Top Characteristics of a Great Product Owner
Many companies have started using the Agile methodology and have gained a significant eye in the market. The Scrum framework is one of the most implemented Agile frameworks to develop and deliver high-quality products and maximize business value. Product Owners are the face of the product and one of the most important professionals in developing and delivering any product in an organization. Product Owners are responsible for creating, ordering, and validating the list of work to be performed for product development. They are also responsible for the products success and have the authority to decide what has to be developed and when.
Generally, a business-facing person is employed to fill a Product Owners role because they are expected to understand the market, product, business, and constraints involved with them. A Product Owner has a clear vision for the product and works closely with the internal stakeholders, customers, and the developers team. They assure that the customer receives the best possible product developed by the organization.
To achieve this, the Product Owner should have excellent customer knowledge, be proactive in managing the internal stakeholders, and envision how the product is developed and delivered. The Product Owners role may be demanding, but it is also one of the highest paying jobs in the IT industry.
Top characteristics of a great Product Owner
The Product Owner possesses specific traits that would make them an excellent professional and help with their career growth and boost job opportunities. Here are a few characteristics of a good Product Owner that would make them the best in their field.
1. Embraces the Product Vision
The primary work of the Product Owner is to embrace the product vision. It all depends on the Product Owners idea, how the product would seem after developers. The excellent quality of a Product Owner is that they can envision that product before it is built and guide the Scrum Team in the developers process. Every input the Product Owner gives has to be according to the customer needs, and every information should enhance product development and drive to product success. The Product Owner should have the capability to make his imagination into reality by actively guiding the team and interacting with the stakeholders.
2. Immense knowledge about the product
The Product Owner should have a piece of immense knowledge about the specific product they are developing and the scope of the product in the market. This characteristic would establish a clear idea of what sort of feedback and popularity would the product benefit once it is in the market. The Product Owners should also be ready to furnish with the productive guidance to the developers group so that the product does not need to endure at any point in time.
3. An Amazing Story Teller
The Product Owner needs to have a way of conveying their thoughts to the developers by slicing the clients story while explaining the product requirement to the developers. If the Product Owner wants to be a fantastic product proprietor, they need to make the clients stories and their needs into a product feature. The Product Owner needs to have skills that would encourage the developers to create elements clearly defined by them. Only then, a product that satisfies the customer can be developed, and the product can be successful.
4. Extremely Communicative
The Product Owner should be a person who is exceptionally approachable by the developers, stakeholders, and the customer. Proper communications about the deadlines, specifications of the product should be conveyed to developers in an elite tone. Most successful Product Owners advise that a good old-fashioned face-to-face conversation will maximum ripe benefits. Explaining the developers the required product features and ideas face-to-face would make the Product Owner understand whether they comprehended the requirement. Also, the developers doubts are cleared without any delay, so the developers perform their best to develop the product.
5. A Great Problem solver
As managing the Scrum Team, interacting with the stakeholders, and understanding the customer needs, could be a mammoth task, the Product Owner surely has to be ready for everything the job demands. One of the best Product Owner characteristics is their ability to sort of issues that arise while developing the product. Product development would go through ups and downs due to people not collaborating, few of them having a negative mindset for the product, and clients requesting product changes at the last minute. The Product Owner must handle all these challenges and come up with a solution that would be best suited for the situation.
6. An Efficient Listener
The Product Owner needs to develop the agility to succeed in their field. The ability to listen and understand the developers issues while developing the product and giving a solution that would solve their concern is a great Product Owner trait that one needs to improve. By examining, comprehending, and understanding the facts pointed out by the team members, the Product Owner can give possible solutions to the situations and lead to the products success. When you are an extremely understanding individual, different issues will be addressed beforehand, saving you from figuring out the impediments in developing the product. Also, people appreciate your efforts and would love to work with an individual who listens, understands, and solves their concerns.
7. Customer Expectations
A Product Owner should be a professional who can envision and understand the customers expectations from the product. They should develop products in such a way that satisfy all the criteria given by the customer and also function effectively and fulfill all the demands of the customer. The Product Owner should be ready to go the extra mile to make the customer happy with the products and exceed the customers expectations. Product Owners should deliver the product before time, develop product features that may seem beneficial to the customer, and understand the market scope for the product and form an excellent product that would meet the customer expectations and make them invest more projects in the company.
8. Knows to act on different levels
The standard way to define these levels is strategic, tactical, and operational levels. The Product Owner should know to act on all these levels and drive the product towards success. The Product Owner should know how to explain the product strategy at the board level, create support in the middle management levels, and motivate the Scrum Team to fulfill their daily challenges. The Product Owner should know to handle all these levels flawlessly and be an excellent representative for the product. Explaining all of them the products scope by becoming the customers voice is one of the chief qualities of a good Product Owner.
9. Can say, NO
A great Product Owner knows whether the new idea formed will be constructive as a product feature. Saying yes to all the ideas that come up from different people would go into the Product Backlog. Still, the Product Owner has to understand the Product Backlog should contain only valuable insights that will enhance the products enhancement and create high demand in the market. Just by accepting all the ideas and stuffing it in the Product Backlogs will only make the delay filled with waste or false expectations that would not be fulfilled. Hence, when the Product Owner says NO to the ideas they think is not useful and does not coincide with the products vision, the time for the product development gets saved and quicker delivery of the product becomes possible.
Conclusion
Product Owners are the voice of the customer that needs to be an entrepreneur of their product. They have to look for opportunities to maximize their business value and see the best possible ways to enhance the products quality. By being an excellent issue solver, an excellent storyteller, a fantastic communicator, and listening and understanding everyone's concerns involved in the product development process, any individual can become a great Product Owner. It is important for every Product Owner to inculcate these characteristics and become a recognized individual in their industry.
Hence, the time has come for you to adapt these top characteristics of a great Product Owner into your job aspect and excel in the Product Owner career that you always wanted to grow. Applying these characteristics will boost your confidence and give a sense of direction to the job aspect and make sure that you reach the career goal that you had always aimed for.
References
1.https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/attributes-professional-product-owner
2.https://blog.sandglaz.com/the-6-characteristics-of-an-effective-product-owner/
Other References
1.https://www.frontrowagile.com/blog/posts/74-the-role-of-a-product-owner-responsibilities-and-characteristics
2.https://www.knowledgehut.com/blog/agile/6-skills-you-need-to-be-a-great-product-owner
