditional product management procedures. This problem often takes place due to failure in the leadership where only one Product Owner is tasked to meet the needs of the stakeholders. As a result, there are certain conflicts of interest, lack of direction while also experiencing delayed decision-making leading to less team effectiveness and product success. 
 

Solution: Appoint a single Product Owner for each product. 
 

2. Multiple Products Having A Single Product Owner
 

When a single Product Owner becomes the decision-maker for more than one product, it leads to a negative impact on the performance of the team as well as the Product Owner’s decision-making. This type of anti-pattern tends to arise especially when teams start to scale too quickly, too soon, without obtaining the necessary resources. 

Solution: Appoint one Product Owner per product so that he or she can work collaboratively with the Scrum Team & stakeholders. 
 

3. Product Owner’s Unavailability
 

When a single Product Owner is appointed for multiple products, the overall availability of the Product Owner for the Scrum Teams becomes limited. When the Product Owner cannot afford to provide quality time to every single product and thereby have other responsibilities to serve, a slow feedback loop is created along with a lack of vision & direction. Thus the product development gets crippled and team members’ trust in one another gets eroded. 

Solution: The Product Owner’s responsibilities must be taken into account and therefore steps should be taken to appoint a single Product Owner for every product. 
 

4. Overlapping Roles Within The Leadership
 

It should be realized that role confusion generally stems from a lack of basic understanding of the Agile principles as well as the Scrum Team roles. This type of anti-pattern generally takes place when the Scrum master, Product Owner as well as Scrum Team have no clear-cut role definition of their own. A similar incident happens when a single person proceeds to fill up more than a single function on his or her own, resulting in production delays. 

When it comes to Scrum roles, they should all be individual and independent of one another, so that an ideal collaboration could take place. 

Solution: The Product Owner should be representing the customer directly and therefore should be aware of requirements. Furthermore, he or she should be accountable for achieving the desired business outcomes. 
 

5. Unengaging In Sprint Retrospective

Sprint Retrospectives can be defined as crucial meetings that help in improving the overall effectiveness of the team. So, no Sprint Retrospective means that the team will miss the opportunity for solving customer issues and bring improvements to the product. Such an anti-pattern becomes detrimental especially for cross-functional teams while also stifling innovation. 

Solution: Every Sprint Retrospective must be attended by the Product Owner as well as the Scrum Team.
 

6. Poor Product Backlog Management
 

The Product Owner will be in charge of creating the Product Backlog for the Scrum Team. In case the Product Owner fails to do the same, then both the results as well as return on investment will be jeopardized. Similarly, the Product Backlog shouldn’t be clogged with useless elements, which can turn out to be counterproductive too. 

Solution: The Product Owner should work regularly with the Scrum Team in refining the Product Backlog as the development of the product carries on. 
 

7. No Feature Slicing
 

The Product Backlog management should include feature slicing. Feature slicing can be defined as the process through which valuable & small features are added to the product on an incremental basis – allowing for the maximum amount of feedback. Not breaking up large-sized features into small-sized ones increases the product risk and reduces feedback. 

Solution: Product features must be sliced in such a manner that the Scrum Team should be able to deliver a shippable product with incremental improvements rather than offering features that are partially implemented. 
 

8. More Importance Towards The Output Rather Than The Outcome
 

The output is defined by the things that are produced, while outcomes are the result of the process. Prioritizing output over outcome leads to burn-out of the Scrum Team. Generally, such an anti-pattern takes place when the Product Owner is under immense pressure from the Stakeholders. As a result, the focus is directed towards quantity rather than quality, ultimately hindering long-term success. 
 

Solution: Focus should be redirected towards the outcome rather than the output. 

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Conclusion

There’s no denying that Product Owners do tend to hold a demanding position inside the Scrum Team, which is why continuous improvement is always required. A Product Owner bridges the gap between the client and the Scrum Team. By avoiding these Product Owner anti-patterns, the Scrum Team will be able to achieve greater productivity, efficiency, and results in the long-term.