The Product Owner’s Vital Role in the Retrospective

In Agile, there are specific moments for planning, reviewing, and improving the entire scrum team. Product Owner, Scrum Master, and multidisciplinary team make the scrum team.

The retrospective is the moment in which the entire scrum team reflects the sprint that ended and what they can do better next time. I love this moment in the sprint when we come together and act now, while we are in the issue, while we can change and improve things, while we are yet motivated. I have a profound respect for the retrospective team moment because it gives the team the opportunity of acting in momentum and not post-mortem.

As an Agile Coach, I often see the case that only the development team and the scrum join the retrospective, but not the Product Owner. It is not because of a lack of will. But about the understanding of how to make the most out of it. I also see people think the retrospective is a moment to play, to relax. Below a list of what is the Product Owner’s role in the retrospective:

• share his/her thoughts about the sprint performance
• brings customer perspective
• brings management overview
• outside the team feedback and perception
• share the profitable part of the product