Major Responsibilities of a Product Owner

Responsibilities of a Product Owner

The key stakeholder of Scrum Projects is the Product Owner One integral responsibility of the Product Owner is to convey the importance and significance of the Scrum Project to the Scrum Team. This is the key for the success of any Agile Project through the use of Product Backlog.
Now let us look at some of the major responsibilities of a Product Owner:

• Creation and Maintenance of the Product Backlog: Scrum Methodology is mostly used in the software environment and new product development field. This is an on-going job and full time responsibility of the Product Owner. He has to constantly keep grooming it especially before any sprint planning meetings.
• Prioritizing of Backlog according to the Business ROI: Product Owner also needs to prioritize and sequence the backlog according to the needs of the business and situations.
• He also elaborates the epics, themes and features into user stories which are feasible enough to be achieved in a single sprint.
• The Product Owner does the job of continuously reminding the Team of the Sprint & Release and ensures that the team remains on track in realizing their goals.
• The Product Owner does the job of continuously engaging the customer and stakeholders to ensure that the Team is building the right product and delivering the business value expected of it. Also at the end of every Sprint the Product Owner has the opportunity to steer the team in the direction which will create value for the stakeholders.
• The Product Owner also keeps inspecting the work done by the Scrum Team at the end of every Sprint and has the absolute authority to accept or reject their work or to suggest modifications.
• Product owner also acts as the voice of the Team to the outside world and should ensure that all the channels of communication remains open and the project get the right kind and type of support needed to succeed.
• Has the authority to terminate a Sprint if the Product Owner feels that there is drastic change in direction needed and the Spent is no longer needed. It may happen in cases where the competitor releases a new product and the client wants a counter response
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Responsibilities of a Product Owner 2

The responsibilities of a Product Owner is onerous and there are a lot of hats that have to be worn by him hence choice of a Product Owner must be done wisely as it could lead to success or failure for the entire project which could ultimately mean success or failure of the company.

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Being an effective Product Owner

who a product owner is?

Before we read about how to be an effective product owner, let us first understand who a product owner is and what he/she does.  A product owner is not a separate title but is a role that can be performed by a business analyst or even a representative of an end user.
A product owner is a stakeholder who acts as an interface between the business representatives and the project team. A product owner understands the business requirements and communicates it to the team for development on behalf of the customer. A product owner is responsible for creating a priority list of backlogs, attending daily sprint meetings, and steering the development process successfully to meet the customer’s requirements. The product owner communicates the progress of the team and continuously refines product requirements. It is also important that a product owner have a good business sense which is important while prioritizing user stories based on cost and functionality.
A product owner must be actively involved-

Effective product owner

The test of an effective product leader is how well he/she balances the expectations of business representatives and capability of the team to deliver. There are several ways a product can be more effective. A common mistake product owners make is not committing enough time to be involved with the team. Product owners should be as hands-on as possible and schedule sufficient time to holding estimation workshops, planning sprints, and providing feedback for the team.
An empowered product owner nurtures an empowered team-
Customers most often expect more value to be delivered than the team’s throughput or might suggest several changes that can slowdown the speed of the development team. A product owner supports his team by managing customer’s expectations so that workflow is not affected due to unreasonable expectations. A product owner allows the team to estimate the time required to complete the backlog identified for a particular sprint. At the same time, a product owner motivates the team to deliver the backlog of a sprint on time.
Technical knowledge is essential-

product owner knowldage

It is also important that product owners have some technical knowledge, though he/she does not necessarily have to be a developer themselves. Since, they will be interacting with the team on a regular basis, having a technical background can serve well while resolving issues. Technical knowledge can also help a product owner bridge the gap between the technical and business aspects of a project while liaising with developers and business representatives.
A product owner is similar to the role played by a Chief Engineer in Toyota. The Chief Engineer collects requirements and executes them during production, even taking some decisions on their own.

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Scrum Product Owner Certified (SPOC™)

Overview scrum product owner

The Product Owner represents the interests of the stakeholder community to the Scrum Team. The Product Owner is responsible for ensuring clear communication of product or service functionality requirements to the Scrum Team, defining Acceptance Criteria, and ensuring those criteria are met. The Product Owner must always maintain a dual view. He or she must understand and support the needs and interests of all stakeholders, while also understanding the needs and workings of the Scrum Team.

Applicants will be awarded the Scrum Product Owner Certified (SPOC^™) certificate by SCRUMstudy upon successfully passing the certification exam.

