How much time does it take to be a Product Owner for a Scrum Team? Is it something that someone can take on alongside other (primary) duties, or is it a full-time role? Is it really that important for the Product Owner to attend all of the Scrum events? These are questions that we often get during one of our Certified Product Owner classes. The answer depends on how effective you need your team to be. If you want to learn fast, produce valuable increments of product, and have an engaged team, then you need a full-time Product Owner. “Let. That. Sink. In.”
In fact, the lack of an engaged Product Owner is the single biggest team level dysfunction that we find when working with clients either in the classroom or as part of our consulting work. If we want Scrum Teams that create impact and outcomes then we have to eradicate “Absentee Product Ownerism”.
There are many layers to the role of a Product Owner, and we should start by unpacking just how important they are to the core Scrum framework. We can illustrate this by outlining the Product Owner responsibilities in each of the Scrum Events.
Sprint Planning
· Clarify stories for team
· Split stories further if needed
· Discuss optimal grouping of stories
· Agree on any Sprint-specific definitions of “Done”
· Prioritize stories for within the Sprint
Sprint
· Answer Team questions about User Stories
· Provide feedback and User Acceptance Testing for completed User Stories
· Descope work as appropriate based on discussion with Team
· Introduce new work when discussed and understood by the Team
· Prepare for the next Sprint by refining top-priority User Stories
Daily Scrum
· Listen! This is your clearest window into detailed project progress
· Address Team issues that fall within your sphere of influence
· Provide your own updates or ask questions, where appropriate
Sprint Review
· Ensure that the right stakeholders are present & engaged
· Note whether & why User Stories were accepted (“Done”) or rejected
· Garner, filter and prioritize feedback from stakeholders
Sprint Retrospective
· Provide honest constructive and congratulatory feedback
· Suggest solutions to problems identified
· Sign up to address Team issues that fall within your sphere of influence
That list covers the five core Scrum Events, but it misses some key responsibilities that still fall within the core Scrum framework. Product Backlog Refinement is referred to directly in the Scrum Guide and while not explicit, Release Planning is also a necessary activity that should be owned by the Product Owner. Let’s add to the list then:
Backlog Refinement
· Ensure that business capabilities are well enough defined and understood by you and the Team prior to their introduction in a Sprint
· Utilize team velocity measures or other forecast data to prepare the right number of stories for sprint planning
· Re-prioritize and pivot based upon new information from experiments
Release Planning
· Group Product Backlog features into logical releases that maximize value delivery
· Explore and evaluate multiple release strategies
· Determine scope and schedule trade offs
· Set expectations with key stakeholders
Is all of this work really necessary? We believe it is. An interesting thought experiment is to start removing things from this list and ask yourself what impact that would have on the team, the product, and the outcome. You might conclude that someone else on the team could do it, and while that is possible, do you really want other members of the team to take on these duties or would you rather keep them focused on their core function as a member of The Development Team? Perhaps you could have no one perform these functions? Over time this likely leads to less than optimal outcomes with less that optimal speed, with a less than optimally engaged team.
This amount of engagement requires a lot of time and energy from the Product Owner. However, we have just scratched the surface of what a Product Owner should be doing. In later posts we will explore the duties of a Product Owner in relation to stakeholder management, user/customer engagement, and product strategy. Trust me, it’s a full-time job!
If you are interested in getting this learning more quickly, consider attending one of our Certified Product Owner courses. Not only will you get tools, techniques, and perspectives to broaden your skills as a Product Owner, you also get a sweet new badge to put on your LinkedIn page or resume!