5 Reasons Why Developers Hate Product Owners
A thin line between love and hate defines most relationships between Product Owners and Developers.
In a Scrum Team, developers are the ones who transform Product Backlog Items into increments of value. Therefore, no one else can tell them how to do their work. Yet, Product Owners often ignore this aspect by behaving like a Developer Owner, who defines how developers should do their job. The result is an inevitable frustration. As Steve Jobs said:
“It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”
From my experience, the relationship between Product Owners and developers is like a thin line between love and hate. When trust is absent, dangerous lines are crossed, friction is the only certainty. For example, if Product Owners mistrust that the team can reach the Sprint Goal, they become obsessed with the burndown chart and start pressuring the team instead of helping them overcome the challenges.
I’ve identified five common misbehaviors of Product Owners that put the Scrum Team down. Allow me to share them with you, and hopefully, you can benefit from my learnings.
