Introduction
Product Owner is a member of a Scrum Team.
Professional Scrum Product Owner is accountable for maximizing the value of the product/service and the work done by the Scrum Team.
Focus of a Product Owner is on many things but I will name just a few such as Product Vision, Product Goal, Product Backlog, Stakeholders Management, Release Management, Product Pricing etc.
In these series, I will further go through each topic mentioned above and unpack what, why and how behind Product Owner’s accountability.
Accountabilities of a Professional Scrum Product Owner
1 – Product Vision
Product Owner is accountable for crafting and explicitly communicating Product Vision not only to the Scrum Team but also to the wider environment and stakeholders.
This vision serves as a strategic target for a Scrum Team and organization regarding where they see a product/service in next “X” amount of time (this can be between 3 to 5 years).
Product Vision describes the purpose of a Product and it expresses the value taht the Product should deliver and to whom that value is delivered.
Attributes that the Product Vision must have:
- Aspirational and actionable: Paints a picture of an ideal future state and provices tangible direction
- Transparent and clarified: Easily understandable to the Scrum Team, Stakeholders and wider audience
- Relationship with business and product strategy: Aligned with the overall goals and objectives of the organization
- Customer-centric: Articulating how the product will address customer pains/problems and fulfill unmet needs
2 – Product Goal
Second accountability of a Product Owner that ties into Product Vision is crafting and explicitly communicating Product Goal.
Product Goal describes the future state of the Product/service which can serve as a target for the Scrum Team to plan against.
Product Goal represents long-term objective for the Scrum Team and tangible stepping stone towards the Product Vision. Achieving multiple Product Goals will lead the Scrum Team as guideposts in order to achieve the Product Vision.
Attributes that the Product Goal must have:
- Strategic alignment: Long-term objective for the Scrum Team to prioritize their work effectively in order to deliver value
- Focus and commitment: Product Goal provides direction and purpose for the Scrum Team
- Motivation and engagement: Understanding the purpose behind the work creates engagement and commitment to deliver high-quality increments of value
- Customer-centric: Articulating how the product will address customer pains/problems and fulfill unmet needs
- Measurable: Knowing when the Product Goal is actually achieved
3 – Product Backlog
Product Backlog is an emergent (dynamic and evolving whenever Scrum Team learns something new throughou the Sprint) and ordered (at the top, most valuable Product Backlog items) list of what is needed to improve the product and/or service.
It represents the single source of work undertaken by the Scrum Team. Single means that anything that the Scrum Team is working on and it is not coming from the Product Backlog it violates the Scrum Values of Openness and Respect which might diminish trust in a team.
This is a living artifact and is not set in stone nor fixes, but rather changing and being adapted as the Scrum Team learn from feedback.
Attributes that the Product Backlog must have:
- Emergent: Changes as the Scrum Team learns something new throughout the feedback
- Living artifact: Not one-time activity, requires adapting and changes according to the market needs, feedback, learnings
- Ordered: At the top of the Product Backlog are the Product Backlog items that are most valuable to be delivered by the Scrum Team
- Aligned with the Product Vision and the Product Goal: Product Backlog items that are part of the Product Backlog must be aligned and lead the Scrum Team to achieve Product Goal and Product Vision
- Lean: Eliminating waste (non value added activities) and focusing on what really matters (essentials) is most important things to maintain healthy and manageable Product Backlog
4 – Product Pricing/Penetration
This is one of the most direct ways how a product impacts revenue and profitability streams and as a Product Owner it is essential to understand how pricing aligns with the product’s value proposition.
Final decision often lies with the marketing sales team, market needs, affordability of the market, competitors, etc. but the Product Owners insights can be critical in shaping the pricing strategy.
Market penetration aims to increase the product’s adoption percentage (%), often this is done by appealing to new customer segments or entering different regions. Product Owner plays a crucial part in defining the product features and roadmap to transparently align with penetration goals.
Attributes that the Product Pricing/penetration must have:
- Understanding customer value: As a Product Owner you must should have in-depth understanding of customer’s needs, pain points and the product’s value in addressing these
- Feature prioritization for pricing tiers: Depending on the product/service, many products use tiered pricing models with different features available at various price points
- Iterate, inspect and adapt pricing: Product Owners must understand that the product and the market are constantly evolving they are emerging.
- Creating MVPs and enabling faster time-to-market (T2M): Launching MVP is the first step to gain customer insights and feedback in order to learn from it and adapt accordingly. This approach validates assumptions about pricing and user preferences which leads to more informed decisions to be made
5 – Release Management
In agile product/service or software development, release management is the process of effectively planning, coordinating and controlling the deployment of product releases. It ensures that new functionalities (features), bug fixes, and product updates are delivered to users in a timely and efficient way.
Effective release management enables agile teams to balance speed and stability by delivering frequent releases without compromising product quality.
Attributes that the Release Management activities must have:
- Frequent releases: BUT pay attention here, if you release faster than customers and adapt to new functinalities it might have counter-effect.
- Lead time for changes: This is the time it takes from a change request or new functionality proposal to its release in production. Shorter lead time indicates an efficient release workflow (pipeline)
- Change failure rate: The percentage of releases that require rollback or result in critical issues. The lower the percentage the better
- Deployment (release) time: The time taken to deploy to production. Release management processes should reduce release time, especially with automation processes
- Customer satisfaction: Metrics like NPS or customer feedback can reveal how users perceive the value and quality of releases
Conclusion
Product Owner is a cornerstone of the Scrum Framework who is accountable for steering product development to meet market needs efficiently.
They are a strategic leaders and visionary within the Scrum Team, continually working to maximize value. He is also what I like to call “Mini CEO of the Product”, and their accountabilities goes much higher than just managing the Product Backlog or collaborating with Stakeholders.
Most importantly to know is that Product Owner is NOT a Project Manager.
Have you considered a career as a Scrum Product Owner, or do you work with one?
How do you see the accountability evolving in today’s agile environment and did you even knew about these accountabilities of a Product Owner?
