Let’s start with an example from life. Imagine you own a house and have undertaken a house renovation project. You may not know all the available design options but as the owner of the property, you know what you want your house to look like and you are responsible for the long-term vision. So, you have to collaborate closely with designers, builders, inspectors, and others to get the most out of your investment.
Getting back to the realm of custom software development, a product owner is like a homeowner but instead of a house, a product owner bears responsibility for the long-term vision of the product — what it would look like, what features it would have, how it would fit the market, and more. This is, arguably, the most important role in agile projects, which is also in demand. In 2020, LinkedIn identified product owners as an emerging role with 24% annual growth rate in the US.
“The product owner is a role on a product development team responsible for managing the product backlog in order to achieve the desired outcome that a product development team seeks to accomplish.”
Simply put, the product owner acts as the voice of the client as this role entails discovering the clients’ core needs, and requirements and communicating them to other team members. The product owner’s leadership defines the overall course of the project and the ultimate value of the product, and this role cannot be taken lightly.
Even from a short description it’s clear that the product owner is a key role that has a tremendous impact on the overall project outcome. Now, let’s see in detail how exactly the product owner drives project success.
Major responsibilities of the product owner
The product owner is not a new name put to an old job as this role completely redefines the relationships between development and business.
1. Define and share the product vision
A key component of a project’s success is a robust foundation. And it is up to the product owner to provide this foundation by defining a crystal-clear and goal-oriented product vision. In short, a product vision outlines the purpose of the product and what it aims to achieve for the client and end users.
The guardian of a product vision, the product owner communicates it to all stakeholders to bring everyone to the same page. A shared product vision has tremendous value as it informs further architectural choices and helps decide what features and functionality would be more desirable.
2. Establish the product roadmap
Once the vision is finalized, the product owner develops a product roadmap — a strategic plan that summarizes the objectives, priorities, and overall direction of development activities. This roadmap aligns different stakeholders, builds consensus, and shows how short-term efforts correspond to long-term business goals.
There are different techniques that can be used to present the product roadmap visually but the most popular are:
- A goal-oriented roadmap that allows you to focus on the goals first and then on the most valuable features that would help you achieve these goals;
- A theme-based roadmap that focuses on the themes that consist of several goals at once;
- A feature-based roadmap that, as the name suggests, makes features the focus of attention;
- A now-then-later roadmap that describes tasks or features in a prioritized manner;
- A release roadmap that is presented to customers and shows major milestones and releases of new functionality.
A now-then-later roadmap
3. Manage the backlog
A product backlog is basically the ultimate to-do list, a single source of work for the development team. And in addition to new features, it can also include bug fixes, improvements, technical debt, customer requests, and more.
A disorganized backlog causes confusion and slows down the development process. So, it is the product owner’s job to keep it healthy and prioritized in order to facilitate sprints planning and prevent it overflowing with tickets.
4. Oversee development stages
When the backlog is filled with relevant, detailed and estimated tasks that are ready to be taken by the development team, the product owner further guides the actual development of the product.
At the planning stage, the product owner collaborates with stakeholders to define the steps and action items for the next iteration. During the development stage the team may reach out to the product owner to clarify some items on the backlog or define areas for improvement. The product owner is also a part of retrospective sessions where they share their thoughts on the sprint, collect valuable feedback and bring a customer’s perspective.
5. Evaluate the progress
And last but not least, the product owner is responsible for the final results, that’s why they need to take the leading role in assessing the progress after each iteration. The product owner makes sure that the development team works on the tasks based on priority and that all deliverables are of high quality. If the task is not complete, it is further re-prioritized or sequenced to keep the development workflow smooth.
And should the product owner see that the development process deviates from the course, they can always step in and help the team get back on track and re-align with the business objectives.
Key takeaways: Why is the product owner important for your project?
As you can see, the product owner bears a lot of responsibility in managing different moving parts of a project and ensuring its overall success. The primary reasons for engaging a savvy product owner for a project include:
- Direct communication channel between all stakeholders. The product owner serves as the primary liaison as they get the client’s buy-in on major decisions and provide clear instructions for developers.
- Market expertise. The product owner has an expert-level understanding of the market and the target audience, which helps in building a product that delivers superior user experiences.
- Quality control. The product owner enables a certain level of quality control, making sure that the deliverables match the high quality standards.
- Improved efficiency. By prioritizing tickets in line with the business goals, the product owner makes sure the development team works on the most important tasks that would add value to the product at the end of the iteration.
- Risk management. Through regular reviews and retrospectives, the product owner stays on top of all development activities, which helps to identify and address problems early on.
Internal vs. external product owner
Given that this role can be a challenging one, is it better for a product owner to be a client’s stakeholder or an expert from a software development vendor?
An internal product owner is appointed by the provider, therefore chances are that they have already worked on multiple projects in that role and have accumulated significant experience with agile best practices, processes, and tools. An internal product owner is also better engaged with the development team across all activities from discovery to delivery.
An external product owner is appointed by the client, thus they have a deep understanding of the client’s business domain and already have well-established relationships with project stakeholders. This helps an external product owner to make informed decisions regarding product priorities and requirements.
So, which product owner is better for your project? There is no unanimous answer and it depends greatly on the business case. If the client’s representative has enough time and experience to help the development team define a product roadmap and integrate a technical perspective, engaging an external product owner is a way to go. But that’s not always the case. And if there is no one on the client’s side with a good understanding of Scrum processes who can help the team to stay on track, it may be better to assign an internal product owner. No matter what route you go, it is crucial that product owners are committed to their responsibilities and the product’s success.
The bottom line
The product owner is not an easy role as it tries to balance the business needs with software development reality, which can be challenging. Without effective product ownership, the team may experience problems with performance efficiency or even build a product that does not support the business needs.
Product owners are constantly engaged with different stakeholders to keep everyone aligned around the core values and business goals. They are the masters of communication, facilitation, and decision-making to make sure the team is focused on building the right product for the customer.
