Decision Authority, The Make-or-Break Factor for Product Owners | Karen Suarez

Summary

Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast: Agile Storytelling from the Trenches

Episode: Decision Authority, The Make-or-Break Factor for Product Owners | Karen Suarez

Release Date: March 21, 2025
Host: Vasco Duarte, Agile Coach, Certified Scrum Master, Certified Product Owner

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Introduction to the Role of Product Owners

In this insightful episode, Vasco Duarte engages in a profound discussion with Karen Suarez, delving deep into the critical role of Product Owners (POs) within the Scrum framework. The conversation centers around the challenges and best practices that define successful Product Ownership, emphasizing the significance of decision authority in shaping product outcomes.

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Identifying Anti-Patterns in Product Ownership

Karen opens the dialogue by addressing prevalent anti-patterns that hinder Product Owners from excelling in their roles.

1. Lack of True Product Ownership ([01:47] - [01:56]): Karen asserts, “the worst and the most common would be the product owner not being a product owner.” This scenario arises when organizations are unprepared to delegate the full responsibility of product decision-making to a single individual. Instead, they perpetuate a committee-based approach, diluting accountability and slowing down the decision-making process.

2. Organizational Resistance to Single PO Authority ([01:58] - [02:36]): Karen explains, “they are used to having a committee, whole department deciding,” highlighting the systemic resistance to empowering a single PO. This misalignment often results in fragmented decision-making, where multiple stakeholders interfere with the PO’s authority, leading to inefficiencies and conflicted priorities.

3. Ineffective Backlog Management ([02:51] - [04:37]): Another significant anti-pattern Karen identifies is poor backlog management. She notes, “how they deal with the backlog and the size of it” as a common downfall. Overly large backlogs with stagnant items prevent the team from focusing on delivering value. Karen emphasizes the PO’s role in curating the backlog by “learning to say no” and prioritizing tasks that align with the product vision.

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Strategies for Effective Backlog Management

Addressing the challenge of an unwieldy backlog, Karen offers actionable strategies to streamline and optimize backlog items.

1. Utilizing Data to Inform Decisions ([05:21] - [06:39]): Karen recounts a scenario where the backlog swelled to 5,000 items due to unrestricted entries by various departments. Her approach involved presenting concrete data to the PO, such as the “average age of the items” and the team’s capacity to handle them. This data-driven method facilitates informed decision-making about which items to prioritize or eliminate.

2. Implementing a "Museum" Concept ([06:39] - [07:30]): Vasco introduces Karen to the idea of a “museum” for backlog items, a metaphor for archiving old, irrelevant tasks. Karen agrees, stating, “We are able to deliver 10 items. We have 5,000 and on every sprint we have 300 new items.” By moving outdated or low-priority items to a separate repository, the team can maintain a manageable and focused backlog.

3. Gradual Backlog Refinement ([07:30] - [07:47]): Karen emphasizes the importance of gradual refinement, noting that “it took us maybe more than a year to decide we are going to really delete these items.” This patience ensures that only items with genuine potential are retained, while others are systematically removed to prevent backlog bloat.

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Characteristics of Exceptional Product Owners

Shifting focus to the positive attributes of effective Product Owners, Karen outlines the qualities that set outstanding POs apart.

1. Deep Product and Market Knowledge ([07:47] - [10:15]): Karen highlights that exemplary POs are those who “know the product, they know their market.” This comprehensive understanding enables them to make informed decisions that drive product success and align with market demands.

2. Balance of Firmness and Openness ([07:47] - [10:15]): Effective POs are “firm but open to discussion, to feedback, to learning.” This balance ensures that while they maintain clear direction, they remain receptive to team input and adaptable to new information.

3. Empowerment of the Team ([07:47] - [10:15]): Karen praises POs who “leave the solutions to the team,” fostering a collaborative environment where team members feel ownership and responsibility for the product’s success.

4. Clear Communication and Transparency ([07:47] - [10:15]): A standout PO, as Karen describes, is one who clearly communicates the “product strategy, the product direction, the product vision.” By sharing the company’s strategy and the rationale behind decisions, POs ensure that the team understands the broader goals and how their work contributes to them.

5. Setting Clear Key Results ([07:47] - [10:15]): Karen recounts a PO who set clear key results, stating, “We need to increase the number of clients, the money. I want to get this module to earn this kind of money by the period of three months.” Clear objectives provide the team with tangible targets to strive towards.

