Agile2014

Often when teams get started with Scrum there is a lot of focus on how the teams work together. We’ve noticed that Product Owners are often grouped with the team and taught the mechanics of a sprint. However they are left to their own devices to understand how best to do their new job in managing stakeholders and the Product Backlog. Sometimes they attend Product Owner training, but we have noticed that most Product Owners fail to apply the learning from a theoretical course to their own backlog. Often because they just don’t have the time.



In our own coaching we have noticed this happening regularly and so we have found ourselves coaching Product Owners to be more effective. We have found that working one on one and in small groups with Product Owners and their actual backlogs in short workshops is much more effective than theoretical classroom training.



During this session we will share some common indicators of when POs need coaching. We will also explain various techniques we have used to coach PO’s, and run through an example. Finally we will explore what a coaching plan would look like for a PO from newbie through to those with more experienced.