Is A Product Owner The “Real Owner”?
The product owner needs the sponsorship from the management
Yesterday I had a meeting with 2 product owners talking about their collaboration model with the team. They were curious about my career pace since I had once been a scrum master, and would like to to my real ideas about being a product owner.
Well, that was an interesting question because I’d thought about this.
“If a scrum master has never become a product owner, how could he know what a product owner really needs to maximize the product value?”
Yeah, this idea had ever passed through my mind, because sometimes I don’t think the product owner really “owns” the product. Essentially the role is an employee, not a shareholder, or a business owner who invests money in a product.
“The product owner needs the sponsorship from the management.”
I would never forget the above sentence from some book. As per my observation, the product owner needs to be excellent in managing expectation from the “real boss”, and is inevitably pressured with unreasonable requirements, limited resources, and short time.
Tell me, if you were a scrum master, how do you deal with the hierarchical problems? Would you jump out and indicate that the boss should leave the authority to the product owner? The reality might be cruel.
In my opinion, and these are just really just my opinion, I would suggest you do 3 things:
👉 Be a real product owner
What I really mean is to invest money in a product, and become partial business owner. This might seem pretty counter-intuitive to most people, because they won’t think of doing this to take real responsibility of product operation. Make it profitable or not.
The mindset would change, from an employee to a business owner, once you invest your money into it. Remember to take real control over a product if you want to possess it.
👉 Understand the power structure
For the product owner, you need to know who could help you gain the most resources in the organization, and identify the real boss you are serving for. I had ever seen a product owner who drew a power structure diagram that showed us the real sponsor we have to cope with. This helped him gain resources and support as going through tough situations.
👉 Manage expectation of the management
This might be the most normal suggestion. Often the team cannot fight against the “meteorite requirements” from the boss, and the product owner should investigate the necessity of dealing with the requirements. And regularly align the product goals with the boss, remove dream requests, and prioritize the items for the team.
If you do follow the above steps, you could really take control over a product and own it. I know some advices might be beyond most people’ ideas because I prefer to do that if I became a product owner in the near future. And I appreciate anyone who could provide their ideas about this role.
By the way, now I am developing an online course about agile project management for those who’d like to transition to PM roles. So I provide an 1–1 free online consulting service for people who need help with their project management issues.
If needed, never hesitate to reserve a web call with me through the below link. Anyone who reserve for the call would be rewarded with a free material to improve your project management skills.
Let Me Help You
👉 Book now: https://calendly.com/uragilecoach/consulting
⚠️ Remember to send me a message through one of the social platforms (LinkedIn, IG, Twitter, Reddit) within 1 hour, otherwise the reservation might be canceled.
🎁 Anyone who reserves for the web call would be rewarded with a secret gift that helps you grow on project management skills.
If you acknowledge the value I share with you, do as below:
1. 👏 the article
2. subscribe me for latest contents
3. follow me on other platforms for further information
- IG: @ur_agile_coach
- Podcast: Agile Rocket
- Youtube: Your Agile Coach
- LinkedIn: Tsung-Hsiang Wu
- Twitter: @ur_agile_coach
