Do you remember when you were 6 years old and your teacher would ask you what you wanted to be when you grew up? Some kids yelled out proudly: “firefighter!” Or when you were 10 years old and your uncle asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up and you responded “baseball player!”. Now fast forward to when you were 18 and your high school guidance counselor would ask you what you wanted to do after school. Now you had to get serious. You thought long and hard and proudly declared: “botanist!”. Sure it would be fun to put out fires, hit a game-winning home run, or….do whatever botanists do. But that wasn’t for me.
Growing up, I always knew I wanted to be a Product Owner (not true). From the very beginning, I dreamed of conquering the business world (big lie). I would show my friends spreadsheets I created and product roadmaps I colored and they were, well I won’t sugar coat it, they were nothing short of AMAZED (never happened). Alright fine. The life of a Product Owner is not all paparazzi and autograph signings. That went away in the ’70s. But today’s Product Owner is just as important.
They are a key member of any agile scrum team. But how does one become a Product Owner? What are their responsibilities? Why are they so beloved? I’ll attempt to explain by breaking down the name itself.
Product
This may seem obvious, but a product can be defined by a business as many different things. Overall, it is something that a business determines has “business value”. This can be a tangible product being sold to customers. It can be a piece of software that is only used internally by employees. It can also be code – an SDK, set of APIs, etc – that a business finds essential to its operations. A product can be almost anything that a business values as needed to have success.
Owner
Again, this may seem obvious, but what does it actually mean to “own” a “product”? A Product Owner is fully responsible for the said product from inception to end of life. They ensure that their product is working correctly. That its customers are happy. That it is achieving its optimum business value. That the product is growing and healthy and competitive with the marketplace.
Becoming A Product Owner
Aside from simply being hired on as a Product Owner, there are other, more organic, routes that someone may travel to become a Product Owner. One of those routes stems from the role of Business Analyst. The BA role is one that works closely with products of all types. Most often, a BA will work on projects for many different products, moving from one to another. Other times, a BA will just keep getting assigned projects for the same product.
For example, I once worked as a BA on a project to start up and integrate a new ITSM system. This system would replace about 4 older systems and needed many integrations. For over a year, I gathered requirements, tested those requirements, and ultimately trained new users on the new system when it was ready for deployment.
Things went so well and I felt so comfortable with that system that I asked to only be assigned projects related to that system. I felt that I had had a large part in the creation of this project and I wanted to ensure its success by being as close to it as possible. I was eventually given the role of Product Owner and the rest is history.
Another role that can sometimes morph into a Product Owner role is that of the System Administrator. Similar to a PO, a Sys Admin also works very closely with, most often, one system. They control access, manage databases and implement changes, among other things. They become the Subject Matter Expert (SME) of that system for an organization.
That kind of knowledge and experience can often grow into a Product Owner role. This is sometimes dependent on the size of an organization, but overall the two roles are very similar in their day-to-day responsibilities for a product.
Product Owner Roles And Responsibilities
Let’s get to the good stuff. The real details of what a Product Owner does day in and day out. I’ll break it down into two sections – duties as part of an agile scrum team, and duties performed outside of the scrum team.
Scrum Team Responsibilities
- Owner of the Product Backlog. The Product Owner delivers the work for the team. They create the stories (sometimes a collaborative effort with other team members), organize them by priority, and assist where needed. They ensure that the Product Backlog is visible, transparent, and clear to all, and shows what the team is going to work on next.
- Tells the team how much they have to deliver each Sprint. Clearly defined Sprint Goals help ensure the team is aligned and able to work effectively.
- Documents Definition of Done, and is the final ‘approver’ when work is completed. The Definition of Done is a team agreed upon set of requirements and generally contains usable and potentially releasable product(s).
- Be available to the team at all times to help answer questions regarding the customer’s view of how they are implementing the requirements for the product.
Responsibilities Outside Of The Scrum Team
Many companies incorporate a Product Manager role alongside a Product Owner. These two roles work closely together and duties commonly overlap. Ideally, they support each other in the following areas:
- Working with the customer base to determine the level of happiness with the product. Directly interfacing with the customer allows for requirements gathering for requested product enhancements or fixes. It is also important to cultivate positive relationships to ensure the future health of the product.
- Scouting the competition. A good PO/PM will always know where their product stands in the current marketplace. Being aware of who’s doing what and how we can do it better should be daily agenda items. This involves everything from in-person/hands-on investigative work to simply reading articles. Information is king.
- Developing roadmaps and timelines for upcoming work. The Product Owner needs to feed the development team and keep them fed. Work should be consistent and strategically planned.
- Communicating and promoting the product within the organization. A Product Owner is a highly visible position within any organization. They are responsible for delivering consistent status updates to leadership, as well as working with other departments to promote and educate. It takes many groups to maintain a successful product and the Product Owner must keep them all working together smoothly.
Conclusion
The world of product ownership sounds amazing, doesn’t it? It can be. Like anything, it is what you make it. It’s not for everyone. It is a lot of work. It’s caring for a product and really shepherding it throughout its lifespan. It’s accountability. It’s being the first person someone goes to when something goes wrong, and maybe not the first person someone goes to to congratulate on a success. It’s kind of like being a parent. You’re always there and have only the best interest of the product (child) at heart. So go ahead and jump in. Your 6-year-old self may just think you turned out to be pretty cool.
But probably not.