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Techniques for Sustaining Team Motivation

Maintaining high levels of team motivation is crucial for sustained product development, and Karen shares effective techniques employed by exemplary POs.

1. Creating Visibility and Accountability ([10:33] - [12:21]): Karen describes a PO who regularly “creates some spaces to share the product with the whole company” and “compliments the team on what was done.” By organizing events where the team’s work is showcased and tied back to company success, POs foster a sense of pride and accountability among team members.

2. Reflecting on Data and Outcomes ([10:33] - [12:21]): The PO encourages reflection by sharing data on “what we were expecting, what we got with the customers.” This transparency helps the team understand the impact of their work and identify areas for improvement, reinforcing the value of their contributions.

3. Enhancing Personal Responsibility ([10:33] - [12:21]): By making the team’s efforts visible across the company, team members “feel responsible” and are motivated to deliver quality results. Karen notes, “everybody on the company was watching what we were doing,” which enhances personal accountability and drives motivation.

4. Instilling a Sense of Purpose ([10:33] - [12:21]): Understanding the “why” behind tasks helps the team stay motivated. When the team comprehends the purpose and benefits of their work, they are more likely to remain engaged and committed, even when facing challenges.

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Conclusion and Further Engagement

As the conversation wraps up, Karen provides her LinkedIn contact information for listeners interested in further discussions or inquiries. Vasco acknowledges the complexities of roles like the proxy PO and emphasizes the need for adaptability within Scrum Masters.

Karen Suarez: “For Now, I'm on LinkedIn as Karen Suarez. You can find me as a Scrum master, I put proxy po, which is a role we have in France…”

Vasco concludes by appreciating Karen’s insights and contributions, reinforcing the episode’s value in understanding the pivotal role of decision authority for Product Owners.

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Key Takeaways

• Empowerment and Accountability: Successful Product Owners are empowered with clear decision-making authority and are accountable for the product’s direction and success.

• Effective Backlog Management: Streamlining the backlog through data-driven decisions and periodic refinement prevents overwhelm and ensures focus on high-value tasks.

• Team Engagement and Motivation: Creating transparent communication channels and showcasing team accomplishments fosters a motivated and responsible team environment.

• Continuous Learning and Adaptability: Exceptional POs remain open to feedback, encourage team autonomy, and adapt strategies based on evolving product and market insights.

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This episode provides valuable lessons for Product Owners and Scrum Masters alike, emphasizing the critical role of decisive authority and strategic backlog management in driving Agile success. Karen Suarez’s experiences and strategies offer actionable insights for enhancing Product Ownership and fostering motivated, high-performing teams.

Transcript

[Vasco]

Have you ever wondered what it really takes to make Agile work well? At the Global Agile Summit, we're bringing you real life first person stories of Agile succeeding out there in the real world that will inspire you to take action. Whether you're a leader, a product innovator, a developer, you'll hear practical insights from those who've done it. They'll be telling their own stories from the stage. I'll tell you more about this at the end of this episode. So stay back and listen to the full detailed description of what we have in store for you at the Global Agile Summit. But if you can't wait, you can go right now to globalagilesummit.com and check out our full schedule for now onto the episode. But I'll see you at the end of this episode with more details on the Global Agile Summit. Talk to you soon. Hello everybody. DGIF and happy Friday as they say. And this week for our last of the week, but of course also very interesting episode is Karen Suarez. Hey Karen, welcome back.

[Karen Suarez]

Hi. Thank you for having me this week.

[Vasco]

Absolutely. PO is one of the critical roles, as we discussed earlier in the week, when it comes to working in software development and Scrum specifically. So we're definitely interested in exploring what is amazing about these great product owners, but also what are some of the anti patterns. So let's start there. Karen, share with us potentially the worst product owner anti patterns you've witnessed in your career.

[Karen Suarez]

I must say the worst and the most common would be the product owner. Not being a product owner.

[Vasco]

But what do you mean by that?

[Karen Suarez]

Because usually it's because the company is not ready to give this responsibility to a single person. They are used to having a committee, whole department deciding, so they struggle to letting to say themselves. It's one single person going to decide where the product is going. So I don't know if it's everywhere, but I believe it is because I see a lot of these feedbacks in conference. But in France in any case, it's really something we see every day.

[Vasco]

So, so, so what you're saying is that instead of giving the responsibility, the PO responsibility to one single person, what usually happens is that there's many people involved in making decisions that normally a PO would make.

