Product Owner: Transformation leadership should be at the top of your toolbox

Finally, it became my turn.
‍
After working with agile transformations and product development for the last 14 years, and teaching, facilitating and coaching a long line of Product Owners, I have now had the chance to try my own hand at it.
‍
I should have tried it long ago, because being a Product Owner is one of the most meaningful and fun things I have ever done.
‍
Earlier this year, I took over the role of a Product Owner after another more technical profile, whom the team was really fond of – professionally as well as personally. It wasn't without some nervousness – or let’s say it as it is: Worry. Would I be able to fill those big product-shoes? All my worries were put to shame first of all, because the team was made up of the most open and trusting people. But they were also able to see the advantages of my ‘softer’ skills, and they were very quick to move in and help when I lacked technical ability.

I should have tried it long ago, because being a Product Owner is one of the most meaningful and fun things I have ever done.

3 good reasons to keep reading

If you ask me, the Product Owner role does not get enough credit. I meet way too many people who have ‘inherited’ the role, for example as part of an organizational transformation and suddenly stand there with this new title. Sometimes, that might make the person less than passionate about the role.
‍
Some places, the role might even be miscredited in the organization, because many people don’t know what it entails, and it is fulfilled very differently from Product Owner to Product Owner.

This blog post has 3 purposes:

1. Partly, I specify how and why transformation leadership is one of the most important professional skills for a Product Owner, and how soft skills can create rock-solid results.
   ‍
2. Secondly, I can hopefully inspire you not to hold yourself back from taking on the role of the Product Owner, if you possess some softer skills within software development. In the hopes of making sure that a strong product is followed by an equally strong implementation with the users, I want to make the transformation toolbox more concrete. Way too often, I see relevant products stay on the shelves, because you don’t handle implementation properly – or prioritized the necessary resources with both developers and users.
   ‍
3. Finally, I hope to do my part in giving the role more nuance, and making sure it gets the credit it deserves.

Secondly, I can hopefully inspire you not to hold yourself back from taking on the role of the Product Owner, if you possess some softer skills within software development.

The Product Owner as a builder of bridges  

The considerations behind choosing me for the role of Product Owner, were shared openly with me. Besides the normal responsibilities for a Product Owner, they were looking for someone with strong competences within stakeholder management, communication and strategy.

That is, a profile able to build bridges with the team’s stakeholders. Someone who can explain how the team can support the user’s needs right now, but also someone who can imagine and communicate the future that the team needs to adapt to.

All of these skills are very related to transformation leadership.

How we merge the Product Owner with the transformation leader

Here is my take on how the Product Owner can take advantage of the skills possessed by a skilled transformation leader.

Know your stakeholders

Take care of your stakeholders and understand their needs. You are ONLY able to succeed, if you know who is important in order to make a change, and that you know, respect, and meet their needs and opinions, and continuously keep up to date with those. It sounds obvious, but I see a lot of Product Owners that do not spend a lot of time with their users. Either because the users are far away, or because they happen to fall in love with their own darlings – or believe that they are pretty sure what the user needs, and do not want to disturb them in their busy day. It also takes longer, and at times, it is more difficult to work with the users. They make suggestions and want to make changes, so it is easier to keep them at arm’s length.
‍
But it is altogether necessary that you make continuous check-ins with your users, understand their daily work, their goals and their behavior. How else is the team supposed to develop products that support them in reaching these goals? Keep a sharp eye on the needs of the users and the value that is created from the team’s work, and build that into the backlog through accept-criteria and the priorities you make as a Product Owner.

It sounds obvious, but I see a lot of Product Owners that do not spend a lot of time with their users.

Have a clear vision and strategic foresight

As a Product Owner, a lot of your daily work is about shaping and setting the tone for when the team’s deliveries hit the target. That means, not only on the technical side of things, but just as much on the more organizational and implementation side. That means that you have to be precise in defining what “done” is. Furthermore, you have to define what behavior is necessary to succeed with the product. And to hold on to that all the way to “done-done”.
‍
You have to envision what the future looks like for the product and combine it with the daily work of the stakeholders and the product development in the team. That is, define what products the team have to develop in short and long term.

Not least, you need to be able to weave this into the product vision. Here, you tie the strategic direction even more closely to the individual product, ensuring a razor-sharp product vision that brings everyone on board. You must be able to formulate and communicate your product vision at every level of the organization and adapt your messages to each person’s knowledge and needs, so everyone feels that “so ein Ding muss ich auch haben!” spark.

