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How can a Scrum Master detect that the Product Owner is interacting enough with the Developers during a sprint?

Last post 05:48 pm November 17, 2023 by Mike Dadaniak
5 replies
03:58 pm November 16, 2023

Is the best way to tell if the product owner is satisfied with the increment at the sprint review?

Or is it better recognized by the autonomy of the developers, which has developed from sufficient information from the product owner in sprint planning.

Thank you in advance.


06:25 pm November 16, 2023
In Sprint Planning, the Developers made a Sprint Goal commitment and a forecast of work for achieving it. If the Sprint Goal is being met, and the Product Owner recognizes the value of doing so, then you have some evidence that interaction may be sufficient.

06:54 pm November 16, 2023

The best way to understand if there are enough interactions and the interactions are of high enough quality would be to ask the people involved.

If you want to look for signs or evidence, I'd look at Product Backlog refinement activities, Sprint Planning, and Sprint Review:

  • During refinement, is the team developing a shared understanding of the work? Is the Product Owner able to convey the needs and desires of the stakeholders to the Developers and respond to questions and concerns?
  • During Sprint Planning, is the Product Backlog well-ordered and refined? Is the team able to come up with a Sprint Goal and then identify the work needed to achieve that Sprint Goal?
  • At the Sprint Review, are the stakeholders satisfied with the product when the team accomplishes the Sprint Goal? Does the Sprint Goal reflect their needs and wants?

09:35 pm November 16, 2023

I'm going to tag onto something @Thomas said.  

Ask the Developers.  Ask the Product Owner.  There shouldn't be a need for the Scrum Master to identify this.  It should be something that the Developers and Product Owner foster on their own as they see the benefit of doing so.

I'm also going to rework your question a little bit.  Why do you think that the Product Owner isn't interacting with the Developers during the Sprint?  And what is the definition of "enough"?


07:22 am November 17, 2023

The developers committed to a Sprint Goal and estimated the amount of work needed to achieve it during Sprint Planning. There's some evidence that engagement might be adequate if the Product Owner understands the value of meeting the Sprint Goal and it is being met.


08:47 am November 17, 2023

Thank you for your quick response, Ian, Thomas and Daniel.

The question itself was well explained and gives me direction on what to (really) focus on. Also your questions are very helpful to do so.

@Daniel: The question came up during my preparation to the PSM II assessment. I found different answers to it and that confused me. In my opinion "enough" is when the Product Owner ensured that the business value and lastly the prefered outcome is clear and understood during the whole sprint and the developers feel comfortable at any time to be able to meet the sprint goal. To determine if it was really enough, the satisfaction of the key stakeholders (e.g. product user) should be the best indicator (customer satisfaction gap - assuming the product owner had the best outcome in his mind, the Sprint Goal developed by the Scrum Team reflected this and there were no impediments that hindered the team to deliver the wanted outcome). 

Habe a nice weekend ;)


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