How to move to Product Owner from Business Analyst?

The role of a business analyst has been there for decades and has evolved gradually. If we talk about today’s business analyst, then we’d say a business analyst is typically well-versed in business operations. He has a deep technical understanding of all such systems that support the business and is often associated with traditional waterfall projects. Whereas, on the other hand, a product owner is a Scrum role that is differentiated by the ability to own a product vision. Making frequent and result-oriented decisions and maximize the customer value in the execution of that vision. Thus both have roles that play an important part in a business.

Now in today’s world, things are changing frequently and many organizations that have adopted Scrum tend to eliminate the role of a business analyst. But with that, different organizations are in favor of retaining both. But overall, the preference is to make a shift from a business analyst to a product owner. But how can you do that? Well, that is why we are here with some simple steps that can help you move to a product owner from a business analyst.

Ways to become a product owner of a business analyst.

The transition from a business analyst to a product owner is something that is going to happen gradually and naturally. And the role of both the terms is somehow similar to an extent and that is why the transition can happen smoothly.

Take some time and ask yourself the following questions:

The first thing you need to do is clear your mind and recall everything that you have done as a business analyst and now what you should be doing as a product owner. The following are some questions that you need to ask yourself.

• What types of activities that you have done as a business analyst and shouldn’t be doing as a product owner? One good example is to stop writing lengthy requirement specifications.
• What type of mindset you have to develop now as a product owner?
• What gaps do you have in your understanding of a bigger picture product vision and how to fill in these gaps?
• What artifacts you have to learn and how you can create them?
• What type of people you need to engage with and how will you start making a relation with them?
• What activities you should continue doing even after becoming a product owner?

Follow the 4Cs map:

The 4Cs map is a 4-step instructional design and delivery model that is used for making training plans for any topic you’d like to teach. Precisely, it is a framework to help you create a plan for whatever the topic you want to learn.

C1-Connection:

Ask yourself the tasks that are mandatory for you to complete this week that will support your transition to the product owner.

C2-Concept:

What techniques you need to learn that will help you accomplish your weekly goals.

And who is going to teach you these skills/concepts?

What type of training and resources you can use to develop such skills.

C3-Concrete practice:

Now that you have learned and understood well these concepts, how can you apply these skills or concepts practically?

Who can you trust or rely on to observe you and give honest feedback?

C4-Conclusion:

Evaluate yourself as to how well your concrete practice went.

Find out your mistakes and a way to modify or change the next time you do this.

Start focusing on communication over documentation:

As a business analyst, you used to work within the traditional software development approach where you had to write documents manually. But being a product owner, you have to focus on communicating with the team openly. The essence of Scrum is to make a small team of people where everyone has the right to express their opinion and communicate openly with one another. Where the whole team has a clear vision of what they have to do and achieve.

Be a part of the team:

When you are a business analyst, you are just a part of a business team and you don’t have a direct relationship with the development team. Business analysts have to focus on strategy, requirements, and other things whereas the dev team has to focus on building software. Thus the interaction between the dev team is not very open. But as a product owner, you are the part of the team and are on the same level as the other members and everyone is equally responsible for the outcome. So becoming a product owner from a business analyst demands you need to learn to become a part of the scrum team and participate as every other team member does.

Learn to respond to change by following a plan:

Scrum is an empirical process which means that you would never have all the answers up front. So what happens is that every second that you work and gain experience, you are learning something new. Therefore, in Scrum, we build small cycles and work by following a plan. In this way, the chances of learning new things and finding answers to different problems become faster and easier.

Some quick points for you to remember to become a product owner:

Here are some quick points that you need to remember while becoming a product owner of a business analyst.

• Communication is the most important aspect that you have to follow.
• Forget about extensive documentation.
• Spend at least 30% of your time with your team.
• Use the empiricism process in your favor, That is, accept that you don’t know everything upfront.
• Prepare yourself to not only make a decision but also be accountable for them.

Some other Courses for Scrum Master Certifications

Conclusion:

As you can see becoming a product owner from a business analyst is not an easy process and demands a lot of hard work and time from you. But at the same time, nothing is impossible and if you’re determined enough then everything can be achieved right? So buckle up, and read this topic to learn how you can transition to product owner from a business analyst and never stop learning.