This podcast episode is about the concept of “organizational debt”. The product workers use it in analogy to “technical debt” and thus refer to organizational shortcuts, the (deliberate) omission of Scrum elements or a neglect of agile ideas and principles in organizations. Organizational debt leads to problems in the long term and thus also to costs. The podcasters Tim Klein and Oliver Winter show above all how organizational debt can also influence success as a product owner.
Product owners and agile product managers have usually already been confronted with the challenges that can arise from the introduction of Scrum or other agile methods into their organization. Sometimes there is no Scrum Master yet, sometimes there is not enough time for reviews or retrospectives. Or you have to work in parallel as a product owner for three or four Scrum teams.
Conscious use of organizational debt and practical examples
Oliver Winter and Tim Klein first explain their understanding of the term “organizational debt”. They show the advantages and disadvantages of organizations taking on organizational debt as part of agile transformation or when introducing Scrum. The conscious decision to do this can sometimes make sense – just like consciously entering into technical debt, in order to be able to bring a product or feature to the market faster and to be able to generate an outcome with it earlier.
The main part follows numerous examples of organizational debt that Klein and Winter have experienced in their work as agile coaches and consultants. They discuss how to recognize them and, above all, how they affect the product owner role. In addition, they offer concrete tips on how to deal with organizational debt as a product owner or agile product manager.
The following older episodes from the podcast “Die Produktwerker” on this topic are mentioned in the conversation:
The current edition of the podcast is also available in the blog of the product workers: “Organizational debt affects your success as a product owner“.
(May)
