The Agile Daily Standup - AgileDad

Is The Product Owner an Order Maker or Order Taker?

Jun 25, 2024

Discussion on whether the Product Owner is an Order Maker or Order Taker, emphasizing the importance of making valuable decisions for the product. Exploring the authority and decision-making role of the Product Owner in Scrum teams to avoid 'zombie scrum'.

12:19

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Quick takeaways

Product Owner ensures product value by collaborating with stakeholders and managing the backlog.

Product Owner should have full mandate over product decisions to maintain speed and adaptation in Scrum.

Deep dives

Understanding Zombie Scrum

The podcast delves into the concept of Zombie Scrum, which refers to a version of Scrum lacking vitality and essential components. The host recounts an encounter with a student mentioning 'Zombie Scrum' leading to further investigation. This concept outlined in the 'Zombie Scrum Survival Guide' involves identifying the causes and provides experiments to overcome Zombie Scrum. The podcast highlights the importance of ensuring Scrum retains its core principles.

Exploring the Role of the Product Owner and the Concept of 'Zombie Scrum'

12min

Is The Product Owner an Order Maker or Order Taker?

In Scrum, the Product Owner includes the perspective of what is valuable (and what is not) regarding the product's ambitions. As the team spends time and money working on the product, the Product Owner ensures this investment returns value to the stakeholders. Close collaboration with the people who have a stake in the product and the developers is essential to decide what is valuable and what isn’t.

One product has one Product Owner and one Product Backlog with one Product Goal. To keep the speed at which decisions can be made high and adaptation can take place quickly, Product Owners need full mandate over the product. They have the ultimate say over what the ambitions for the product are, what goes on the Product Backlog and what doesn’t, and how to spend the budget (or even set it).

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