In 2019 Thomas started at COMbridge in a project as an interface between customer and development. With a customer in Germany and the nearshore developers in Voronesh, he experienced for the first time that communication is the be-all and end-all of every project. With the advantage of having Russian and German as mother tongues, Thomas concentrated not only on passing on information, but also on discussing it.

“It makes no sense to forward information to development only via tickets or documents. Even requirements documents are often only half the truth, only once you’ve talked about them can you assume that everyone involved understood the same thing.”

The task of communicating between the customer and development grew into a multifaceted challenge that no longer only included communication, but also planning, presentation of results and the driving of various topics.

Summing up his work as a product owner, Thomas says: “It’s better to ask twice than to go astray once. It doesn’t matter whether I’m starting a new project or taking over in the middle. I ask, ask and ask until I understand everything. Then I make sure that everyone involved has understood the same thing. At the beginning of the project you can set the rough goals, but that is only an approximate direction. Monthly, detailed check-ups with customers and developers are needed to find out “What is the goal” to be defined more and more.”

Thomas has learned that as a product owner you are responsible for a product, but comprehensive communication is still the main task.

“I can only expect good work if I have formulated the tasks well, made sure that everyone understands what needs to be done and that everything is properly documented. If I describe badly, I will get bad code back. Communication is everything.”