Sprint 38 :: Dealing with changing companies and new methodology implementations, by a product owner.
Changing companies is never an easy task, the onboarding alone can be overwhelming, let alone learning (or should I say relearning) how to implement the methodologies you know so well.
When you change jobs and companies, one of the first challenges is learning the new software, and when trying and learning this new software you are presented with a multitude of questions.
Why do our customers like this specific software?
How does this kind of market work?
How does this software work?
Who are our competitors?!?
Every single one of this questions hurts a lot, the feeling of being inefficient when you are used to be efficient is, in itself, enough to make you break. This alone brings you to the dreaded impostor syndrome, so you know… be careful if you are getting to that point, and speak with your manager! They hired you for a reason, and it wasn’t because you weren’t good enough.
During the time you are learning the software, you are also learning who your team is, and understanding who can help you where, a Product Owner is supposed to be, by nature, an empathic and nice person with a high sense of priorities, so this should be easy part. You learn who does what and how, who can help you the most and who can give you different points of view about the software.
Then, you have the methodology. This part is hard.
Scrum is meant to be moldable, each company uses scrum how they see fit, and it’s your job as product to use that guidelines to deliver the best possible iterations.
Scrum varies a lot from company to company. If you are in a new startup they might be using scrum to the letter.
Are you in a old company? well, you might be using scrum and waterfall.
You are in a new big tech company? maybe you are using sAFE.
Or maybe you just have to help implement Scrum.
Whatever the circumstance is, remember that scrum is highly moldable, it can take any form, and it’s up to you to learn how they use it and employ it the best you can. However, don’t be the kind of person that blindly follows, if you see a way to improve, then identify it, prepare it and explain to your manager why it would improve the workflow. Just remember, small changes! do iterations of the change, don’t try to change an entire company from day to day. There is a reason those methodologies where implemented the way they are, maybe someone saw something you didn’t?
You are a Product Owner, it’s normal for us to be critical and find where we can improve. It’s what we do.
Relearning how to use a methodology might be hard, but it will have it’s upsides, you will learn new ways to do things, ways to improve, and it will help you remember the basics of scrum. This is a opportunity, seize it!
The Product Land ⛰️
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