The last blog covered issues in hiring, specifically misrepresenting the product owner role. This is a big problem because the roles of Agile practitioners are unique, and symbiotic. Each role serves a specific, yet equal purpose in the Agile process. Each piece is part of a much larger picture. If one piece gets distorted, the entire picture is ruined. To put things into perspective, let’s take a look at the roles, and each role interacts with the others.
Product Owner
So if a product owner is not a developer (as job postings posit), what is a product owner? According to Agile Alliance, the product owner manages the product backlog in order to achieve the desired outcome. 1
Key activities to accomplish this include: • Clearly identify and describe product backlog items in order to build a shared understanding of the problem and solution with the product development team • Make decisions regarding the priority of product backlog items in order to deliver maximum outcome with minimum output • Determine whether a product backlog item was satisfactorily delivered • Ensure transparency into the upcoming work of the product development team. AA-Product Owner
A product owner is far more than just the keeper of the backlog. She is an ambassador; she is the liaison between the user and the developers. As the main contact with the user, she brings the product vision to the table, taking it from the user and putting it into user stories. Those user stories are then converted into actionable tasks performed by the developers that fulfill the user story. Keep in mind, the product owner is not the only one who writes user stories, but since she is most in tune with the clients’ needs, she tends to be the most qualified person to do so.
Another very important job performed by the product owner is prioritizing needs. Especially when a company is creating software that serves multiple clients. It simply is not possible to include every feature that every client wants. Not only would it cost more money that the software would sell for, it would take far longer than the deadline date. The product owner must evaluate the scope, budget, and time contraints of the project, then decide which stories/features are of the most value to the clients. 2
An important thing to recognize here is what the product owner is not. She is not in charge of the development team. She does not have veto power over the development teams decisions. She cannot force extra work onto the development team. What she can do is elevate the development team with a reasonable goal each sprint. 3
So the product owner is an important member of the Agile Scrum team who acts as an ambassador between the development team and the user. She conveys the product vision to the rest of the team, and prioritizes the backlog to reflect that vision. She has no more authority than anyone else on the team, and no authority to force specific stories or extra stories into development.
Scrum Master
The scrum master is the team guardian. Agile Alliance tells us that the scrum master ensures that “the team lives agile values and principles” 4 which is achieved through Agile processes. Scrum master responsibilities include:
• Clearing obstacles • Establishing an environment where the team can be effective • Addressing team dynamics • Ensuring a good relationship between the team and product owner as well as others outside the team • Protecting the team from outside interruptions and distractions. AA-Scrum Master
The main function of a scrum master is to remove impediments and ensure that the development team has everything necessary to delivery a valuable product. As part of her duties, the scrum master facilitates the fifteen minute scrum standup each day, and is a key player in the other three ceremonies. She offers valuable insights and is an advocate for the development team. 5
The scrum master has no authority over the development team or the product owner, however she is still a leader. She leads through coaching and mentoring the team, facilitating top performance and quality by removing impediments, anticipating the team’s needs, and ensuring that the team flourishes by being an “agent of change.” 6
Development Team
The development team is the foundation of the scrum team. They come together to turn vision into functionality. The qualities that make up a scrum development team include:
• They are self-organizing. No one (not even the Scrum Master) tells the Development Team how to turn Product Backlog into Increments of potentially releasable functionality; • Development Teams are cross-functional, with all the skills as a team necessary to create a product Increment; • Scrum recognizes no titles for Development Team members, regardless of the work being performed by the person; • Scrum recognizes no sub-teams in the Development Team, regardless of domains that need to be addressed like testing, architecture, operations or business analysis; and, • Individual Development Team members may have specialized skills and areas of focus, but accountability belongs to the Development Team as a whole. Scrum.org-Dev Team
Ideally, the development team will be “small enough to remain nimble and large enough to complete significant work within a Sprint” 7, which is five to nine developers. As a self-organizing team, they choose which stories from the top of the backlog that they will work on, and how they will turn those stories into functionality.
A key term in the definition of a scrum development team is cross-functional. Often, companies split people into job specific teams. They put UX designers on one team, testers on another, and core engineers on yet another. Then they attempt scrum while trying to retain this format. It doesn’t work because scrum teams need all of those players on the same team. 8 Having a complete team is important because the development team approaches each iteration as unit, and accepts accountability as a unit.
So the development team is self-organizing, cross-functional, and capable of completing significant work within the parameters of a Sprint. How do these roles fit together?
Coming Together
To get an idea of how the roles work together, it may help to imagine how the scenario looks in practice. Everything starts with user needs. Ideally, the product owner would have direct communication with the user to gain a clear understanding of what the user is looking for. From there, the product owner brings that vision to the rest of the team, prioritizing the most urgent aspects. During Sprint Planning, the product owner would clarify details about the backlog and answer any questions so that the development team could accurately estimate the amount of work they can complete within the Sprint.
During the Sprint, the scrum master would oversee the progress of the development team and use the daily standup to gauge if there are any obstacles hindering the team’s progress and address each issue accordingly.
The development team would trust that the information they are getting from the product owner is accurate and complete, allowing them to make accurate estimates. They would feel comfortable going to the scrum master with any issues or concerns, knowing that the scrum master would help eliminate those concerns.
This scenario depicts the simplification of an ideal situation. Of course, not all situations are ideal. The best way to get the most productivity, innovation, creativity, and synergy from an Agile Scrum team is by striving for the ideal scenario.
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