Product owners maximise product value. The product owner brings the customer’s perspective to the scrum team as a single individual. My experience has shown that the differences in characteristics between product owners and teams can result in heated debates, where the team cares about creating the highest quality product possible, regardless of how long it takes. The product owner cares about delivering the highest quality product. Although neither of them is incorrect in their beliefs, tension often exists between them. A Scrum Master maintains balance by expanding both parties’ views and drawing attention to the shared goal.
Scrum masters often train product owners on scrum benefits and support adjacent frameworks. The product owner must consult with all the product’s stakeholders to make a final decision. It is the product owner’s responsibility to: developing and maintaining a product vision and market strategy. Managing products. Managing and ordering the product backlog. Considering stakeholders and end users when refining and operating the Product Backlog. A product owner may collaborate with other product owners to benefit the overall product, the company, or the customer.
Product owners have experience managing product life cycles, so achieving the right image of their product is essential to them. Product owners adopt, share, and socialise the product vision. With the help of stakeholders, an effective Product Owner represents customers’ needs and wants and develops a product vision together. Product vision is considered at every stage of decision-making. As a result, the development team can create a sustainable product, providing clarity for the development team and increasing the likelihood of product success. Product owners exceed customers’ expectations. To be a successful product owner, it is vital to fully understand the customer’s objectives and goals so that the product can exceed those expectations. Any business strives for customer satisfaction! Product owners are empowered. Successful product owners can make product-related decisions. It will take some time, but timely decisions are necessary for sustainable development.
Product owners organise the product backlog. The Product Owner should understand that the product backlog should be arranged logically. Considering and balancing factors such as priority, risk, value, learning opportunities, and dependencies is essential. Rain makes the roof the most critical feature when building a house. As a result, the foundation must be constructed earlier, and the walls must be erected before the roof can be completed. Product owners communicate most effectively face-to-face. Product owners must understand that face-to-face communication is the most effective way to convey information. Personal conversations explain user stories. Backlog management tools facilitate dialogue between stakeholders. Old-fashioned conversation is best. Product owners understand modelling techniques. A wise product owner must have a backpack full of valuable modelling techniques. The product owner recognizes when to use a particular model. These include Business Model Generation, Lean Startup, and Impact Mapping. Using these models, the product owner understands how to drive his products’ success.
Product owners share their experiences with others. The most successful product owners communicate their experiences with their peers. Seminars and conferences are excellent venues for discussing experiences and gaining knowledge within and outside an organisation. Moreover, sharing lessons learned with other product owners can benefit them. Product owners own and manage the user story mapping process, one of the most critical skills a product owner should possess. This technique allows a product owner to enhance their backlog by adding a secondary dimension. Visualising the product backlog enables a product owner to understand the product development process. Jeff Patton has written several excellent story mapping materials. Product owners emphasise functionality. Managing the product from both a functional and non-functional perspective is the hallmark of an effective product owner. It needs to be more relevant to track hours or story points—product owners maximise customer value. As a result, the Product Owner focuses on functionality that contributes to product value. Product owners are knowledgeable. Excellent Product owners deeply understand the product’s functional and non-functional aspects. The Product Owner role may need to be scaled for large products to keep track of all the details. Product owners must always understand the bigger picture to make informed, conscious decisions.
Product owners understand their domain and environment. When building a product, it is essential to remember its context. Product owners must understand the organisation paying for development and market conditions. Shipping a product once its sales window is closed wastes time. Product owners act on multiple levels. Product owners can operate at various levels simultaneously. The most common ways to define these levels are strategic, tactical, and operational. An individual responsible for product strategy should be capable of explaining it at the board level. This should include gaining middle management support and motivating the development team daily. Product owners are accessible to stakeholders, customers, the development team, and the Scrum Master. They answer questions promptly and provide valuable information on time. The product owner maintains constant availability to ensure the development team’s progress.
Product owners are capable of saying ‘no’. A wise product owner knows when to say no and yes. Effective communication is one of the most basic yet challenging qualities to master. Changes in ideas and features are easy to accept. They are just another item on the product backlog. Backlog management aims to create a manageable product backlog containing items likely to be realised. Added items to the backlog are useless, knowing nothing will be accomplished with them, creating ‘wastage’ and false expectations. Product owners function as a “Mini-CEO. An effective product owner functions like a mini-CEO for the product. The individual keenly observes opportunities and focuses on business value and return on investment. He takes proactive measures when facing risks or threats. Everything must be considered in the context of product growth (size, quality, market share).
Product owners understand how to create valuable items for the Product Backlog. Great Product owners can explain that the Product Backlog isn’t just about upcoming features. Product owners refine backlogs. Product owners spend enough time refining their backlog. It adds details, estimates, and orders to the backlog. Ideally, the team should have a product backlog that is granular enough for everyone to understand. The development team typically spends less than 10% of its capacity on refinement. Team members decide how it’s done. Product owners can refine backlogs with stakeholders and development Teams. This allows stakeholders to discuss their requirements. Having the Development Team around clarifies functional and technical questions. The goal is to ensure everyone understands the product backlog and improves its quality. Therefore, building the right product with the right quality will be easier.
The biggest thing holding back a potentially successful product owner is their mindset. What’s the holdup? Is it a lack of time or reluctance? To address the above reasons, product owners should find time in their schedules and emphasise to the business how long it takes. This is another situation where the scrum master can help.
Last, only a product owner can solve a team’s hesitation about scrum. Saying “yes” to an interested party means saying “no” to someone else, so strength and confidence are essential. Diplomacy is, therefore, required. When needed, a scrum master will help, but only a product owner can say “no”.
