Product Owner Patterns - From Absent to Exceptional | Salum Abdul-Rahman

Salum Abdul-Rahman: Learning to Communicate Value in Public and Non-Profit Sectors’ Product Development

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Agile and Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

The Great Product Owner: The Systematic Value Communicator

Salum describes working with a Product Owner who had a PhD in data science on a public sector visualization project. This exceptional PO was extremely systematic in working with stakeholders and possessed a unique ability to bridge abstract concepts with concrete implementations. In the public sector, where monetary feedback is absent, this PO excelled at thinking about value achievement and communicating it effectively to the team. They had the magical capability to involve stakeholders while demystifying complex requirements, helping the team understand not just engagement metrics but how their work would change society and the world.

The Bad Product Owner: The Absentee Specialist

The most common anti-pattern Salum encounters is the absentee Product Owner - typically a specialist assigned to the PO role while maintaining their full-time job as a domain expert. With only 10-20% time allocation, these POs lack the capacity to fulfill their responsibilities effectively. They often don't have the time or knowledge to develop essential PO skills, requiring extensive hand-holding to understand even basic concepts like user stories. Salum's approach involves booking time directly in their calendar for backlog refinement sessions and providing comprehensive guidance to help them understand the role, though this intensive support is necessary due to their limited availability for skill development.

In this segment, we refer to the concept of ‘enshitification’ by Cory Doctorow, and refer to Tom Gilb’s bonus episode on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast.

Self-reflection Question: How do you ensure your Product Owner has both the time allocation and skill development needed to truly serve the team and stakeholders effectively?

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About Salum Abdul-Rahman

Salum is an agile coach at Reaktor and experienced leader driving sustainable knowledge work. He is passionate about enabling teams to work with complexity and conflicts. Salum builds communities in and outside of work and has 18 years of experience working with software mostly as a consultant with the public sector.

You can link with Salum Abdul-Rahman on LinkedIn.