Running Agile Without a Product Owner: How to Not Derail Your Sprint

Read about must haves in a Jira story.

One of the quiet but real dysfunctions in Agile teams today is this:

There’s no product owner.

Sometimes, not even a product manager.

And what happens?

Developers get “requirements” from someone in business ops who just wants something done. Jira tickets are vague. Details arrive mid-sprint. Daily standups turn into “wait, what exactly do you want here?”

If you’re managing a team in this situation, here’s how to survive—and eventually stabilize.

Quick Refresher: Product Manager vs. Product Owner

Product Manager

• Focuses on the market, revenue, and business strategy

• Thinks about what to build and why it matters

• Talks to leadership, customers, and business stakeholders

• Tries to improve revenue, reduce cost, and grow operations

• Has a long-term vision for the product or platform

Product Owner

• Focuses on the team and sprint delivery

• Helps define how to build features in the short term

• Works closely with developers and testers

• Owns the backlog, writes user stories, and helps clarify requirements

• Acts as a bridge between the product manager and engineering team

So What Do You Do When They’re Both Missing?

You’re often left dealing directly with business users—someone in ops, support, or sales. They want results, but don’t always give clarity.

Here’s how to lead from the middle:

1. Start with a Firm Sprint Schedule

Let’s assume your sprint starts every Wednesday.

You need to build a cadence like this:

• Previous Thursday or Friday: Sprint Grooming Call with Business

• Monday–Tuesday: Clarification window — business answers follow-ups

• Tuesday: Sprint Planning with dev team (especially offshore)

• Wednesday: Sprint officially starts—with clarity and confidence

2. Host a Grooming Call with the Business

Even if they don’t act like a product owner, treat them as one—but set expectations:

• They must create Jira tickets ahead of the sprint

• In grooming, go through their proposed stories

• Ask: “What is the top priority?”, “What’s the problem we’re solving?”, “What happens without this?”

• Let your questions come up—and give them until Tuesday to clarify

This structure helps business learn over time what a “good story” looks like.

3. Prepare the Developers Ahead of Sprint Start

If you’re working with distributed teams (e.g., India + US):

• Don’t let sprint start = first time they’re seeing the tickets

• Host a planning call Monday/Tuesday

  
  

  • Walk through what came out of grooming

  • Share business context, story priorities

  • Let devs ask questions before they start

  • Encourage devs to create their own subtasks if needed (since no product owner is doing it)

This gives them ownership and a head start.

4. Enforce a Healthy Tech Debt Ratio

Business will never ask you to do refactoring. So you must own it.

• Set a fixed 80/20 or 70/30 rule:

  
  

  • 80% sprint capacity = business value stories

  • 20% = tech debt, refactoring, internal efficiency

• Explain to business:

  
  

  “We take on 20% tech debt work so the 80% can go faster next sprint.”

Make it a non-negotiable practice.

5. Expect That It Will Take Weeks to Normalize

Don’t expect immediate adherence.

• Business will sometimes forget to create tickets

• Developers will ask late questions

• Priorities may shift

But if you hold to the structure and rhythm, things start to improve.

In Summary

Running Agile without a product owner is tough.

But with these practices, it’s not just survivable—it’s productive:

• Weekly grooming with business (Thursday or Friday)

• Developer prep before sprint start (Monday or Tuesday)

• Balanced sprint capacity (80/20 rule)

• Encourage developers to think like product owners

• Normalize over 2–3 sprint cycles

Eventually, even without official roles, the rituals will enforce the right behaviors.