What is the role of the Product Owner in Agile?

Introduction:

In an era where businesses operate at breakneck speed and customer expectations are ever-evolving, agile methodologies have become essential for software development projects. Agile development methodology focuses on Adaptive planning and change management. It focuses on developing and deploying the working software quickly in an iterative manner.

This means that instead of developing the product entirely in one go, the product is made iteratively in multiple short and incremental cycles. The Product owner is the heart of every Agile team. His role is very important in ensuring the end product meets the customer’s needs. This article delves into the core responsibilities and importance of a product owner in agile development methodology.

Who’s a Product Owner?

A product owner is one of the 3 critical roles in Agile methodology apart from the scrum master and development team. In simplest of words “A Product owner is a person who bridges the gap between the stakeholders and the development team”. He/ She is the heart of every agile team and a critical pillar of development. The product owner is responsible for setting a clear vision and objectives for the development of the product.

The product owner collaborates with team individuals on a daily basis. He ensures that the entire product development phase remain transparent and customer centric. This continuous collaboration with the team boosts the value of product being built. Alongside this, the most critical decisions throughout the development cycle of the product are taken by the product owner.

Responsibilities:

A product owner is responsible for the following aspects:

1. Setting clear goals: The product owner sets clear objectives and fundamental goals for the development team. Based on the product vision, the product owner creates a clear roadmap while following the desired objectives of the project.
2. Bridging the gap: The product owner is responsible for bridging the gap between the stakeholders and the development team. He/ She must be capable enough to instruct and familiarize the development team with the functionalities demanded by the stakeholders.
3. Guides individuals: Product owner interacts with the team members on a daily basis to understand the progress and provides assistance over difficulties or challenges faced.
4. Communicates with stakeholders: The product owner provides the progress updates to the stakeholders and gathers feedback from them ensuring all the business requirements are fulfilled.
5. Manage product backlog: The product owner prioritizes the set of tasks which are meant to be done first and creates indexed lists mentioning the priority ordering of the functionalities. Also, which set of backlog items needed to be performed in the current iteration is finalized by the product owner.
6. Taking decisions: The product owner is responsible for taking critical decisions in the development cycles. He/she ensures that best choices are made by analysing all the pros and cons of the decision.

Roles of Product Owner

Proxy Product Owner:

The proxy product owner is an accountable person who is selected by the product owner. The proxy owner is responsible for regulating and accounting all the development and communication related tasks in the absence of the product owner. The concept of a proxy owner is quite uncommon because this practice is not widely used in small-scaled organizations. Whenever in-charge, the proxy owner has an equal level of responsibilities as the product owner. However, on a longer run, considering the entire development of product, the product owner is responsible for taking all the key decisions. Although, in his absence, the proxy product owner makes the key decisions.

Common Myths about Product Owner:

• “The product Owner creates all requirements by and does acceptance testing by himself”.
• “Product Owners have total control of the product”.
• “Product Owners are responsible for all the failure”.
• “Product owners only manage deadlines”.
• “The Product owners write the user stories”.

Qualities of an Ideal Product Owner:

1. Excellent Communication: If these communications would be unclear, then it will reduce the effectiveness of the team and the product. An ideal product owner should have excellent listening and speaking skills. By an effective communication, the product owner optimizes the value of work that the team performs.
2. Leadership Skills: Product owner acts as a leader and front-line assaulter for entire team. He motivates and inspires individuals in the team and guides them whenever required. The product owner also ensures trust relations with all the individuals. The product owner must have knowledge about all the key strengths and weaknesses of team members.
3. Decision Making Skills: The product owner takes all the key decisions throughout the development cycle. He/she decided what functionalities must have higher priority in the backlog and which ones have lower. Also, which set of backlog items needed to be performed in the current iteration is finalized by the product owner.
4. Technical Skills: It’s a common myth that product owner only manages non-tech activities in the team. However, this is not true. The product owner should have basic understanding of the tech-stack and development processes that the team will be working on.
5. Time Management: Time management is the most crucial aspect of any product development. The product owner must ensure that the current progress aligns perfect with the ideal progress rate. This is evaluated using burn-down charts. The product must be delivered withing the deadline while not overcommitting on smaller processes.
6. Team Building: The product owner must be actively connected to the development team. He must recognize the small achievements and milestones achieved by the team members during the development phase. To maintain an effective team balance, the product owner may arrange team building activities so that individuals may understand their strengths.
7. Transparency: The product owner maintains and aggregates the product backlogs while making sure that the backlog items are transparent and visible to all. Transparency is essential to ensure stakeholder’s confidence and open communication channels among the members.

Conclusion:

In summary, a successful Product Owner is the linchpin of a successful agile project. Following a customer-centric approach, the product owner is responsible for all the key collaborations and communications with the stakeholders and development team members. The product owner is responsible for taking key decisions throughout the development phase while continuously monitoring the project progress. He/she possess decision making, excellent communication, time management and leadership skills. Indeed, the product owner’s role is very pivotal in delivering a successful product while adjusting to market conditions and clients demands.