The product owner had an important role in a scrum. It is described as one of the most difficult roles in a scrum team. He took the role of the client. He specifies the requirement and objectives of the project. He ensures the proper funding for the project at its different levels. He maximises the output of each team member and of each task. A product owner is a single person representing all stakeholders of the project. The product owner ensures the success of the project.
Roles of product owner
He defines the vision for the product, the vision motive for the project, and the desired end state. The vision should be a concise description of the core function of the product, and common goals that the project should fulfill. It should be general not to stop innovation. The vision describes who are the clients, what they need, and how to meet their requirements. The PO makes sure that the vision for a product is maintained throughout the process.
He Writes requirements
The product owner maintains and prioritize the backlog, the backlog is an overview of requirements for the product as desired by the customer.
The product owner needs to prioritize backlogs items,
He makes sure that the most valuable functionality is to be developed first.
The product owner leads the team
Maintain close cooperation with the team
The product backlog is changed and developed during the project life cycle, new requirements appear and other requirements are removed. The changes in the product backlog reflect the changes of business requirements for the project. The life cycle of the product backlog corresponds to the life cycle of the project.
He defines the function of the product.
Agree and reject the results of sprints
| After Scrum | Before scrum |
| Product owner | Product manager |
| Project manager |
How to manage the product backlog:
- List product backlog items,
- Order items in the product backlog to achieve goals and missions
- Make sure the development team provides valuable work,
- Make the backlog visible, transparent, and clear to all,
- Make sure the development team members understand the product backlog items to the level needed.
Reasons for decisions not to be made in agile
Unwillingness to the commitment of decisions
Conflicting priorities
Unstable availability of resources
Lack of planning ownership and empowerment
Consequences of decisions not to be made in agile
Lack of long-term strategy for decisions making.
Growing problem backlogs due of not well-defined requirements from previous sprints and lack of team commitment
How to make the mission of product owner successful
The organization has to respect his decisions
Competences of the product owner
Competence can be defined as skills, attitudes, and capacities that contribute to the solution of a problem in a situation.
The product owner should have soft skills.
Collaboration, communication, and customer orientation are the most valuable skills for product owners.
The product owner needs to have good expression capabilities, both oral and written, so he/she can create a common understanding between the business and the development team.
He must have good communication skills.
He must have good negotiation skills.