Stay focused on generating actual impact

As a Product Owner, you should be driven by creating value. You should constantly seek to understand what is needed to implement the product successfully with the users and build it into your planning. Here, transformation leadership definitely comes in and helps refine the team’s deliveries, and chance of success. Value is created by putting yourself in the user’s place – the transformation leader’s biggest strength.
‍
You need to define and be able to communicate what impact the product has. You prioritize meaning over quantity and quality over sheer volume. As a Product Owner, you should ensure that you don’t end up simply “pushing code out the door,” but rather envision the product in a usage scenario where it truly makes a difference—and remember that a complete product is one that is actually being used, not something gathering dust on a shelf in a production environment. Some studies indicate that as much as 80% of an IT system’s features are never actually utilized. (Source: CapGemini) So why build them in the first place? Or why not implement them better so that they are actually put to use? This is something you need to consider and incorporate into the team’s backlog, so you

A) Develop the WHOLE product, that also means the deliveries that ensure successful usage and

B) Ensure the right skills for both development and implementation

a complete product is one that is actually being used

Let the data speak for itself

Last, but not least, as a skilled Product Owner, you have to be able to define and analyze data that supports the value creation. It is important that you as a team can follow and understand the trajectory of the product and its use, as well as prove that value has been created. Oftentimes, this is based on more qualitative data, that is both hard to define and complex to gather. But you have to practice defining the successes you have with your products, and which leading and lagging indicators that show you whether you are headed in the right direction.

What do I have to be like as a person?

Wow, that is a big question. Besides the more professional competences of the transformation leader, I also see couple of more personal competences that are worth mentioning now that I’m already talking about transformations and the role of the Product Owner:

• Embrace and become a master in being in the unknown. The Product Owner is the organization’s unyielding support in the fact that the future is unknown. It is invaluable for your co-workers that you are able to be in the transformation and inspire calm and confidence in others.
  ‍
• Have a strong structural gene. As a Product Owner, you work with analyses and data, and weave these into your planning. You juggle many dialogues and have to follow-up with a lot of stakeholders. If you aren’t structured, this might be really hard.
  ‍
• Humbly lean into often becoming informal daily leader for the team, but without seeing yourself as THE leader. As a Product Owner, you really help getting a team to shine – and help the user becoming satisfied. In conjunction with the Scrum Master and the formal personnel leader, you have to find the optimal way to support the team and each individual. Motivating, developing, and having the difficult talks in a beautiful trinity, so the team doesn’t get confused — and so you don’t step on each other’s toes. This is difficult — and within the collaboration with the Scrum Master lies a whole separate blog post about how invaluable a skilled Scrum Master can be as a partner. I am fortunate enough to work with one who really helps us all stay on top of our game!
  ‍
• You see people’s good intentions—and you always want to collaborate. Always. Put yourself in others’ shoes. You understand their reasoning for how they act—and react. Then, you will quite naturally approach your Product Owner role with trust and cooperation, becoming an ally to both the personnel manager and the Scrum Master. The team’s man/woman. The users’ voice. I really hope this is part of your DNA.
  ‍
• Last, but not least. Be humble. I mentioned it before, but it’s so important! The product’s success isn’t about you. You are a facilitator, an inspirer, a motivator, a bridge-builder. You’re not the main character. Take comfort in knowing that when the team shines and the product hits the mark, it’s also a positive outcome for you. But you should not be front and center.

‍

The Product Owner AKA The Jack-of-all-trades

Here you can see an overview of the competencies a Product Owner/Product Leader should develop. The “spiderweb” is something we’ve developed at Syndicate to concretize the toolbox you’ll be working with.
‍
‍

‍
Personally, I don’t excel equally in all competencies. But today, I feel that I am the right fit for the role on my particular team. This only emphasizes the importance of choosing the right person for the job. That requires leadership that knows what’s going on and dares to let go and allow the Product Owner to step in. And it also demands that the Product Owner knows their strengths and weaknesses and dares to seek skill development where needed.

In the future, I will aim to become a Product Owner again, because I love the everyday work and the sense of meaning and value I help create.

Invitation for a dialogue

If you have an idea or a topic you think I should cover in a blog post, webinar, or maybe even a completely new course, send me an email at THE@syndicate.dk or a text message at +45 61 68 88 75. I can also refer you to one of my talented colleagues if it’s outside my field.
‍
At Syndicate, we’re passionate about sharing our knowledge on product development and change management—and we’re happy to help you move forward!

‍