When the New PO Stops Refining—and the Team Starts Self-Destructing | Olaitan Fashanu

Olaitan Fashanu: When the New PO Stops Refining—and the Team Starts Self-Destructing

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"If we're actually doing the job of refining this ticket properly, then we will not be creating this tension in the team." - Olaitan Fashanu

The team was working well. They had a strong PO who came to refinement with the problem clearly framed: this is what we want to solve, here's the context, here's the user story, here are the acceptance criteria. The team picked it up, refined it, ran with it. Then change came. A new PO joined—and the routine collapsed. The new PO cared about one thing: hitting the delivery date. Tickets dropped into Jira with no context, no problem statement, no acceptance criteria. Just "this needs to ship by end of month." Within weeks, Olaitan saw the symptoms cascade through the team. Developers asked designers what tickets even meant. QA struggled to maintain quality. Tension built. The diagnosis was clear: refinement had broken. His fix? Bring back the Definition of Ready as a non-negotiable shared standard, and introduce a product trio—business viability, technical feasibility, and design usability collaborating on every story before it reaches the rest of the team.

In this segment, we talk about the Definition of Ready and the product trio collaboration model.

Self-reflection Question: What's the symptom you're seeing in your team right now—and could the real source be how stories are getting refined, not how they're getting built?

Featured Book of the Week: The Secrets of Facilitation by Michael Wilkinson

Olaitan calls out The Secrets of Facilitation by Michael Wilkinson as the book that shaped how he handles difficult moments. The book teaches the power of asking the right question at the right time—clarifying questions, probing questions, the questions that drive a stuck group forward. "You will understand how, when to ask clarifying questions, ask really powerful questions that will help you drive or probably help you reach your goal in any session you find yourself." For Olaitan, the biggest payoff was learning to manage group dynamics in real time—what to do when something said in a meeting lands badly, when a comment threatens to derail the room. As a Scrum Master, you live in those moments. This book hands you a toolkit for them.

[The Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Recommends]

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About Olaitan Fashanu

Olaitan Fashanu is a customer-focused professional with expertise in product management, technology, and coaching. He drives digital and agile transformation, builds collaborative cross-functional teams, and delivers high-quality products across markets. Curious and strategic, he explores AI and data intelligence while balancing technical depth, business goals, culture, structure, and long-term vision.

You can link with Olaitan Fashanu on LinkedIn.