Have you ever considered becoming a product owner?
Maybe you should.
In this video, I'll share the skills needed, which roles often become product owners, and some questions for you to think about to decide if you Should
Become a Product Owner.
If you're new to the channel, i'm Mike Cohn.
I'm a co-founder of both the Scrum Alliance and Agile Alliance.
i help organizations become more agile.
One of the most important skills of a product owner is a solid understanding of industry or domain of product.
I worked with a company developing various medical software products.
Their product owners were nurses and medical doctors.
These product donors were fantastic, but they would have struggled as product-owners for a financial services product, you have to know your industry.
Product owners need to be good communicators.
As a product owner, you will need communicate with various stakeholders, possibly inside and outside your organization.
And you'll also need you communicate team members.
You can be an introvert and be a great product owners, but you WILL need talk with people.
Product owners must also be visionary.
You don't need to be Steve Jobs who can see the future 10 or 20 years ahead, but you need see at least the near future of your product.
To be a great product owner, you must be decisive.
Your team will be under pressure to go fast.
They won't be able to if you have to convene a user advisory group meeting to make every decision.
I want to mention one more skill that would-be product owners ask me about, technical skills.
Should a product owner have spent time as a programmer, tester, or something similar?
No, I don't think this is needed.
I think good product donors need to be familiar with the type of work the team does and the jargon they use.
So as the product of a software team, you don' t need know how to code, but you need what coding is.
Most product owner roles are filled by promoting someone within the organization rather than hiring someone outside it.
This is a direct result of product owners needing a deep understanding of the industry, as I've mentioned.
Since product donors are often promoted from within, let's look at some of roles people have before they become product-owners.
The most common move is from business analyst to product owner.
A business analysts is often the right hand of the product oner, doing portions of job to help the project owner If the current product owners moves on
to a new product or company, the analyst often becomes the Product Owner.
Another common move is from product manager to product owner.
There's no industry-wide agreement on the differences between these roles.
Most common, however, is that product managers are outward facing, dealing with customers, competitors, pricing, marketing,
and so on.
Product owners are then inward facing and working with the team and treating the product measure as a stakeholder.
Similarly, a common transition is from project manager to product owner.
As organizations adopt Agile, project managers often become scrum masters, coaches, or product owners.
A fourth common transition is from a user of the product.
This is especially common for internally developed software.
Users will often have the industry knowledge required.
Those who develop a passion for the products often make great product owners.
Finally, development team members can make great product owners.
This is especially true of UX designers and testers.
So should you become a product owner?
First, you'll want to have the skills I've listed and see a path from your current role to becoming a Product Owner.
Additionally, here are some questions to ask yourself to determine if being a Project Owner is right for you.
Do you enjoy talking to people?
I've said you can be an introvert, but you'll continually need to talk to users, customers, developers, and various stakeholders.
Being a product owner is not something you could do with headphones on all day or by sending emails and surveys.
Are you willing to listen to others?
As product owners, many decisions will be yours to make.
But are you will to listening to developers who suggest alternatives?
You'll also have users, customers, and stakeholders you'll need to listen to and make happy.
Can you handle conflict?
Those stakeholders that you need satisfy, they won't always want the same things.
You will have to list to their positions and then make some hard decisions.
Not everyone will be happy with those decisions every time.
Do you relish being accountable for the ultimate success of a product?
As a Product Owner, you will generally have more influence over the success the product than anyone else.
Does that excite you or fill you with dread?
What do you think?
Are you pursuing a career as a product owner?
Or if you're currently a project owner, what other skills or personality traits are needed?
are there other questions you'd ask to decide if becoming a Product Owner is right for you?
Let me know in the comments.
I read and value every one.
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Thank you for watching, and I'll see you next time.