Scrum Certification detail

Certification	Prerequisites		Target Audience	Cost Of Exam	Maintaining Certification(RCUs)	Current Pass Rate (%)*
	Experience	Education
SPOC™	Nil	Preferably SDC™ (or) SMC™ certified professional	Anyone who interfaces with business stakeholders or works as a Product Owner in a Scrum project.	USD 600	40 Recertification units every 2 years	93

*Pass Rate for the SPOC^™ examination indicates the percentage of candidates passing the exam in the first attempt who attempted all the questions.

Exam Format

• Multiple choice
• 140 questions per exam
• No negative marks for wrong answers
• 180 minutes duration
• Proctored online exam.
• Current pass rate: 93%

Audience Profile

This certification is for anyone who interfaces with stakeholders or works as a Product Owner in a Scrum Team.

Prerequisites

There is no formal prerequisite for this certification. However, SDC^™ or SMC^™ Certified professionals will be able to better understand the concepts required for this certification exam. It is also highly recommended to attend a 2-day SPOC^™ classroom training provided by a SCRUMstudy approved Authorized Training Partner (A.T.P.)

How to ApplyScrum Product Owner Certified

1. Register for free on SCRUMstudy.com and apply for the exam (OR) Attend a classroom training provided by a SCRUMstudy Authorized Training Partner and register for free on SCRUMstudy.com.
2. Apply for the exam by paying USD 600 or by using the exam voucher provided by the SCRUMstudy A.T.P. You need to submit relevant documents (if required).
3. Access the online course and take the exam
   1. Get access to online course on 'Scrum Product Owner Certified'.
   2. Download SBOK^™ Guide online version.
   3. Schedule the three hour online proctored exam.
   4. SCRUMstudy verifies the application; and confirms the exam date & time.
   5. Take the three hour online proctored exam.
4. Upon successful completion of the exam, get an online certificate.
   1. Your name will be added to the SCRUMstudy Certification Registry.
   2. The physical certificate will be shipped to you.
   3. If you are unable to pass the exam, you can schedule again and take a maximum of two free exam retakes.

Maintaining Certification

To maintain the certification status, Scrum Product Owner Certified (SPOC^™) professional will need to earn 40 re-certification credits every 2 years

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Increase ROI for projects with Scrum

ROI for projects with Scrum

One of the key characteristics of any project is the uncertainty of results or outcomes. It is impossible to guarantee project success at completion, irrespective of the size or complexity of a project. Considering this uncertainty of achieving success, it is therefore important to start delivering results as early in the project as possible. This early delivery of results, and thereby value, provides an opportunity for reinvestment and proves the worth of the project to interested stakeholders. It is important to:

1. Understand what adds value to customers and users and to prioritize the high value requirements on the top of the Prioritized Product Backlog.
2. Decrease uncertainty and constantly address risks that can potentially decrease value if they materialize. Also work closely with project stakeholders showing them product increments at the end of each Sprint, enabling effective management of changes.
3. Create Deliverables based on the priorities determined by producing potentially shippable product increments during each Sprint so that customers start realizing value early on in the project.

Some of the key differences with respect to Value-driven Delivery in Scrum project and Traditional projects are given in the figure below

ROI for projects with Scrum image

ROI for projects with Scrum conclusion

In Scrum projects, User Stories are ranked in order of priority which is an effective method for determining the desired User Stories for each iteration or release of the product or service. The purpose is to create a simple, single list with the goal of prioritizing features, rather than being distracted by multiple prioritization schemes.
This simple list also provides a basis for incorporating changes and identified risks when necessary. Each change or identified risk can be inserted in the list based on its priority relative to the other User Stories in the list. Typically, new changes will be included at the expense of features that have been assigned a lower priority.
Minimum Marketable Features (MMF) are also defined, so that the first release or iteration happens as early as possible, leading to increased ROI.

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Why the Product Owner is important in Scrum?

Scrum product owner

Responsibilities of a Product Owner include determining the project's initial overall requirements and kicking off project activities; this may involve interaction with the Program Product Owner and the Portfolio Product Owner to ensure that the project aligns with direction provided by senior management. He represents user(s) of the product or service with a thorough understanding of the user community. He secures the initial and on-going financial resources for the project, focusing on value creation and overall Return on Investment (ROI) and assesses the viability and ensures the delivery of the product or service.

Product Owner must understand the needs and priorities of the stakeholders, including customers and users, and hence this role is commonly referred to as the Voice of the Customer.

The Product Owner represents the interests of the stakeholder community to the Scrum Team. He/she ensures clear communication of product or service functionality requirements to the Scrum Team, maintains a dual view, understands and supports the needs and interests of all stakeholders, while also understanding the needs and workings of the Scrum Team
.