[Karen Suarez]

Yes, yes. And the solutions are already defined on a high level. So the PO as job today, what I've seen is a person who translates what is requested on the something functional, something we can use and sometimes not even that for in order to solve it we need to really change the mindset work on the organization. So I must say it's really hard to do it for the person who has this role alone. It must be a change of the on the organization. But some other anti pattern that I really see on the product owner as a person is how they deal with the backlog and the size of it. So that's something I help the product owner along and the first thing it's learning to say no, learning to appropriate this responsibility, saying the product is going this way. I'm the one who is in charge of it, I'm the one who is responsible. I work with the team to do the, to get the best value we can with the skills we have all together. But yes, I hear the feedback, marketing is asking for this, legal is asking for this, I hear everything. But the product is going this way. So I decide which, which request, which needs are we going to answer with the product.

[Vasco]

Now this is a great idea of course, but it's not always easy. Like I was just talking to a product owner some time ago who's he was new to the backlog, I mean to the product and he had a backlog with average age. The item's average age was two year plus, right? Like some people might not even be in the company anymore, right? Like it's very hard for a product owner to go in and do something with that and be confident that the product is going in the right direction. So if you were to to work with a PO like this, right, like one that you have in mind, the one that you had in mind and, and they have this very long backlog and maybe they can't say no to anything like what do you do to help them?

[Karen Suarez]

The first thing. And actually it happened we had like 5,000 items on the backlog because the whole company was able to write something in Jira saying I need this. And that's how the backlog was built to the moment. So I work with the product owner, bringing the data like you said, showing the average age of the items, the total, forecasting what the team was able to do, showing just the data and bringing the logic is not possible. At some point we have to put the stuff aside to delete it if we can. I started easily just to making a view of a shorter version of this backlog. And later, since we never touch the most ancient of the items we let aside, it became easier to delete it. But it took us, let's say maybe more than a year to decide we are going to really delete these items and we are going to Say maybe someday we need it again, we are just going to write it again.

[Vasco]

Yeah. And that's what I usually tell product owners is that, look, if you're not comfortable with deleting, just move it to what I call the museum. Right. Because you know, sometimes you can go into the museum and appreciate old art or old artifacts, just like those backlog items, and it might even be a fun visit. But you shouldn't really work in the museum. Right, because there's way too much stuff there. It has nothing to do with our daily work at the moment. I mean, some of them might have, but there's so many of them. How would you know? Right? Like you said, 5,000 items. There's no way we're ever going to review all of those items.

[Karen Suarez]

Yes, I like this analogy, but yes, just by showing them data, we are able to deliver 10 items. We have 5,000 and on every sprint we have 300 new items. So at some point we have to.

[Vasco]

Say just not, yeah, we're, we're flooding the base there. Okay, so that was the anti patterns, of course, but there are also some amazing product owners out there. Karen, share with us the best product owner you've ever worked with. How did they work?

[Karen Suarez]

I say there are people who know the product, they know their market. They are, they are firm but open to discussion, to feedback, to learning. They are curious. They leave the solutions to the team I really work with. I had just one case when I was able to work with a product owner on which the organization let them the control of deciding the product strategy, the product direction, the product vision. So there were mostly one person who really embraced this responsibility, this opportunity which is kind of exceptional on the market we have today. And he said, okay, I want to bring the product this way. I want to increase the number of clients, the money. I want to get this module to earn this kind of money by the period of three months. Let's talk team. Let's see what we can do. So that was the best example of letting the team decide on the how to. And the product owner saying, we need to go this way. The key results expected, the expected key results are clear to the team. They bring this kind of information and they are really transparent on how the things are going, where we want to bring it. The company strategy is shared because sometimes it just stays in a cloud and it comes out. I'm asked to do this way and to have a product owner that explains why we are doing some stuff that are hard to do that are really painful. The understanding the why it helps the team to stay motivated and to maybe propose an alternative.

[Vasco]

Do you, do you remember some of the tricks that this PO used to keep the motivation high in the team? Of course. Setting a vision, being transparent about the key results. But was there something else that this PO was able to do that really helped the team to stay focused and motivated?

[Karen Suarez]

I was the product owner, create some spaces to share the product with the whole company and to compliment the team on what was done and reflecting the data, what we were expecting, what we got with the customers. So he used to do it in a three month basis. I believe he tried to do it this way. And yes, inviting the whole company to this event, even if it was half an hour, maybe one hour sometimes, it really helped the team to say, okay, we are working on something that is important for the company. We got the results of what we brought to the product. We know what is working, we know what is not working. And being shown this way, in this open way, it got the team to be responsible because everybody on the company was watching what we were doing. The developer, let's say Karen is not someone is not more developer. 1, 2, 3, it's Karen who is working on this product. So now everybody know my name. So. So I want to feel and delivering value. So yes, bringing the team to be visible to the company on the results, on the putting our face out there. It really helped the team to feel responsible and to understand why we were doing the thing we were doing and what was working.

