PO who also has technical knowledge
Hi
I am working with a PO who has hands on experience for our product. Also our team is just newly set up. The developers have all the technical skills but except for product knowledge. So , sometimes our PO does help. But ideally we need to teach the developers for product knowledge. For knowledge transfer part we planned sessions, however that sessions are not enough to give the necessary knowledge to development team.
Last months our PO openly told that he does not want to teach when they have bottleneck/block. In addition to that he is nearly the only one in the company who knows that specific problem.... Unfortunately he also started to frustrate the developers with his reply's.
How we can get the trust back, good collaboration and knowledge?
Regards
This is, of course, hard to figure out in a forum. The answer is inside of you and the PO, but we need to pull it out!
Here's one tool to try: do an empathy map, one for your PO and one for your developers:
https://gamestorming.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Empathy-Map-Canvas-006.pdf
And then if you can use both of these to explain to the other what's happening, that may help. If nothing else it can give you insights.
You can also try to put the PO's impact in terms that the PO will see how it harms him/her.
Look into 5 dysfunctions of a team, in particular "overcoming the five dysfunctions of a team". The book is on amazon and it's worth the $13 (what a deal!)
Ultimately transparency is going to be your friends, but a tough one. The team has to solve this one with your help on seeing what the issue is.
The developers have all the technical skills but except for product knowledge.
Are they then able to produce a Done increment of usable quality, regardless of how much -- or how little -- product value is there?
Hi Chuck
Thanks for the advice. I will definitely start with empathy canvas.
@Ian, yes they are actually capable of producing value. but not always.. it is the improvement area still.
why does the PO act like this? Have you tried to talk about this issue and understand his hidden motivation? it's totally wrong to act like this, as your team is gonna be affected by that