Scrum product owner responsibility

He also defines the Project Vision and helps get funding for the Project, helps finalize Scrum Master for the project and identifies Stakeholder(s), helps develop a Collaboration Plan and Team Building Plan with Scrum Master(s), creates Epic(s) and Personas, prioritizes Prioritized Product Backlog Items, defines Done Criteria, creates Release Planning Schedule, helps determine Length of Sprint, helps create User Stories, defines Acceptance Criteria for every User Story, approves User Stories, facilitates Scrum Team and commit User Stories, explains User Stories to the Scrum Team while creating the Task List.

He also provides guidance and clarification to the Scrum Team in estimating effort for tasks, accepts/Rejects Deliverables, provides necessary feedback to Scrum Master and Scrum Teams, updates Release Plan and Prioritized Product Backlog, helps deploy Product Releases and coordinates this with the customer, participates in Retrospective Sprint Meetings.

There are many challenges faced by a Product Owner. Transforming customer’s ideas into tangible product deliverables: Prioritizing features is not always easy and may involve trade-off decision making. Convincing/achieving consensus among all stakeholders for every decision is tricky. Product Owner needs to be in control and trusted by the stakeholders to effectively play his role. 

Be available when additional inputs are required by the team: The Product Owner needs to achieve consensus among various stakeholders and keep them in the loop. Product Owner may be involved in business value related activities that may keep him occupied. The Product Owner may not be always available at the team location.

Scrum product owner plan release

Plan release and sprints to deliver maximum value at the earliest: The balancing act that the Product Owner plays between the Scrum Team and the Customer is a delicate one. The Scrum team may prefer a Release Planning Schedule and Sprint lengths which may differ from what the customer wants. It’s the Product Owner’s job to ensure that the maximum value is delivered as early as possible ensuring better ROI to the customer.

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Changes to Sprint in Progress

Scrum is a simple framework which believes in responding quickly to changes in business environment and the ability to respond to changes is one of the reasons that made Scrum popular. The Product Owner is responsible for getting the Product Backlog ready and prioritizing the items in the Product Backlog. The Scrum Master and the development team will use the Product Backlog as the basis for planning the Sprints based on the priority of the items listed.

We could come across situations where the product owner has to decide to add/remove any item from the Product Backlog or change the priority of the items listed in the Product Backlog in the middle of a Sprint. This could be a challenge for the Scrum Master and the Development Team as it would hamper the Sprint in progress, especially changing the priority of the backlog items. Even though Scrum has enough room for responding to change, the mid-sprint alterations should be kept minimal and should not be tolerated unless very badly required. The sprint backlog user stories must not be altered in the middle of a sprint except in the rare scenario something far-reaching emerges that can’t wait until the next sprint.

There are several negative implications on the Scrum team when a mid-sprint change is required. Mostly in such cases, the current Sprint will have to be stopped and a new Sprint will have to be initiated right from the Sprint planning stage. This would affect the morale of the Scrum team and the team will lose its momentum. Also, there will be a great deal of time loss and delay in product delivery. Having said that, if the task is something of top priority and cannot wait till the next sprint, then the team should have the flexibility to include it in the current Sprint if possible or kill the current sprint and start a new sprint. In such cases it’s up to the Scrum Master on how he handles the situation. It has to be noted that adding a new task to the current sprint could cause difficulty in managing the Burn-Down chart.

The Product Owner has an important role in minimizing/avoiding mid-sprint changes to Product Backlog. The PO should have clear visibility and thorough idea about the needs of the customer and the end product he wants. This would help the PO in preparing the Product Backlog meticulously; prioritizing the back-log items accurately and minimize drastic pop-up of business requirements at a later stage.

WHAT IS AGILE

What is scrum/agile 

Agile methodology is a dynamic project management approach to software development and implementation. Within a few years of its inception, Agile methodology has become popular because it is both developer and customer friendly. This is because—unlike the traditional Waterfall approach.
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Agile methodology 

—Agile methodology is an adaptive approach that permits changes and modifications to be incorporated into the overall project plan at multiple points.
The hallmark of Agile methodology is the incremental and iterative approach to software development. In other words, the entire project is broken down into various customer-valued features that are developed in small repetitive cycles so that these features are delivery ready at the end of each iteration. The frequent delivery of business-valued features is customer as well as developer friendly. This is because, first, the technical team and stakeholders work collaboratively; second, this saves time and money; third, constant feedback from stakeholders enables developers to continuously evolve the software; and last, this promotes lightweight framework with more emphasis on working software than on documentation.

Agile methodology Key Practices

One of the key practices is daily meetings in which the team members inform the entire team on the progress of the project and discuss issues faced and obstacles. This helps the team foresee potential risks and work toward resolving them. Thus, close communication among the team members, increased productivity, evolutionary approach and reduced risks are the four pillars of the Agile methodology. Agile can be best described in the following four basic principles enshrined in the Agile Manifesto:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

Responding to change over following a plan

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