Let’s start right at the beginning. What is a product? Something that a customer describes, which has market value and is built by a development team.
Then, who is a product owner? The product owner definition as per the Scrum Guide is someone who is accountable for maximizing the value of the product by being the go-between the customer and the development team.
The primary role of a product owner is to represent the customer to the development team. By many definitions, a Product Owner is not the owner of the product but a proxy for the actual owner.
Whatever the definition, a Product Owner is hugely responsible for ensuring that the product that is built satisfies the requirements of the customer and brings in value and satisfaction.
If someone tells you that Product Owner skills are inborn and cannot be learnt, then do not believe them! A successful Product Owner has skills that make him/her a good communicator, an efficient decision maker, and capable of resourceful handling of the product backlog. These skills can be learnt and built upon.
So, what is the role of the Product Owner?
There are many skills and competencies needed to perform a product owner’s roles and responsibilities including the following:
Product Owner Responsibilities: Key Tasks
The key tasks a Product Owner carries out include:
Product Owner Responsibilities: Key Deliverables
A Product Owner job description would look something like this:
As a Product Owner you will find yourself often mistakenly called a Product Manager. While there is just a thin line that separates the two roles, they are none the less different.
A Product Manager is responsible for the development of products, manages its requirements and ensures that the product satisfies the guidelines of the customer. A Product Manager in essence also performs the role of a Product Owner.
A Product Owner’s responsibilities in the context of Scrum are that of being a representative of the customer and the proxy owner of the product. A Product Owner’s role is defined and specific. They have to ensure that the product is built using Scrum principles and is as mandated by the customer.
A Product Manager’s role is more inclusive and covers the entire lifecycle of the product, all along helping customers stay in the loop and overseeing delivery of the product.
The difference between the two roles can be thought of as a Venn diagram where a smaller circle, representing the Product Owner is contained within a larger circle, representing the Product Manager.
That brings us to another question which is the difference between Product Owner and Business Analyst.
That brings us to another question which is the difference between Product Owner and Business Analyst.
Product Owner | Business Analyst |
---|---|
The Product Owner works on the business side of the product. | The BA usually works on the technical or agile team side. |
Is a proxy for the customer | Is the representative of the development team |
Generally, has more business knowledge | Generally, has business knowledge coupled with technical knowledge |
While there may be demarcations between the roles, there are also frequent overlaps and depending on the type of agile project a business analyst may perform the role of a Product Owner with success. But in order to do this the BA must be able to understand the business side of the product and be a communication and technical representative of the business.
Like in all other roles, experience makes one better at the role. As you work on more and more projects, your skills as a product owner will enhance. Certifications such as the CSPO and PSPO also help in polishing your skills and expertise in product ownership.
As a Product Owner you will be expected to have knowledge of:
The Fan-out model essentially defines how resources should be allocated across the organization to optimise work flow, ensure maximum productivity and eliminate creation of bottlenecks.
According to Scaled Agile, Inc, each Product Manager can usually support up to four POs, each of whom can be responsible for the backlog of one or two Agile teams.
The fan out model indicates the relationship between the product manager, product owner and the teams that is the ideal composition to ensure successful scaling of Agile.Conclusion
The Product Owner is often described as an agile project’s real superhero. A good product owner successfully navigates the balancing act--of keeping the customers happy and not overburdening the team with unrealistic requirements.
An Agile project is made up of a Product Owner, Scrum Master and the development team. The product owner maximizes the value of the product created by the development team and ensures stakeholder management. Without a product owner, there is no Scrum team.
The Standish Group data shows that consistently over the last 20 years, for over 500,000 projects, 64% of features delivered to customers are never or rarely used. And this is because of a lack of a proper Product Owner.
Product Owners are an indispensable part of Agile teams and enterprises. To learn more about how you can leverage this demand and be a part of modern agile organizations check out these popular product owner certifications.
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