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Scrum Framework is one of the most accepted frameworks in the evolving Agile industry. With this evolution, the job opportunities in Scrum are also growing every day. IT professionals are updating their knowledge according to the current requirements of the market and learning about the roles in Scrum. One of the important roles in Scrum which is also seen in other frameworks of Agile is the role of a Product Owner. The Product Owner's role is one of the main roles that would decide the fate of the business revenue of the company. The PO handles the business side of the project and makes sure that the product delivered by the Developers has all the qualities to succeed in the market and can gain them a good return on investment. Hence, the Product Owner's role is an integral part of the Scrum Team for the success of any product development taken by the team.

Let us understand a few facts about Scrum before we dive into the Product Owner's roles and responsibilities and the checklist that has to be fulfilled by the Product Owner. Scrum is an iterative approach for product development where complex products are developed in short periods called Sprints keeping in mind that the creativity and the productivity of the team are maintained. Scrum is considered to be lightweight, easy to understand, and difficult to master. Scrum includes several tools and techniques that are required for the development of a complex product and should be seen as a framework and not a tool itself. The three roles of Scrum include the Developers, the Scrum Master, and the Product Owner. All of them have their roles to play for the success of any project taken by the Scrum Team. In this article, we focus on the Product Owner's checklist which includes the items that a Product Owner has to fulfill daily.

What is a Product Owner?

A Product Owner is a professional who is a part of the Scrum Team and is responsible for maintaining the Product Backlog items. They are also responsible for creating a vision for the product before even the product is developed. A product roadmap created by the Product Owner gives a direction for the Development Team for the product being developed. Apart from this, the Product Owner has many other responsibilities such as communicating the product idea from the customer to the Developers, anticipating the needs of the customer, and overall keeping the customer satisfied. Hence, they become the face of the organization to the customers and other Stakeholders. 

Product Owner Checklist 

As we have understood the role performed by the Product Owner, the implementations will differ from one organization to another. Sometimes, the responsibility and the work of the Product Owner depends on the organization, and sometimes, all of the working styles depend on the Product Owner themselves. However, many mandatory items have to be completed by the Product Owner so that the product succeeds in the market and the process of development runs smoothly and hassle-free. This checklist is general and has to be completed by all the Product Owners irrespective of the organization they are working on. Hence, this Product Owner checklist should be thought of as a backbone of the work that a Product Owner has to complete so that they are successful in their field and finish their work effectively in their organization. 

The List in the Product Owner checklist

The Product Owner checklist has many items that the PO has to fulfill. To simplify exactly all the contents of the PO checklist let us understand the list in five different subheadings and discuss in detail the work that the PO has to do in it. 

1. Requirements of a Product Owner

Being a Product Owner comes with many responsibilities. Knowing all the duties that the PO has to complete is one of the essential items that come on the checklist. These are the items that come inside the checklist for the requirements of the PO:

1. Knowledgeability: The Product Owner has to have the essential knowledge of three important factors. They are:

• Knowledge about the business: This includes the knowledge and the details about the product, the customer, the market, and the competition. 
• Knowledge about usability: It includes knowledge about the features that are most usable for the client.
• Knowledge about feasibility: It includes the knowledge about combining techs that could be used to invent a new feature that would be helpful for the product.

2. Availability: A Product Owner has to be available for the team during the product development process. This could be fulfilled by:

• Answering questions and meeting the Developers frequently; which could be completed by attending the daily Scrum meetings or by being close to the Developers and being approachable. 
• Answering the questions of the customers and meeting them frequently.
• Participating in usability testing.

3. Decidability: As a Product Owner, the person is expected to take quick and correct decisions that could change the course of product development. Hence, this task includes understanding the requirements of the product and prioritizing the features of the product considering all the factors. It also includes the ability to say yes or no for the Product Increment suggested by thinking the best for the product. 

4. Accountability: The Product Owner has to take ownership of the product roadmap and product vision. They should own the business plan and drive the revenue of the product and the organization. 

2. Skills

Any professional who becomes a Product Owner should possess three of the important skills that will help them in the long run. These skills are vertical slicing, prioritization/ordering, and organizing the workshops and meetings with many members of the organization. Vertical slicing refers to the splitting of the User Stories such that it is easier for the Developers to work on. 

Prioritization refers to arranging the items in the Product Backlog such that the items which have to be included in the next Sprint Backlog and must be included in the next Sprint are listed on top and arranged from highest priority to the lowest priority. And the final skill is to have the ability and time to organize workshops and other meetings with the users, Developers, customers, operations, Stakeholders, and customer care. This would help the Product Owner to understand everyone's point of view and understand their working style. Having a meeting with them would also let the members know that they are an important part of the product development and the product designed and developed is unanimously accepted.

