Are you exploring the role of Product Owner and are you interested in being one? Before jumping into the role, you need to first understand the fundamentals of a good Product Owner and what exactly a Product Owner does.
In a Scrum team, there is a role called Product Owner.
Product Owner is a person/ role who is responsible for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the Development Team. How this is done may vary widely across organizations, Scrum Teams, and individuals. The Product Owner is the sole person responsible for managing the product backlog management (Scrum.org — 2019).
One major role of a Product Owner is Value Prioritization. As a Product Owner, you have to understand that in doing your job, you are not just delivering the creation of new products or development, but delivering value. Any increment in the product must bring at least one value for our customers — and stakeholders. If it does not, then it has failed.
In order to prioritize, one must fully understand the team capacity, capability and resources needed. You can’t force your team to do all the backlog in a running sprint without any reason or meaningful goal. You need to be able to show the team that the work they are doing is creating value that benefits others. Remember, motivate them — not force them – to get the job done. As a Product Owner, you don’t only have to lead the Scrum Team to get the backlogs done, (you also have another job as a Scrum Master) where you ensure that Scrum is well-implemented in the team. If that’s not enough, you also need to be the change agent for a company that is transforming from waterfall into agile.
To give you more insight about being a Product Owner, there are explanations from Product Owners in various industries. As a Product Owner, you have to take the lead of the Scrum team(s) with a clear plan, vision, road-map, performance and other details. The job also requires you to be agile, have good time management and communication skills.
All in all, as a Product Owner, you need to master various soft and hard skills related to Product Management, and you can’t really obtain these skills in a formal education setting. It’s best that you learn them from experienced Product Owners. There are many courses and training programs nowadays that will help and guide you to become a good Product Owner.
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Apiary Academy is one of them. They will launch a Product Management Training brought to you by incredible Product Leaders in October and will open the registration in the middle of August. If you’re looking to learn product management skills from the best, or seeking a career as a Product Owner, their training is an excellent opportunity you don’t want to miss. Check more detail information: academy.apiary.id
Writer: Pramudono Kumoro, Professional Scrum Product Owner (edited by apiary team)