I as a Product Owner

As a Product Owner, I am responsible for Product Vision and its continuous evolution. I may not know everything about the product but I know, from where to get that information and how to manage competing stakeholders for limited resources and even manage conflicting views of stakeholders about the product. I am “go-to” person for product domain. I have business analysis skills. I negotiate priorities, scope, funding, and schedule. I own product roadmap as well as Product Backlog.

As a Product Owner, I do not drive technological decisions but understand and appreciate devTeam’s technical skills. I incorporate the technical wisdom of devTeam in Product Backlog’s prioritization in addition of stakeholders’ vision and wishes. I communicate WHY and WHAT of product so the Product Backlog Items. I share product vision with devTeam. I define Acceptance Criteria in collaboration with devTeam for every PBI.

As a Product Owner, I actively participate in scrum ceremonies. I lead Product Backlog Refinement effort with devTeam as well as stakeholders. During Sprint Planning Meeting, I offer Product Backlog Items to devTeam to be developed in current Sprint. I bring in subject matter expert o answer any query by devTeam. I only offer PBIs which are INVEST-able during part one of Sprint Planning meeting. I define Sprint Goal and convey the same to the team before or during sprint planning meeting. I ensure that I am always available to devTeam during Sprint. I accept PBIs during sprint as offered to me by devTeam provided they meet Acceptance Criteria. I have authority to reject any work performed during sprint. I can terminate sprint mid-way. I decide the content of demonstration of increment in collaboration of devTeam and actively participate in the same. I participate with devTeam to split PBIs. I don’t direct the team on how to perform its job. I drive release-planning effort with stakeholders and devTeam. I help the team to remove impediments.

As a Product Owner, I engage with stakeholders on the continuous basis to elaborate PBIs and create new ones. I interact with stakeholders to assign Business Value and prioritize PBIs. I utilize various techniques (Story Map, Impact Map, budgeting of story point to different stakeholders, and other techniques) to reach Minimum Viable Product, assignment of Business value, and prioritization of PBIs. I keep Product Backlog healthy – two to three sprint worth of stories are INVEST-able and prioritized.

As a Product owner, I continuously educate myself and share my learnings with Lean, Agile and Scrum communities. I organize and participate in Lean, Agile, and scrum oriented community events to facilitate understanding of Lean, Agile, and scrum values and principles.