Some teams treat the Product Owner as if they’re behind a glass wall once the sprint begins—as though the work has been handed over and it’s now up to the Development Team to deliver it exactly as outlined. That approach might seem like it keeps things moving smoothly, but in reality, it cuts the team off from one of its most valuable assets: the person responsible for maximizing the product’s value. Scrum is built on collaboration, not isolation, and the relationship between the Development Team and the Product Owner during the sprint is at the heart of that collaboration.
The Development Team and Product Owner should work as partners throughout the sprint, engaging in ongoing conversations as new information emerges. This communication isn’t a sign that the team is veering off track—it’s a natural part of Agile. Plans rarely survive contact with reality. For example, maybe a stakeholder shares late-breaking feedback, market conditions shift, or a technical challenge forces a rethinking of priorities. Without input from the Product Owner, the team might either soldier on with tasks that no longer matter or start guessing what’s most important—neither of which leads to great outcomes.
The Product Owner’s role here isn’t to micromanage or disrupt the team’s flow. Instead, they act as a bridge between business priorities and the Development Team’s work. When something needs to be adjusted—whether it’s adding, removing, or reordering Product Backlog Items mid-sprint—the PO ensures that those adjustments are rooted in a clear understanding of value. Say you’re halfway through a sprint, and it becomes evident that the original plan underestimated the time required for one high-priority item. Instead of letting the team burn themselves out trying to cram everything in, collaborating with the PO helps identify what can shift without compromising the sprint’s overall goal.
But this kind of collaboration works only when there’s trust. Teams need to see their Product Owner not as someone disrupting the process but as someone invested in its success. When POs maintain transparency—explaining the “why” behind last-minute tweaks or clarifying how decisions support business outcomes—it builds confidence among team members. It also reminds everyone that adapting isn’t a failure; it’s exactly what Scrum is designed for.
The day-to-day conversations between the PO and the team often focus on fine-tuning the Sprint Backlog. Maybe a technical hurdle has increased the complexity of a task, requiring the team to explore an alternative solution. Perhaps new feedback has brought a better understanding of what the customer needs right now. By working together, the Development Team and PO can evaluate these dynamics in the moment, shifting priorities so that every hour of effort is focused on delivering the most valuable outcomes. This doesn’t mean the sprint goal changes—it means ensuring the backlog serves that goal, not the other way around.
This collaboration also brings a unique clarity during tricky situations, like when scope adjustments are unavoidable. For instance, imagine a sprint’s focus is on improving a feature for user onboarding, but two key backlog items start to run longer than expected. Instead of leaving the team to wrestle with whether to compromise on quality or dash to the finish line, the Product Owner can step in to help reprioritize. Maybe one item can be pulled into the next sprint without jeopardizing the goal. Decisions like these, made in real time, rely on trust and open communication between everyone involved.
With close collaboration, adjustments to the Sprint Backlog stop feeling like disruptions and more like opportunities to improve. Teams often forget that adapting mid-sprint doesn’t mean failure—it means the team is agile, in the truest sense of the word.
It’s worth noting that most of the tension around collaboration between the Development Team and Product Owner during a sprint comes from one specific issue: misunderstanding boundaries. Teams sometimes mistakenly believe that once the sprint starts, the Sprint Backlog is untouchable, and the Development Team should simply “stick to the plan.” But that mindset misses the point of Scrum entirely. Plans are a jumping-off point, not a finish line. Collaboration with the Product Owner isn’t about second-guessing the plan—it’s about working smarter as new realities emerge.
Let’s take the example of mid-sprint discovery. Say the Development Team uncovers a technical dependency they hadn’t initially accounted for, making it impossible to deliver one of the backlog items as planned. Without engaging the Product Owner, the team might waste time spinning their wheels trying to force a solution or worse, push through something incomplete and call it “done.” But bringing the PO into the discussion opens up possibilities. Maybe the Product Owner recognizes the dependency is less of a priority than other work in the pipeline. Or maybe they suggest splitting the backlog item into smaller pieces that can deliver value incrementally. That give-and-take keeps the focus on outcomes rather than arbitrary task completion.
The best collaborations happen when the Product Owner stays actively engaged without hovering. Development Teams should feel comfortable pulling the PO in to clarify intent or make adjustments without fear of criticism or frustration. On the other hand, POs shouldn’t wield their role like a hammer, disrupting progress with constant changes. It’s all about balance. When both sides see each other as partners, not opposing forces, the sprint becomes a dynamic problem-solving effort rather than a rigid march toward the finish line.
It’s equally important for Product Owners to help the team understand the bigger picture. Transparency about the “why” behind decisions isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s what makes collaboration effective. When developers know why a low-priority feature is being swapped out for an unforeseen compliance need, it’s easier to refocus their efforts without feeling like their work is being devalued. Similarly, when the PO explains how stakeholder feedback is impacting backlog adjustments, it helps the team stay emotionally invested in the outcome rather than feeling like they’re working in a vacuum.
There are also those tricky situations where saying “no” becomes necessary. Stakeholders will sometimes push for scope increases mid-sprint, believing that Agile’s flexibility makes everything possible. This is where a strong PO-team relationship can shine. With shared ownership of the sprint’s goals—and a clear understanding of the capacity at hand—the Product Owner and team can work together to push back on unrealistic demands, keeping the focus on value rather than volume. These moments don’t just protect the integrity of the sprint; they also strengthen the bonds across roles, showing the team that the PO has their back.
Adapting the Sprint Backlog doesn’t always mean big dramatic changes, either. Sometimes it’s small tweaks—a placeholder is updated with clearer acceptance criteria, for instance, or the team flags a task as trivial based on what they’ve already completed. These micro-adjustments may seem minor, but their collective impact is huge. Each conversation ensures that the sprint remains tightly aligned with the goal and that no energy is wasted on unnecessary or redundant work. Without that ongoing dialogue between the Development Team and the PO, these efficiency opportunities could easily be missed.
When done well, collaboration between the Development Team and Product Owner is what brings life to Scrum’s core principles. It’s not about rigid roles or processes—it’s about enabling intelligent, responsive teamwork that delivers meaningful results. A sprint should never feel like a tug-of-war between planning and execution. Instead, it should feel like a shared effort, where adjustments are just part of the process and the entire team is pulling in the same direction.
At its heart, Scrum is about adaptability guided by purpose. By staying connected throughout the sprint, Development Teams and Product Owners build environments where decisions can evolve alongside knowledge. This isn’t chaos; it’s deliberate agility. And when the lines of communication stay open, what seemed at first like a roadblock can become an opportunity to create even greater value.
