From tribes with dedicated PO to one product backlog

We are a Digital R&D organization of about 130 people originally siloed in 11 separate teams, each with one PO and own backlog, and some clustered in tribes with Chief Product Owner (CPO). In December 2021 we decided to break the silos, aim at one product, one backlog, one PO.

This happens in a corporate environment with multiple stakeholders, belonging to different P&L, with different priorities. At the same time from teams perspective, people were used to be component specialists and being instructed by POs, who dealt with customers, end-users, stakeholders. Hence, the transformation is intense and at time painful. We can share our initial why (especially towards LeSS), the major hurdles, the major benefits, how the environment is taking it, and what we see as success factor or pitfall in a complex corporate environment (our company is a 5B EUR turnover 18000 employee corporation, truly global).

John KopProduct Owner
Roosendaal, Netherlands
Roy KleinScrum Master
Amsterdam, Netherlands