Coaching Product Owners From Messenger to Decision Maker—A Scrum Master's Guide | Mohini Kissoon

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Agile and Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

"He said "no" often, but he did it with such clarity that people respected it. It's not just no—it's giving the reason why." - Mohini Kissoon

Mohini has had the privilege of working with many great Product Owners, but one stood out for his calm demeanor and ability to navigate complex situations. Whatever stakeholders threw at him, he remained professional and calm—and critically, he never transferred that pressure onto the team. He had built strong relationships with stakeholders and was the go-to person who commanded respect across the organization.

When stakeholders demanded features that didn't align with team goals, he would acknowledge the request, explain the trade-offs, and offer to revisit it once the current direction was validated. He said no often, but with such clarity and reasoning that people respected his decisions.

This Product Owner also shielded the team from ad hoc requests, handling stakeholder bypass attempts so developers could maintain focus. He would only bring truly urgent items—like compliance issues—directly to the team.

With his helicopter view, he understood how incoming work would impact different stakeholders and parts of the business. Most importantly, he was a good listener who gave the team space to grow and experiment while challenging them constructively.

Self-reflection Question: When you work with your Product Owner, do they shield the team from chaos or pass it through unfiltered—and how might you help them develop that protective capability?

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Agile and Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

"When the team would ask 'why are we building this?' the answer would be 'because sales asked for it.' There was no triaging, no challenging stakeholders—just saying yes." - Mohini Kissoon

Mohini shares a story about a Product Owner who appeared to be doing everything right on paper: attending ceremonies, responding to questions, being present for the team, and working closely with stakeholders. But the team was constantly frustrated with scope creep, and the root cause was that this Product Owner was operating as a messenger, not a decision maker. She would bring requests from stakeholders directly into the backlog with no prioritization based on value and no pushback.

Major new work would appear at sprint planning that hadn't been discussed during backlog refinement. The team was committing to 100 story points but only completing 40, with items constantly carrying over.

When Mohini was brought in to help, she asked one simple question that changed everything: "What is the vision for your product?" The Product Owner couldn't answer—because nobody had ever asked her before.

Mohini ran a product vision workshop with her and key stakeholders, created a one-page strategy identifying target users, core problems, and success metrics, and established a working agreement that backlog items must align with identified goals. She also introduced prioritization sessions involving stakeholders. The transformation came when the Product Owner finally felt equipped to say no with informed reasoning.

Self-reflection Question: Does your Product Owner have a clear product vision they can articulate, and if not, what workshop or conversation could you facilitate to help them discover it?

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