- Complexity Is Easy to Underestimate
- Research Is Real Work
- Overtime Hurts More Than It Helps
- Context Boosts Better Decisions
- Trade-offs Are Inevitable
We’re developers, and we genuinely love creating things as a team. At Directio, we’ve learned that great software doesn’t happen in isolation – it grows out of the way we work with Product Owners. When trust and openness are there, even the tricky parts of agile development feel less like blockers and more like opportunities. Add a framework like scrum, and that collaboration turns into a steady rhythm of delivering value.
This article is our way of reaching out to you – the POs we collaborate with every day. Think of it not as a list of do’s and don’ts, but as a handful of friendly insights. Five things we’d like you to know that can make agile teamwork smoother, the product stronger, and the whole journey a lot more enjoyable for everyone.
1. Complexity Is Easy to Underestimate
The Challenge (from our desk):
You say: “It’s just a button, how long can it take?”
We know: that button touches authentication, API calls, analytics, accessibility, and tests. We’ve seen this scenario too often at Directio – the small “quick win” turns into a sprint-long headache. And when complexity isn’t acknowledged early, stakeholders push harder, expecting speed that simply isn’t realistic. The result? Stress, technical shortcuts, and a shaky product foundation that slows down future development. Worse still, these shortcuts can snowball into technical debt that drags every release afterwards and eats into future capacity.
Our Tip as Devs:
Respect agile estimation. Estimates are not promises; they’re best guesses under uncertainty. Help stakeholders understand that. If you want predictability, give us time for refinement and encourage us to surface assumptions. This is one of the best practices in product management that makes a tangible difference: mapping out dependencies, discussing risks, and agreeing on priorities before coding starts. Treat estimates as a dialogue, and we’ll treat delivery as our shared responsibility. Clear feedback loops during estimation sessions help us align expectations early and avoid surprises later.
2. Research Is Real Work
The Challenge:
You wonder: “Why are you spending three days experimenting instead of building features?”
We know: those days of exploration prevent weeks of disaster later. At Directio, spikes and proofs of concept have saved entire projects. Without them, we risk building on fragile ground – integrations fail, performance collapses under load, or external tools don’t fit. Yet to many stakeholders, this work looks invisible, as if nothing has moved forward. That perception can lead to cutting research time, which often backfires dramatically and leaves the business exposed. And once a bad architectural choice is locked in, fixing it costs ten times more and slows momentum for months.
Our Tip as Devs:
Defend research time. It’s not wasted effort – it’s part of the product owner role in agile development. When you explain to stakeholders that research buys scalability and stability, you shift the perspective from “lost time” to “risk avoided.” Frame it in business language: faster delivery in later sprints, fewer emergency fixes, more confident decisions. And when you, as a PO, celebrate this work in sprint reviews, you reinforce that research is as valuable as visible features. That small shift keeps morale high, limits agile development challenges, and strengthens the product for the long run. It also shows you trust our judgment as experts. When research outcomes are shared openly, your feedback shapes the direction and makes our experiments even more valuable.
3. Overtime Hurts More Than It Helps
The Challenge:
You say: “We’re close – just one more late push.”
We know: overtime doesn’t buy speed, it buys bugs. We’ve seen it: tired eyes miss details, features break, morale tanks. And the business pays for it later in fixes and turnover. At Directio, we’ve joined rescue projects where months of crunch left behind unstable products and exhausted devs. What looked like “commitment” in the short term turned into slowed delivery and talent loss. And when good developers leave, the cost to the product and company is far higher. Even the strongest codebase can’t survive without motivated people behind it, and no amount of patching restores trust once it’s gone.
Our Tip as Devs:
Protect sustainable pace. Instead of squeezing more hours, cut scope. Ask us: “What’s the true MVP?” That question shifts focus to value, not volume. It’s aligned with best practices in product management, where outcomes matter more than ticking boxes. Present this trade-off clearly to stakeholders: they can choose smaller scope delivered well, or a bloated release that risks failure. When you back our pace, you not only protect the product but also keep the team engaged and creative. Sustainable delivery beats heroics every time – and your business benefits from steady progress. Give us stability, and we’ll give you quality that scales.
4. Context Boosts Better Decisions
The Challenge:
You hand us a ticket: “Build export option.” That’s all.
We know: without the “why,” we build the narrowest thing possible. Sometimes it works, but often it misses the actual user need. At Directio, we’ve seen features rejected in demos because they solved the wrong problem – not because of bad code, but because context was missing. Without clear goals, we can’t judge trade-offs or propose smarter solutions. It feels like coding blindfolded, and it wastes both our energy and the business budget. Worse still, it also erodes trust, because stakeholders assume devs “don’t get it,” when in fact the full story was never shared in the first place.
Our Tip as Devs:
Give us context. Share KPIs, user personas, and business drivers. This transforms backlog items into outcomes and invites developer feedback that may uncover risks or better approaches. It’s one of the most impactful product owner best practices: tell us why, not just what. When we understand the business goal, we can optimize, suggest shortcuts, or avoid pitfalls you may not see. That’s how agile team collaboration becomes real partnership – not just task execution. The more you involve us in the bigger picture, the more value we can return to the business and the product itself. Context builds trust, and trust accelerates delivery.
5. Trade-offs Are Inevitable
The Challenge:
You promise stakeholders everything: fast delivery, full scope, flawless quality.
We know: no team can hit all three. At Directio, we’ve seen projects stumble because trade-offs weren’t acknowledged. Features pile up, deadlines slip, and quality erodes. Pretending trade-offs don’t exist frustrates everyone: devs feel squeezed, POs lose credibility, and the business gets a fragile product. The truth is simple: every decision costs something, and silence only multiplies that cost later. And when reality catches up, everyone loses more than they expected, because expectations were set on fiction, not facts.
Our Tip as Devs:
Name the trade-offs openly. Use clear business terms: here’s the cost of fixing technical debt now, here’s the cost of ignoring it, here’s the risk if it hits in production. Owning these conversations is central to the product owner role in agile development. It helps stakeholders make informed decisions and gives devs confidence that priorities are realistic. In Directio projects, we’ve seen that transparent trade-off discussions build long-term trust – and keep agile development challenges from turning into crises.
Summary
In the end, building software is teamwork. By leaning on product owner best practices, you don’t just manage a backlog – you inspire your team and show stakeholders what real collaboration looks like. And trust us, we love giving our best when we feel that shared energy.
If you’d like to see how we combine people, process, and technology in practice, check out our software development services or see how we keep momentum with ongoing support.
