Jan, a dedicated Product Owner.
The product backlog is the cornerstone of every agile team. It embodies customer wishes, business vision and strategy, the dreams of technologists, and solutions to operational concerns.
Over time, however, the backlog becomes a bit of a mess. We put everything into it to make sure nothing is forgotten. Not only that, we write everything in great detail to ensure it’s all captured.
Jano, the Product Owner, has a successful product that he develops together with his excellent agile team. They are experienced, and Scrum is second nature to them. They understand who is responsible for what, the goals, and why things are done the way they are. They grasp the principles and have simplified the process to suit their needs and capabilities.
However, after some time in his role as Product Owner, Jano is feeling burned out. His life has become an endless cycle of planning, dailies, reviews, retrospectives, and meeting clients, UX, architects, marketing, content writers, and CX departments. The more they succeed, the more there is to handle.
In our discussion, we concluded that their success is due to well-prepared requirements. The descriptions are written exactly as the team needs them—clear, detailed, even technical. Developers especially appreciate that they can easily translate requirements into code. Jano even takes the time to define database types, constraints, and so on, which is rare for other Product Owners. The team is very satisfied.
This positive feedback energizes Jano. He feels it helps the team and the product.
The only problem is that Jano doesn’t have much time for this. He has to refine the requirements in the evenings, in addition to preparing for the next day’s meetings. But when it’s needed, it’s needed!
Could this be the root cause of Jan’s burnout?
We decided to run an experiment to find the boundary where the description is concise but still meaningful. A description that might not be complete but creates space for the team to contribute.
We followed the steps that you can use for inspiration too.
Everywhere Optical Noise
Leave ego and the word “BUT” at the door of the room where you are sitting.
Look at the requirements that you have “on your table.”
Now open your eyes wider. Step away from the monitor.
Here’s a simple question:
Which words in the title of the requirement are completely unnecessary? Without value? Filler? Optical noise?
Copy the title of the requirement into a text editor.
Remove the optical noise and rephrase the title.
Pause, take a breath, and look at the title again.
Is there still optical noise?
If so, let’s remove it. Write the next version of the requirement’s title.
Repeat until it’s minimal. But be careful, it might get too brief.
Then do the same with the detailed description, acceptance criteria, and other notes in the requirement.
Unnecessary Extra Features
Among the seven types of waste, “Extra Features” stands out. Many of us think only of functionality that the client doesn’t use, but this waste also includes optical noise. Words that don’t add value. Words that aren’t used.
Fewer, better-chosen and formulated words lead to faster and more accurate alignment with the team, customers, and users. Descriptions, ideally from the user’s perspective without technicalities, bring mutual understanding and reduce conflicts.
Less text naturally works in today’s world where people are just scanning the text. They’re not reading it deeply or understanding it. They’re scanning. So make sure your text has value even when scanned.
Shorter text will be written faster. Maybe not at first, when you’re learning to find the right brevity. But eventually, definitely.
Less text will result in greater throughput during planning, implementation, testing, and acceptance.
No more decorative words like Implementation, Realization, Development, Change, Error, Requirement. No more “I would like to ask,” “I request,” “I need.”
Don’t write verbs, write nouns. Not “who should do what,” but “what should be the outcome.” Better yet, focus on what you want to achieve—developers are smart people who will come up with innovations you haven’t thought of.
Why Write Differently?
It might seem like it’s just about writing, but in reality, it’s about efficiency and productivity. Less text is more. Just be careful not to cut the tree down to the roots. 😄
Join the ranks of the best Product Owners in Slovakia who have completed our Product Ownership MasterMind programs: Product Strategy or Product Delivery.
