The Responsibilities Of A Product Owner

As far as scrum methodology is concerned, the product owner plays a very important part in creating new products, and enhancing the value of existing ones for an organization. Many businesses struggle to implement the role in an effective manner, but often fail to do so. There are several reasons why this happens. One of the commonest causes is that the organization fails to properly understand the exact role played by the product owner, or may be unsure as to what kind of role is best suited for their project related requirements. The product owner “owns” the product on behalf of the investors and the stakeholders. The person is responsible for the success of the project, and is answerable to the management for the project.
 

A multifaceted role
The role of a product owner varies in real life depending upon several factors such as the market conditions, product life cycle, and management related concerns. The aims and objectives of a project depend upon the type and nature of the product to be developed, and how the owners desire to manufacture and market the product. The product owner has to oversee the completion of the project, whatever the project related requirements might be. There are times when the person has to think as an owner and ensure the project is being properly executed, so it benefits the management. The person may be required to act as a facilitator and coordinate the working of the team. It may be required to think like an entrepreneur while suggesting project related ROI solutions to the stakeholders. The role is not an easy one, and the product owner required to be a bit of everything – a team leader, entrepreneur, project manager, facilitator, and a product owner! 
 

Responsibilities of the product owner
A product owner should take up certain responsibilities:

People

• Understand the needs of customers and end users
• Collaborate with the development team
• Successfully manage the stakeholders

Strategy

• Create an effective business model
• Working out proper strategies for conducting sprint planning meetings, sprint review meetings, and sprint retrospective meetings 
• Develop the product definition and road map
• Define and explain the user experience and the product features

Learning and delivery

• Set up the sprint goal, detail the user stories, and decide what to do next
• Collect relevant data and analyze it for goal validation
• Update the business model and product features as per need
• Monitor and track the project progress (time and budget)
• Coordinate with the stakeholders for the product launch

Scrum

• Have the correct vision about how and where to take the product
• Prioritize the product backlog as per business value associated with user stories  
• Advise and offer help to the scrum master when asked for or required
• Analyze and understand the business model including the value proposition as well as the business benefits desired from the product development
• Ensure effectual sprint goals are set up and followed
• Choose the correct research and/or validation technique to exhibit the product increment

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