[Vasco]

Yeah, and that is really important. Right? Like we very often talk about motivation as you know, it's just positive, like we just want to do it. But actually motivation also comes from a feeling of responsibility, which isn't always easy. Right. Because I may fail, but I'm responsible and that also drives motivation. So I really like that, that perspective. Karen, we're getting close to the end. Thank you very much for sharing all of those insights during this week with us. But before we go, if people want to connect with you and maybe ask some follow up questions, dig into one of the topics a bit more with you. Where can they go?

[Karen Suarez]

For Now, I'm on LinkedIn as Karen Suarez. You can find me as a Scrum master, I put proxy po, which is a role we have in France. It's not really a good role, but it's something that talks to the people in here. So yes, on LinkedIn you can find me.

[Vasco]

Absolutely. And of course, proxy PO isn't always a bad idea. It can be a bad idea, but sometimes it's the right idea. And we as grandmasters also need to be adaptable, adapt to our context. Karen, it's been a pleasure. Thank you very much for your generosity with your time and your knowledge.

[Karen Suarez]

Thank you Vasco. Thank you. I'm really happy of being here this week.

[Vasco]

Hey friend, thank you for staying here. Is all you need to know about the Global Agile Summit. If you've ever suffered or no people who are suffering from Agile fatigue, this event is for you. Agile fatigue is that feeling that settles in when we can't really see a light at the end of the tunnel. We get discouraged, especially when conversations revolve around the same old frameworks, the same old buzzwords and theories. We don't feel that energy anymore. Well, the Global Agile Summit is a different kind of event. We're bringing you real life first person stories of agile succeeding out there in the real world that will inspire you to take action and transform the way you work. The Global Agile Summit will happen in Tallinn, Estonia May 18th. That's the workshop day, then 19th and 20th the conference day and Tallinn, Estonia is one of the most innovative tech hubs in Europe. The Global Agile Summit is hosted together with Latitude 59, which is kind of a citywide celebration of software startups and groundbreaking ideas. And we'll have a shared ticket for you to attend those events as well. So who will be speaking? Well, we've got an incredible lineup of thought leaders in software and agile. For example, click Clinton Keith, the person who wrote, literally wrote the book on game development with Scrum and is busy bringing Agile to the world of game development. You must check his session. The very famous and well known Jurgen Apello, author of Management 3.0, will be talking and exploring about AI's impact on leadership. We also have Goiko Adsic, who's taking an unconventional look at at product growth with his Lizard Optimization keynote. Other speakers include, for example, Sven Dietz, who's challenging everything we know about software development by ditching, literally ditching contracts and estimates. Can you imagine his teams deliver software before their competitors are even done with a contract negotiation? How agile is that? But there's more. We'll cover engineering practices in our developer track with talks on, for example AI assisted test driven development, developing products in minutes with a different approach to how we develop, configure, deploy platforms, and much more. We also have a product track where we cover cutting edge ideas around product discovery, delighting customers with product delight frameworks. We'll have a talk about that. And we also have an Agile business track where we will talk about, for example Open strategy, a very agile approach to managing organizations and delivering software faster to clients faster than you can even write a contract. Literally. I mean, I already told you about Svendeet's story is amazing. It definitely is a must see. I'm sure you'll be inspired and get a lot of ideas for your own software projects and software delivery. Now, whether you're a business leader, a product innovator, or a developer, you'll definitely find value in our three focused tracks. That's Agile Business for those working with businesses and organizations Agile Product for product managers, product owners and innovators and Agile Developer for the builders making Agile work in practice. The coders, the testers, the designers, the producers, the scrum masters, you name it. If you join, you will meet over 200 agile professionals from all over the world. People who, just like you, want to grow, want to share, and want to learn by challenging the ideas that don't work anymore at the Global Agile Summit, you'll get new connections, fresh ideas, and the energy to take your own agile to the next level. And who knows, maybe even find your next career opportunity. So don't miss out. Check out the full, full program and grab your ticket [e-mail] I'm really looking forward to seeing you all in Tallinn, Estonia in May. I'll see you there.