Product Ownership | Key Roles and Responsibilities

I often get asked by many people around me, especially the students early in their IT careers: “What do the Product Owners actually do?” After explaining the role in detail, their typical response is, “Wow! That sounds like a fascinating job!”

I am writing to share how a regular week is in my life as a Product Owner at Shispare.

Definition of a Product Owner

Put simply, a PO acts as a linchpin between clients, stakeholders, and developers. The moment a product takes its very first steps as a mere idea needing guidance, the PO welcomes it with open arms— much like a parent raising their toddler. The responsibility of a Product Owner is to ensure there is always a clear understanding of the product’s goals and vision throughout the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) which includes research and requirement gathering, documentation, design, development, testing, and feedback.

Having gained an idea of the role of a Product Owner, let’s walk you through how our entire week looks like.?

Daily Standups?

Ideally a PO brings out the best in his team during daily stand-ups. This is a short meeting usually of 15 to 20 minutes. It involves the whole project team. Every member shares what they did yesterday, what they will do today, and if there’s any blocker. Stand-ups, being the core event in Agile, keep the team aligned and ensure that tasks are executed in small chunks, and then iteratively improved.

Research

The famous mantra “your competitors are your best teachers” is something that every PO understands quite well. Retaining users is the key to a successful product, which requires constant research on the products of competitors and the market. Data from existing solutions analysis gives a PO valuable insights that shape the product as a whole. This is the research phase before actually jumping into design and development. Market trends and market behavior help create improvement in the product, keeping it one step ahead of the competition.

Design

It is crucial that a product owner interacts closely with the UI/UX team. Along with knowledge of product goals and user needs, they collaborate with designers to ensure that the user interface demonstrates these principles. Very many design iterations occur at this point, which are reviewed and then presented before moving on to a development stage. Shispare supports a “Design First” approach wherein a compelling visual design tends to convert ideas into a palpable user experience.

FlowCharts and Wireframes

Diagrams represent a secret project owner tool used in the unveiling of complex concepts. The flowing charts and wireframes, among others, enhance the clarity with which ideas are being communicated. Whether it’s some new feature or process flow, visualizing concepts enables stakeholders and team members to understand complicated scenarios at will.

Product Roadmap

A product roadmap is a strategic plan that enunciates a product’s vision, goals, and milestones. While in Agile, the roadmaps are flexible, allowing an adjustment to change according to shifting priorities. A well-drafted roadmap, further refined through stakeholder feedback, ensures the product’s success without the deadline. This would result in a single document that serves as the backbone of development: this assures that both the team and stakeholders are well aligned on key milestones.

Product and Sprint Backlog

After establishing the product roadmap, the Product Owner should create a product backlog-a prioritized list of features that have not yet been developed. Our manager always reminds us, “A good PO works two weeks ahead of the team.” This approach emphasizes that the preparation of a backlog well in advance ensures that the sprints start without any hiccups. The sprint backlog is a subset of the product backlog, containing the selected features to be completed during the sprint cycle. The continuous improvement in the backlog keeps the development team in focus and working.

Client Calls

Customized software delivery is one of our core values practiced at Shispare, and it’s indeed very important to have regular client calls. Here, the frontliner-PO is setting the agenda for the call, doing product demos, writing detailed meeting minutes, and clearing any query of the client. Thus, there are three parts of the meeting minutes: the Meeting Notes, Action Items, and the Business Rules. These calls are further given very crucial feedback in helping shape the product according to client needs.

User Stories

After the requirements are compiled, the Product Owner writes the user stories with utmost detail. Each user story captures a feature from the end user’s perspective. It explains what it is supposed to achieve. A properly crafted user story will spare time and also avoid pricey rework. The traditional template for a user story usually consists of what feature does a user want so that they can achieve certain goals. Each story should meet the INVEST criteria —Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, and Testable. Writing concise and simple user stories ensures the development team knows the nub of the purpose of the feature being requested.

Acceptance Criteria

Acceptance criteria are defined for every user story such that all requirements have to be met to declare something as complete. For instance, for the login feature, some of the acceptance criteria might include the outcome of an invalid credential or a blank password. It ensures that developers as well as testers understand what needs to be built and tested. The definition of good criteria results in the meeting of all specifications pertaining to the developing feature without any ambiguity.

Sprint Planning, Grooming, and Retrospective

Agility divides work into 2-3 weeks sprints. Before each sprint, the PO is focused on planning―defining tasks, user stories, and preparing designs. Sprint grooming refers to reviewing and clarifying these elements with the development team so that everyone understands and knows what he or she is doing. A Sprint retrospective is an event that allows the team to review completed work, feedback, and areas for improvement so the product can evolve efficiently.

Planning User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

Finally, with the product built, the last stage is UAT with the client, which will guarantee everything works out. A plan of UAT should be submitted by the PO for the following: scope, roles and responsibilities, and approval criteria. So, collaborative testing will guarantee that the product will be ready for release and will work as it should. It can also be tested by real users and get final feedback before deployment.

Conclusion

The ownership of a product is far beyond the mere coordination of work or the completion of checklists; it is about vision, leadership, and the ability to turn innovative ideas into reality. Being solidly grounded in both business strategy and technology and possessing a good communication skill across various teams is also included. The Product Owner leads a product through its development cycle while also being an advocate for the final end-user, ensuring the value that the final product provides.