Scrum is founded on empirical process control, and transparency is one of the three pillars.
Each of the Scrum Roles exist to also raise transparency to the other Scrum Team members and the product's stakeholders. If you feel that there is a lack of transparency for any aspect of your initiative, check who is best placed to bring the needed clarity.
Note: transparency is way more than bringing “visibility”. It is about reaching ”a common understanding”.
Let’s take the Product Owner.
Bring common understanding about what?
- What is the current state of the product? What value does it allow for today? What capabilities does it have? What known issues are still in it?
- What is the user feedback? How is the product used?
- What is our market share? Who are the main competitors? How does their offer differs from ours?
- What is still needed in the product? What is expected to reach a specific goal? What is work remaining for this goal? What is the likelihood of achieving this goal?
- What is our Product Vision? Where are we working towards? Our Product Roadmap?
- ...
As these questions are all Product related, I expect the Product Owner to be able to answer all these types of questions. Answering orally, or having this information readily available even if he/she isn’t available.
Not necessarily alone. Teamwork remember.
So for details he/she could forward the requestor to other people who can be part of the Scrum Team, or maybe even outside the Scrum Team.
Anyway your Product Owner knows where to get an answer.
Bring common understanding to whom?
To the entire Scrum Team and the stakeholders
Summary:
Your Product Owner is expected to bring a common understanding about the current and future state of the product (near and long term), and as such raise transparency.
Prompt:
Have a conversation with your team about
- What does Transparency mean to you and your team?
- And how can the Product Owner raise Transparency? How can you improve on this?
I hope you find value in these short posts and if you are looking for more clarifications, feel free to take contact.
If you want to take a deeper dive into the core concepts we are covering in this blog series, then surely check out our Professional Scrum MasterY workshop. We have some scheduled in the coming period.
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