Comments on: Why Can’t We Get Good Product Owners? http://www.agileiq.org/2009/02/16/why-cant-we-get-good-product-owners/ SolutionsIQ's Agile thought leaders, thinking out loud Mon, 30 Aug 2010 20:43:32 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Thomas Vollmer http://www.agileiq.org/2009/02/16/why-cant-we-get-good-product-owners/comment-page-1/#comment-9 Thomas Vollmer Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:56:12 +0000 http://www.agileiq.org/?p=119#comment-9 I could not agree more. One thing to look out for when designating someone to be the proxy product owner is the risk of building up significant communication and decision debt on the business side. Taking on this debt makes the team go faster at first, but will probably have a significant negative impact on velocity when the debt comes due (usually when the developed software comes into contact with the real business stakeholder community). Minimizing this debt requires an empowered product owner. Empowered to make sure all business stakeholders are kept on the same page (avoiding communication debt) and empowered to make real decisions on behalf of all business stakeholders (avoiding decision debt). If no one on the business side is empowered to be a good product owner, it's unlikely that someone farther removed from the business will be. I could not agree more. One thing to look out for when designating someone to be the proxy product owner is the risk of building up significant communication and decision debt on the business side. Taking on this debt makes the team go faster at first, but will probably have a significant negative impact on velocity when the debt comes due (usually when the developed software comes into contact with the real business stakeholder community).

Minimizing this debt requires an empowered product owner. Empowered to make sure all business stakeholders are kept on the same page (avoiding communication debt) and empowered to make real decisions on behalf of all business stakeholders (avoiding decision debt).

If no one on the business side is empowered to be a good product owner, it’s unlikely that someone farther removed from the business will be.

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