Willing Product Owner, Willing Team

Many organisations are drawn to the appeal of agile as they feel it will help increase their time-to-market and allow them to pivot quickly.  Yet, amidst the clamour for rapid responsiveness, many companies find themselves ensnared in conventional practices that inadvertently hinder their ability to adapt and innovate truly. One such practice lies in the rigid adherence to upfront analysis during refinement, an old waterfall habit that often shackles teams to defining upfront solutions rather than fostering genuine agility.

Enter the Willing Product Owner, Willing Team approach—a paradigm shift that challenges the status quo and embraces the dynamic nature of product development. Rather than succumbing to the temptation of exhaustive upfront analysis, this approach advocates for a more flexible and collaborative approach and uses sprint planning for the design, one driven by the shared willingness of both the product owner and the team to explore, experiment, and adapt in real time.

So, what exactly does this approach entail, and why is it crucial for unlocking true agility?

Traditionally, refinement sessions are marked by a quest for certainty that often leads teams down the path of detailed specification and meticulous planning. Stories are created, detailed analyses and designs are built, and all acceptance criteria are defined.  Once complete they are deemed “Ready” for a sprint.  While this may offer a sense of security, it also fosters a culture of rigidity, where innovation takes a backseat to adherence to predefined solutions. Once the solution and detailed requirement is defined, it is deemed “ready” for a sprint.  This effectively creates a Product Backlog, which is a queue of work orders the team must simply execute on and deliver.  Sprint Planning becomes an event where teams pull these work orders in.  Often, this approach decreases the value of goals, and most teams that follow this practice struggle to define a single purpose and goal for their sprints.  The result is a mechanical work order feature factory.  Sprints are mere execution containers; when you think about it; it comes across as more micro-management of work.  It also creates a stage-gated approach where refinement is done in sprints prior and then built in a later sprint, there is often a gate of “Definition of Ready”.

In contrast, the Willing Product Owner's Willing Team mindset encourages teams to embrace uncertainty as an opportunity for growth and discovery.

Rather than viewing sprint planning as a mere exercise in task assignment, this approach reframes it as a collaborative journey of product exploration. Here, the product owner enters the planning session not with a laundry list of requirements but with a clear articulation of a need and a goal. Similarly, the team approaches the session not as passive recipients of orders but as active participants eager to co-create solutions.

The Sprint Planning event becomes more of one of brainstorming, solving, and coming up with ideas to solve the problem.  The team are empowered to figure out a solution on the spot, brainstorm the details and build their sprint backlogs. 

The most common objection is, “But… we need to do upfront analysis, so we know what to build”.  Here is the thing: the same people with the same skills do that upfront analysis and design.  What stops them from doing exactly the same in a sprint planning session?  It is just a matter of timing.  Also, invite subject matter experts to the sprint planning and have a collaborative session.  Let’s be honest here: teams spend a lot of time in refinement and very little time in sprint planning.  Although Scrum proposes an 8-hour planning event for a month sprint, most teams may at most spend an hour.  The reason is the work they should have done in planning was instead done in refinement.

This shift in perspective fosters a culture of experimentation and creativity, where solutions emerge organically through dialogue and iteration. Instead of being constrained by predefined solutions, teams are empowered to leverage their collective expertise and creativity to address the ever-evolving needs of the product.

There is a deeper view in that sprints allow for iterative product discovery and emergence.  The traditional way wants to get it right the first time, and the sprint reviews are just mere demos.  But in a Willing Product Owner and willing Team model, each sprint is about figuring out the product by building it.  Think of it as starting with a barebones prototype to prove the risk and then using reviews for feedback and the emergence of even better solutions.

This, too, comes with objections of “but, but it will take longer”.  No, it does not take longer, as the effort is usually the same amount. But it brings new dynamics, including Innovation, Team Empowerment, Idea Amplification, and genuine feedback.  It brings in iterative product discovery and emergence.

But perhaps the most compelling aspect of the Willing Product Owner, Willing Team approach is its ability to catalyse true agility. By embracing uncertainty and eschewing the constraints of upfront analysis, teams become more adept at responding to change and seizing opportunities as they arise. Agility ceases to be a buzzword and becomes an intrinsic part of the team's and organisations DNA. They learn and master the art of pivoting quickly and maintaining quality, something that is vital when there are incidents, disruptions, and changes in the market.

 The Willing Product Owner and Willing Team mindset represents a radical departure from conventional practices that focus on flexibility, collaboration, and adaptability above all else. By embracing uncertainty and fostering a culture of experimentation, organisations can unlock the true potential of agility and position themselves for success in an ever-changing world.