At my workplace we’ve recently started following Scrum and Kanban. I head the product management team with 2 newly minted product owners. They used to be a product manager and sales engineer respectively. One has limited experience with Scrum, the other none. So how to help them find their footing in their new role?
There’s a lot to learn from trainings and books, but there’s a difference between hearing and reading about what an agile workplace is like and experiencing the reality of it. That’s why I contacted my PO friends at my former employer to see it they would let them take a peek. They would. (Thank you!)
A crate of Füchsen changed hands and N. and N. got to observe a planning meeting and afterwards asked scores of questions. They returned completely psyched: “So that’s what it’s like, when it’s ‘finished’!”
Then at last week’s agile meetup, Sven mentioned that he’d like to do a similar exchange, but that it can be difficult to find a partner, if your company doesn’t have several people in the same role and you lack connections to other agile companies.
Wouldn’t it be great to have a place to look for such exchange partners? Our neighbors, the Software Craftmen, are already talking a lot about craftsmen swaps. We could copy that and make it more broad. Swapping jobs for weeks might work for Coaches and Scrum Masters, but is probably difficult for Product Owners. For them Pairing or even just passively observing are more viable options that still provide valuable insights. And while we’re at it, let’s include the lean practitioners as well!
There are many ways, such a platform could work. Here’s my concept:
