The Scrum framework (3) : Product Owner

The Scrum Framework :

• The Scrum framework consists of Scrum Teams and their associated accountabilities, artifacts, events and rules as defined in the Scrum Guide.

The Scrum accountabilities :

• Product Owner
• Developers
• Scrum Master

Product Owner accountability

• The Product Owner is accountable for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the Scrum Team.
  • How this is done may vary widely across organizations, Scrum Teams, and individuals.
• The Product Owner is also accountable for effective Product Backlog management, which includes:
  • Developing and explicitly communicating the Product Goal;
  • Creating and clearly communicating Product Backlog items (PBIs);
  • Ordering Product Backlog items; and,
  • Ensuring that the Product Backlog is transparent, visible and understood.
• The Product Owner may do the above work or may delegate the responsibility to others, regardless, the Product Owner remains accountable.
• For Product Owners to succeed, the entire organization must respect their decisions.
  • These decisions are visible in the content and ordering of the Product Backlog, and through the inspectable Increment at the Sprint Review.
• The Product Owner is one person, not a committee.
  • The Product Owner may represent the needs of many stakeholders in the Product Backlog.
  • Those wanting to change the Product Backlog can do so by trying to convince the Product Owner.
• Product Owner’s main responsibility is maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the Developers.
  • The Product Owner in the Scrum framework is accountable for maximizing the value of a product, primarily by incrementally managing and expressing business and functional expectations for a Product to the Developers.
  • The Product Owner decides what makes the most sense to optimize the value of the work being done by the Developers.
  • The Product Owner represents the Stakeholders : a Product Owner may represent the desires of Stakeholders using the Product.

Product Owner practice

• The Product Owner manages the Product Backlog : furthermore, the Product Owner is the sole person responsible for managing the Product Backlog.
  • Therefore, (s)he has the final say and decides about Product Backlog Items order.
• The Product Owner keeps communicating with the Stakeholders, creates new items in the Product Backlog, revises the order of items, answers questions, makes sure that everyone has the right understanding of items, and checks the completed items with the Developers to ensure they are Done based on the Definition of Done (DoD).
• The Product Owner is responsible for clearly expressing Product Backlog items to the developers and making trade-offs.
  • The Product Owner would thus know the requirements (business needs) of the Product Backlog items.
  • The Product Owner is responsible for ordering the items in the Product Backlog to best achieve goals and missions.
  • The Product Owner is responsible for Product Backlog management, but can assign management sub-tasks to the Developers.
• The Product Owner discusses the objective that the Sprint should achieve the Sprint Goal with the Product Backlog Items (PBIs) selected by the Developers in the Sprint Backlog.
  • The Product Owner clarifies the selected PBIs.
• Two or more Products can share a single Product Owner; however, he / she should be able to fulfill his / her duties.

More informations for the Scrum PSD certification here.

Other Scrum accountabilities : Developers and Scrum Master.

Updated : 03/03/2022