6 reasons why every Product needs a Product Owner!
In order to understand why we need a Product Owner, we first need to understand Who a Product Owner is?
Imagine you are an owner of a hotel. when a guest comes over and tells you that their room’s window doesn’t open and asks you to fix it. Can you decline them saying it’s not your responsibility and the housekeeping should be responsible for it? No right! Because if you label yourself the owner, you are accountable for every activity that occurs there. Even if you might not complete every task on your own, you are still in charge of them all.
Product owners are referred to as owners since they are the actual owners of the product. The product owner owns the business plan and is accountable for revenue generation. In fact, it is the product owner’s job to make the product a reality and maximize return on investment.
Product owners are responsible for establishing value propositions, promoting product adoption, and even monetizing the product by collaborating with the stakeholders. How this is done may be across different organizations, Scrum Teams, and individuals. The Product Owner can carry out the above-mentioned tasks themselves or assign the work to others. Either way, the Product Owner is still accountable
As we now know that the PO(Product Owner) is at the eye of every development cycle, let’s understand what their responsibilities are.
#1 Defining the Vision
It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.
A product owner’s main duty is to lay out the product’s vision so that the development team can understand exactly what the user is supposed to gain out of it. The user’s needs are primarily understood through interaction and collaboration with the product owner, who then converts these requirements into a team’s vision.
In order for everyone to speak the same language and understand the outcomes, it is also crucial to convey the vision and goals to the stakeholders. To ensure that every item is in line with the business objectives the product owner should construct a product road map, which is a high-level, tactical-graphical overview that determines the vision and direction of the product.
#2 Managing the product backlog
Vision with action makes a powerful reality.
The product backlog is the dynamic list of items that should be frequently updated based on the changing project requirements all the way through development. The task of building up a backlog of items and assigning them based on the objectives falls to the product owner.
Given how dynamic the market is now and due to shifting priorities, the items in the product backlog may need to be re-arranged. The management of the product backlog is the primary duty of a product owner. The Product Backlog may represent the needs of the stakeholders. Those who want to alter the Product Backlog can convince the Product Owner to do so.
#3 Optimizing and Prioritizing requirements
People who focus; get the work done but people who prioritize; get the right work done.
The product owner must prioritize the items in the product backlog in a way that yields the best results. There are many tools to assist product owners in accomplishing this. Prior to the sprint planning meeting, the backlog must be sequenced by the product owner. This calls for sorting the user story according to their importance.
#4 Overseeing Development Stages
The value is in what gets used and not what gets built.
Once the fundamental entities, such as the vision, product backlog, and prioritization, are in place. The product owner must make sure they are involved in all phases of product development. The Scrum team might need the Product Owner to get clarity on a few queries or might need the product owner to review the work done in each sprint during the sprint.
#5 Evaluating Product Progress at each iteration
Accepting that there is a problem is the first step toward solving it.
The Product Owner oversees the development process, ensures that the teams work on high priorities, and keeps track of the items’ progress throughout a Sprint. The undone or unfinished task needs to be added back to the product backlog. Through regular evaluations, the product owner ensures that the development produces the desired results and accepts them.
#6 Anticipating the client’s needs
Your biggest learning opportunities come from your most dissatisfied consumers.
This is the Product Owner’s most significant duty. A successful Product Owner will be a master at perceiving and foreseeing the needs of the customer to better manage the development process. Their extensive market knowledge and communication abilities enable them to foresee issues or wants and respond to them.
Conclusion
Simply put, the product owner is responsible for all actions, decisions, and results. Instead of discovering customers for the product, they find out products for their customers. A great Product Owner is Stubborn in vision but flexible with the details.
The entire organization must respect the Product Owner’s decisions for the product to succeed. The impact of these decisions is visible through the Product Increment at the Sprint Review.
This is just a speck of knowledge on your journey to being a Product Owner, if you’d want to learn more and earn your Product Owner certification, sign up for our workshop. With our CSPO Certification, your employment prospects will expand across all industries. Join us for a hands-on, incredibly insightful workshop where our experienced trainers will provide you with the real-world techniques used to discover and develop a product as a product Owner.
