Philosophy of a product owner
Product management is a role yet to be clearly defined.
In a rowing crew, the coxswain sits a the stem of the boat, instructing the team on steering, power and rhythm, making tactical decisions to deliver success. In the event of failure, the cox is blamed by the team and also under maritime law as ‘Master of the vessel’. In my mind, a role which is almost identical to a good product owner working with a team to build great things.
I have a simple philosophy for collaborating over great things:
Collaboration, not dictation
One of the simplest pitfalls of product is to abuse the role as a position of power. It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to define a roadmap and deliver a product all by yourself, so it’s important to work with stakeholders to understand the needs of the business.
You need to be an advocate for the business, user and technology.
Understand the why
It’s easy to mistake product definition with requirements specification. Many Product Owners I speak to, spend too much time writing user stories for the features they’re told to build. Some also fear questioning senior stakeholders…
Step away from the features and make sure you understand the benefit for the user. Understand the problem you’re trying to solve rather than the solution you’re trying to build.
Empower your team
I dislike delivering demos and talking about releases. It feels like I’m taking the credit. It’s hard to get your entire team in a room with stakeholders to talk about features.
To deliver great things, you need a team who buys your vision and feel like they’re delivering benefit rather than feel like they’re being forced to build things without any credit.
Release less, more
I was asked whether I would rather release a broken product early or a complete product later…A strange question!
It’s important to discover your core features and release more often, getting feedback sooner.
The right product, at the right time, to the right people.
Let data guide you, but trust your gut!
A Product Owner should understand KPIs and how to make data driven decisions. Failure to set KPIs could result in a confused team and a failed product, however there is no substitute for your gut instinct when it comes to delivering a great experience.
Simple and Beautiful experiences are the ones which will win in the long term.
