Company Drops Product Owner From Platform Modernization, Then Spends Years and Millions With Nothing to Show

Scrum.org describes a company that formed new Scrum Teams to modernize its core platform instead of using its high-performing existing team. Leadership then decided the rebuild needed no Product Owner, and the teams worked for six months without one. After years of investment and millions in consultant fees, the modernization had delivered nothing and the company was downsizing.

Why it matters: It offers a concrete cautionary case for product managers and PMO leads on why removing the Product Owner role from a rebuild, and bypassing teams that already know the product, can sink a modernization.