Product Owner responsibilities in the scrum methodology

Nowadays, scrum methodology is frequently talked about, it is widely used in technology companies and therefore there is a lot of discussion about specific roles that are essential for its application. Today we are going to see in-depth what is the role of a PO or Product Owner.

This role has well-defined functions, and having them clear and knowing how to perform them makes or breaks a project.

The Product Owner connects the Scrum team with the stakeholders and focuses on the needs of the end users so that everyone understands what they are trying to achieve with the product and why. So, let’s look at the specific functions of this role.

1. Define the product objectives

They are responsible for defining the product objectives, but most importantly, they must know how to communicate them to the scrum team.

2. Determine product features and create the backlog

In order to define the specific characteristics of the product, the Product Owner must understand what the users want and identify the weak points, and once these definitions are established, the tasks that the scrum team must develop to achieve the objectives are created and said tasks are the backlog.

3. Create user stories

The Product Owner must create user stories to help team members understand the context of each product feature. In agile project management, a user story is a non-technical explanation of a product feature, written from the user’s perspective. This allows the development team to know what they are creating, why, and what value it provides.

User stories are often expressed in a single sentence, structured as follows:

“As [profile], I want [software objective] to achieve [outcome]”.

4. Prioritize and manage the product backlog

Product Owners are responsible for backlog refinement. This means that they must manage the product backlog and prioritize activities based on business needs, product objectives and user requirements. Given that the Product Owner has an overview of the product and how it relates to the overall business goals, they can help the Scrum team understand what to work on first.

5. Oversee product development stages

When teams develop a new product, they often follow a pre-established process. This practice is known as the product development process and consists of a six-stage plan that takes a product from initial concept to final market launch.

The Product Owner works with key stakeholders to route the product through each stage of the development process:

Idea generation: Brainstorms product concepts based on customer needs and market research.
Product definition: Determine feature scope, develop a value proposition and define success metrics.
Prototyping: Creates a proof-of-concept version of the product to identify the feasibility of different features and create a development strategy.
Initial design: Create an initial version of the product that can be used to gather feedback from stakeholders and end users.
Validation and testing: Ensure that every part of the product works properly before presenting it to the public.
Marketing: Showcase and release the final product.

Following this process, Scrum teams ensure that they create the best possible product with the least amount of risk.

We hope this article clarifies what are the responsibilities of a PO in software development under the scrum methodology. Don’t forget to leave us your comments and share this content.