The #1 skill that levelled up my Product Owner game?
💬 Learning to translate

Not between languages.
Between business goals and technical reality.

When stakeholders say:

“We need this feature ASAP”
They usually mean:
“Leadership is chasing this, and I need something to show for it”

When developers say:

“This is technically complex”
They’re often saying:
“We need time to build this properly or we’ll be fixing bugs for weeks”

Here’s how I bridge the gap:

1. Decode what’s really being asked
→ That “urgent” feature? It’s often about hitting a growth target, eliminating a manual workflow or preventing customer-facing issues.
→ Understanding the why changes how we prioritise.

2. Link tech effort to business value
→ Scalable architecture?
“It prevents crashes during peak trade. It protects revenue”
→ Now technical debt has ROI.

3. Make trade-offs tangible
→ Not “fast vs stable.”
Try: “Ship in 4 weeks with likely bug fixes or 6 weeks with confidence in user experience”
→ Framing options clearly leads to better decisions.

4. Align on what success looks like
→ Before work starts, ask: Are we aiming for speed? Conversion? Cost savings?
→ This stops scope creep before it starts.


The magic happens when everyone understands not just what we’re building, but why it matters 🤝🏼

Last month, I led a high-stakes Go-Live while managing 75+ competing stakeholder requests. This approach helped me filter noise, prioritise by impact and hold scope firm.

When last-minute features popped up, I laid out the trade-off:
Add the feature or hit the launch date - we can’t do both.

The result?
✅ On-time delivery
✅ Maintained 5-day cycle time
✅ Business and tech aligned throughout

The best products are built when business and tech speak the same language: value.


💭 When you have three 'urgent' features and one sprint, how do you drive alignment instead of just being the person who says no?