How do we get Team members engaged to ensure that technical requirements are defined and developed effectively?

The Product Owner and Team members discuss User Stories often, and especially in Backlog Grooming meetings. Team members have responsibilities for technical requirements, much as the Product Owner has responsibilities for user-facing requirements.

When the discussion of any Story highlights uncertainty around design and implementation details that cannot be resolved quickly in that meeting, it is important that Team members take ownership of working through these questions after the meeting. This is best accomplished by identifying who will follow up, and to what extent other Team members need to participate or review the findings. The results of this follow-up activity may be clarity around the technical requirements, or a Technical Story, written by a Team member, and reviewed in the next Backlog Grooming meeting.

It is important to have a policy for meetings in general, which clarifies what follow-up actions are needed, and who will own them. ScrumMasters are the logical candidates for ensuring that follow-up actions are defined, owned, and accomplished.