3. Delivery-Sprints

The Product Owner has many items that have to be checked during the delivery of Sprints. They have to attend various Sprint meetings and invite relevant Stakeholders for the Scrum Events. Two essential items that have to be checked in this section are:

1. Attending Scrum Events such as:

• Sprint Planning: As this is the first event to plan the items that go in the Sprint Backlog and deciding the Sprint Goal, the Product Owner has to formulate the Sprint Goal together with the Developers, discuss the various Product Backlog items and features, answer any relevant queries regarding the Sprint Goal or plan, slice stories, and identify test scenarios. 
• Sprint Review: This section includes reviewing the Product Increment that is developed by the team during the Sprint. The PO has to accept or reject the results of the Sprint. The PO has to also incorporate feedback into the Product Backlog. 
• Sprint Retrospective: As we know that this meeting helps the team members understand the setbacks of the previous Sprint, the PO has to participate as an equal member and help the team to overcome the impediments that are outside the scope of the team. 

2. Inviting various Stakeholders, customers, and other members that are relevant to the product development process to the Scrum meetings such as Sprint demo, retrospective, planning, review, etc. 

4. Discovery- Sprints

Five items have to be reviewed by the Product Owner so that the Sprint proceeds smoothly and there are no impediments during the Sprint. These items are:

• Making sure that the Product Backlog is up to date as the Product Backlog may be the same for many teams working on the same product. This would help the team decide the items to be taken to the Sprint Backlog without any confusion. The Product Owner has to keep the items that are prioritized highly at the top. The PO has to also communicate the value and the context of the top prioritized item so that the Developers can understand the importance of it and why it is at the top of the Product Backlog.
• Attending Backlog Refinement Meetings so that the PO can slice or estimate the User Stories such that is easier for the Development Team to process.
• The PO also has the responsibility to organize the Product Backlog meetings according to everyone's convenience. Eg, Organizing the meeting for 1 hour per week, or only on Wednesday before lunch so that uniformity is maintained for the Backlog meetings and team members do not miss it.
• Making sure that the highest priority items are cleared and also everyone understands who the Stakeholders are and what is the content and the value of the Product Increment that is listed on top of the Product Backlog refinement. 
• Refining the backlog with the Developers when inserting new stories on top of the Product Backlog.

5. Kickstarting a new product or epic 

Kickstarting a new product or epic has many roles that the Product Owner has to perform which may be overwhelming often. By following the checklist, the PO can kick start the product and manage it effectively. There are several checklists that the PO has to take care of while kick-starting a new product. They are:

• Creating a vision together with the customers, Stakeholders, and Developers by using a lean canvas or a vision board.
• Defining the minimum viable product and breaking down to multiple releases by using a validation board. 
• Creating an initial feature list by trying different methods such as Impact mapping, design studios, personas, and story maps. 
• Keeping the kick start phase as short as possible. E.g. keeping the phase as 10% of the total budget. 

Starting a new project or developing a new product would have many factors that have to be checked in. While everyone has an equal role to play in the process, the PO's role becomes a crucial one that decides the fate of the project. This checklist while kickstarting a program has to be checked and completed by the PO for the product to start functioning according to what was planned by the customers and the Developers. By keeping these four points in mind and fulfilling it effectively, the PO's task during the kickstart program is completed successfully. However, the PO has to evaluate each of these points and fulfill it according to what they think is the best way to approach based on their company, clients, resources, and their working style. As each of the PO has their perspective for the new product development, the checklist only works as a base or a backbone for the Product Owner to proceed with the duties in the kickstart of the new product.

Conclusion

The role of a Product Owner is dynamic as they play an inevitable part in the Scrum process. All of the team are equally important as the PO as they perform tasks that would effectively contribute to the success of the team. In this article, we went through the checklist that a Product Owner has to fulfill such that they justify their position in the organization and help the organization achieve its goals regarding product development. The Product Owner's checklist consisted of the requirements that they had to possess such as knowledgeability, decidability, accountability, and availability. The next item on the checklist is that they possess the skills required for the PO, make the right decisions for the delivery and discovery for the Sprint, and also fulfill all the duties during kickstarting a new product. Hence, the Product Owner checklist is a full list of all the duties and tasks that a Product Owner has to fulfill irrespective of their organization or the working style, such that the PO performs effectively that leads to the success of the development and delivery of the product. 

References

1. https://blog.crisp.se/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/PO_checklist.pdf
2. https://lekman.fi/productownerchecklist/
3. http://howtoAgile.com/po-checklist/

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