The Product Owner role is the most important role in ensuring an Agile project successfully delivers value to the business.
The Scrum Guide describes the Product Owner role as being:
"Responsible for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the Development Team."
The role is critical for maximising the return on investment from the project and so Product Owners are responsible for managing the 'product backlog' of work. This involves helping describe work items and then prioritising the product backlog to maximise the value that the development team delivers to the business.
The Product Owner role faces two directions, towards the business and its customers and towards the Agile or Scrum development team. According to the Scrum Guide, the Product Owner is a single person; they represent the business on the Agile project and both the business and the Agile team need to respect the decisions they make.
The Product Owner is responsible for setting the Team’s priorities and managing the value they generate. She also has the tactical responsibility of ensuring that the Team understands the Backlog and that the output meets expectations.
What is the importance of a Product Owner for Agile projects?
It's really important to have a good Product Owner on a team and here are some benefits:
The Product Owner...
1. Has the trust of the business leader paying for the project and can represent this leader's needs
2. Understands intimately the business and the problem the project is working to resolve
3. Has or can gain a comprehensive insight into the needs of the customers and users of the software to be developed
4. Is decisive, knows what is going to deliver the best value to the business and makes good quality decisions in the best interests of the business
5. Is confident can defend his or her position, and won't be swayed by politics or the 'loudest voice'
6. Is a good communicator, understands the needs of the business and its users and customers, and communicates and prioritises those needs to the project team
7. Protects the development team from other business opinions and influences - all decisions on the work the project team does must come through the Product Owner
8. Understands Scrum and Agile methods, how projects work, their role and what is expected of them
9. Is involved and available to the Agile project team during each and every iteration or sprint and is present for all required events including Requirements Management, Sprint Planning, Daily Stand-ups, Sprint Reviews and String Retrospectives.
10. Works well with the development team and Scrum Master, while also ensuring that these team members are working on the Product Owner's agreed highest priority items during each iteration or sprint.
11. Ensures that the product backlog is visible and clear to the Agile project team and also the business, so that progress and next priorities are transparent and understood by everyone.
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