Product Owner Roles and Responsibilities in Scrum

Being a product owner is a tough job as you have to take care of most of the things that are a part of a project. From the initiation of the project until its completion, everything has to be overlooked by you (product owner). Basically, a product owner intends to represent the customer or his needs to the development team. You as a product owner has to give visibility to the product backlog. With that, it is also your job to prioritize the list of requirements for future product development. Thus a product owner has a variety of roles and responsibilities.

So today we decided to shed some light on the different roles and responsibilities that a product owner has in Scrum. You might also be interested in learning about use of Scrum Principles in different domains.

Different Roles and Responsibilities as a Product Owner:

Define a vision:

A product owner has to define goals and create a vision for development properly. As a product owner, you have to communicate with the stakeholders across the border. This also includes customers, business managers, and of course the development team. You have to make a roadmap that everyone has to follow and can act as a high-level strategic visual summary for everyone.

Managing the product backlog:

This is one of the most important responsibilities for you as a product owner. A product backlog can be called as a team’s to-do-list. It is your job to provide the development team with a list of backlog items and prioritize it according to the overall strategy and business.

Prioritizing the requirements:

This is another key role that you have to fulfill as a product owner. It means that you have to prioritize the needs in the backlog according to time and budget. In doing so, you have to take into consideration the needs and requirements of the stakeholders as well.

Overviewing the whole development of the project:

Another role or responsibility that is on your shoulder is to overview the whole development of your current project. You have to act as a key player and take care of everything including planning, refinement, review, and lastly, the sprint. Check out What is release planning in Scrum?

Anticipating the needs of the client:

Being a successful product owner, you have to be capable enough to automatically understand what your client wants from you. You need to have the deep market knowledge and communication skills which will enable you to anticipate instantly what the client wants. 

You have to act as a primary liaison:

This part means that you have to act as an intermediary between the stakeholders and your development team. It means that you have to be an expert communicator and a storyteller to make sure that there is a buy-in from stakeholders on all the major decisions. Furthermore, you also need to be clear enough in giving instructions and deliverables to your team.

Evaluating product progress:

According to this role or responsibility, you have to evaluate your product progress at each iteration. It is because you are the person who is accountable for each stage of the development process and the final product. You have to inspect carefully about how things are getting done. It is up to you to decide whether the team can move on to the next step or go back to the drawing board. This is to avoid any mistake or problem that can put your position in jeopardy as you are accountable for the product. So it is best to evaluate and inspect the product after each iteration. Follow here for top 7 Questions about Scrum Master Role.

Terminating a sprint:

Terminating the sprint is also among the different roles you have as a product owner. But this is not the kind of thing that happens often. But if it happens, then it is your call to terminate the sprint if you run out of resources. You can also terminate a sprint if you have a high level of ambiguity in the product backlog. Either way, the decision is yours.

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Conclusion:

So these were some of the main roles and responsibilities that you have as a product owner. Thus we suggest you carefully understand your roles and responsibilities so that you can perform well in leading a team. CSM practice test and PSM Certification Dumps are available that helps you to become a good product owner.  So all about the roles and responsibilities of a product owner now and never stop learning.