The Agile / Scrum Product Owner

Interestingly, like with all the Scrum terms, everybody has their own understanding of the role of the Product Owner. When I talk with people about the implementation of Agile and Scrum and the role of the product owner and I ask the question: “what should a Product Owner do? I usually get as many different answers as there are people I asked the question. Some of the answers I am likely to hear are: “The Product Owner maintains the Product Backlog” and “the Product Owner gives us the list of needs to be implemented” are some of the answers you are likely to hear.

However, to define a Product Owner this way misses the very essence of what a Product Owner is and what he or she is supposed to do. While those statements are technically correct, a Product Owner’s primary responsibility is to maximize the value of the product delivered based on the Product Vision. To do this the Product Owner represents the needs of the customer by keeping key capabilities and desired outcomes in mind, which keeps the team on track towards delivering the best possible solution, creating the most added value.

When we look in in the Scrum Guide, we find the following description of a Scrum Product Owner. “A Scrum Product Owner is responsible for maximising the value of the product resulting from the work of the Development Team. How this is done may vary widely across organisations, Scrum Teams, and individuals.

The Product Owner is the sole person responsible for managing the so called Product Backlog. It is up to the product owner to clearly define the user stories in the product backlog and make sure they are prioritised right. Generally speaking a managing a good product backlog consists of the product owner:

  • Clearly expressing Product Backlog items.

  • Ordering the items in the Product Backlog to best achieve goals and missions.

  • Optimising the value of the work the Development Team performs.

  • Ensuring that the Product Backlog is visible, transparent, and clear to all, and shows what the Scrum Team will work on next.

  • Ensuring the Development Team understands tems in the Product Backlog to the level needed.

The Product Owner may do the above work, or have the Development Team do it. However, the Product Owner remains accountable.

The Product Owner is one person, not a committee. The Product Owner may represent the desires of a committee in the Product Backlog, but those wanting to change a Product Backlog item’s priority must address the Product Owner.

For the Product Owner to succeed, the entire organisation must respect his or her decisions. The Product Owner’s decisions are visible in the content and ordering of the Product Backlog. No one can force the Development Team to work from a different set of requirements.

During my recent workshops, we discuss the role of the product owner and what one needs to be to be a great product owner.  The result of these discussions was a nice overview of characteristics, skills and conditions necessary to fulfil the Product Owner role in a great manner. In the next paragraph you will find the result, completed with a short explanation and some more of my own ideas and experiences.

A Great Product Owner…

  • Embraces the product vision. A great Product Owner represents the customer’s voice and creates a product vision together with all the stakeholders. Every decision a product owner makes, is taken with the product vision and the delivery of the most added value in mind. This ensures sustainable product development, provides clarity for the development team and increases the chances of product success drastically.

  • Exceeds the customers’ expectations. A great Product Owner truly understands the customer’s intentions. He understands the customers’ intended goals with the product and is able to derive the expectations. Customer delight, surprise and satisfaction is the ultimate goal!

  • Is empowered. A great Product Owner is empowered to take all the decisions related to the product. Sure, creating support for his decisions might take some time, but swiftly, sometimes even on the spot, taking important decisions is a primary condition for a sustainable pace of the development team.

  • Orders the product backlog. A great Product Owner understands that the product backlog should be ordered. Hereby priority, risk, value, learning opportunities and dependencies are balanced with each other.

  • Prefers face-to-face communication. A great Product Owner understands that the best way to convey information is face-to-face communication. User stories are explained in a personal conversation. If a tool is used for backlog management, its function is to support the dialogue. It never replaces the good old-fashioned conversation.

  • Knows business models. A great Product Owner has a backpack full of valuable business models. He knows when to apply a specific model. Examples are Business Model Generation, Lean Start-up or Impact Mapping. Based on these models he knows how to drive product success.

  • Shares experiences. A great Product Owner shares his experiences with peers. This might be within the organisation, but also seminars and conferences are a great way to share experiences and gather knowledge. Of course writing down your lessons learned is also highly appreciated.

  • Owns user story mapping. A great Product Owner should master the concept of user story mapping. It’s a technique that allows you to add a second dimension to your backlog. The visualisation enables you to see the big picture of the product backlog. Logically he should also know all the stuff Jeff Patton has created.

  • Has a focus on functionality. A great Product Owner has a focus on functionality, hours or even story points are less important. The goal of the Product Owner is to maximise value for the customer. It’s the functionality that has value, therefore this is the main focus for the Product Owner.

  • Is knowledgeable. A great Product Owner has in depth functional product knowledge and understands the technical composition. For large products it might be difficult to understand all the details, but the Product Owner should always know the larger pieces of the puzzle and hereby make conscious, solid decisions.

  • Understands the domain. A great Product Owner understands the domain and environment he’s part of. A product should always be built with its context taken into account. This includes understanding the organization it concerns but also being aware of the latest the market conditions. Shipping an awesome product after the window of opportunity is quite useless.

  • Acts on different levels. A great Product Owner knows how to act on different levels. The most common way to define these levels is strategic, tactical and operational. A Product Owner should know how to explain the product strategy at board level, create support at middle management and motivate the development team with their daily challenges.

  • Is available. A great Product Owner is available for the stakeholders, the customers, the development team and the Scrum Master. Important questions are answered quickly and valuable information is provided on time. The Product Owner ensures his availability never blocks the progress of the development team.

  • Is able to say ‘no’. A great Product Owner knows how and when to say no. This is probably the most obvious one but nonetheless also the most difficult one to master. Saying yes to a new idea or feature is easy, it’s just another item for the product backlog. However, good backlog management encompasses creating a manageable product backlog with items that probably will get realized. Adding items to the backlog knowing nothing will happen with them only creates ‘waste’ and false expectations.

  • Acts as an entrepreneur. A great Product Owner basically is an entrepreneur for his product. He has a keen eye for opportunities, focuses on business value and the Return On Investment and acts proactive on possible risks and threats. Everything with the growth (size, quality, market share) of his product taken into account.

  • Takes Backlog Refinement seriously. A great Product Owner spends enough time at refining the Product Backlog. Backlog Refinement is the act of adding detail, estimates and order to items in the Product Backlog. The advice is to spend on average 10% of the capacity of the Development Team to refinement, the way it is done isn’t prescribed and is up to the team. The Product Owner can involve stakeholders and the Development Team with refining the backlog. The stakeholders because it gives them the opportunity to explain their wishes and desires. The Development Team because they can clarify functional and technical questions or implications. This will ensure common understanding and increases tte quality of the Product Backlog considerably.

and last but not least

  • Has studied all the Agile material from NoNonsense Agile and gotten him- or herself certified with a NoNonsense Product Owner certificate.   

As we now have established, what kind of a person an exquisite product owner is, let’s dive a bit deeper in the product owners activities and responsibilities. Let’s find out how a product owner plans the product delivery