What does ownership mean ?

We are inherently expected to own what we undertake be it in personal life or work and yet there are diverse expectations from people when they want us to own something or we commit to owning it ourselves. I am trying to generalize my understanding of ownership in this article so that it becomes simpler and clearer in practice.

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What does Owning a Vehicle mean ?

You could choose to own a vehicle to either get you from point A to point B or because it provides you a social status depending on who you are. Based on your personality, wealth/budget ,need to commute to work, and many other variable factors in your environment you try to evaluate different options for your dream vehicle and you could choose between a two-wheeler vs four wheeler, brand new vs used , base model vs premium etc. Once you have analyzed all your options and found feasible solutions that meet your purpose you make a decision to purchase some model X vehicle as a commitment to attain your purpose.

Please bear in mind that you do not suddenly become an automobile engineer or a vehicle expert just because you own a vehicle. You may not know how to drive it and yet own it with a willingness to learn to drive in the future or hire a driver afterwards. However, you do understand the basics of how a vehicle operates, what features it has, and how to get help if it breaks down, when & where to take the vehicle for maintenance etc. You make a purchase decision based on the expert advice offered by the seller, your gut feelings or a vehicle mechanic you trust.

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Say you bought a vehicle and later realized that you would have to break down a wall in your garage to have ample parking space. Moreover , you also came to learn that you have to spend significant monthly budget on the insurance, servicing/maintenance, taxes etc. At this point you may have to reconsider if you want to keep owning the item or make necessary adjustment to your environment so that you can sustain the ownership of the vehicle.

Product Ownership in Tech

Whether you are a product owner in a agile/scrum team or a startup founder who is accountable for the vision {the ultimate why } of your product, ownership of the product in a tech world is no different than owning a vehicle.

You do not suddenly become an expert in the underlying technology used by your product , neither do you become a software engineer who knows how to best build a digital product just because your title says you are a product owner (or product manager ). You do however own the vision of the product, the purpose of the product’s existence, the value it serves and the desired end outcome for both its users and stakeholders once the product gets built.

As a tech product owner / manager you take into account multiple constraints like, user needs, business & user goals, market conditions , competitor offerings, stakeholder expectations, risks, budget, timeline, value etc. so as to identify the various choices you have to attain the product vision.

Based on the expert advice and different insights you gain from your tech leads, engineers, and stakeholders you analyze and identify the best approaches to achieving the product objectives. Once you are convinced with these insights you make a decision to commit available resources to attaining the product vision by prioritizing the most valuable items most probably in the form of a product backlog.

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As a product owner you will gather insights from multiple areas after you have made a decision and continue to learn from your experiences so as to sustain the product. This involves getting feedback from the users as well as stakeholders such that you adjust your path to attaining the product vision.

Additionally you would be engaging with different parties , building relationships with them and communicating the decisions as well as the product objectives with relevant stakeholders as a product owner.

Conclusion

As an owner you are not an expert in everything, however you need to have enough domain knowledge to take ownership and are equipped with experts to help you make a decision to fulfill your purpose. Being an owner means understanding the implications of your choices and having the acceptance to face the consequences of your decisions . Ownership also means having the willingness to learn from both success and failures of your experiences. Ultimately it means to be able to persist as long as required by constantly adjusting your choices till you reach a desired end state.

Let’s summarize the steps involved in effective ownership be it in life or product :

1. Having clarity of your/your product’s : “why” , your purpose, vision, values, goals, desired end outcome .
2. Knowing the constraints , components, variables, items, factors, in your environment that affect your purpose .
3. Identifying the best options, choices, possibilities, course of actions by analyzing your “why” and balancing the various factors affecting it .
4. Making a decision to commit available resources in attaining your desired end outcome by carefully evaluating the identified choices and aligning the choices with the constraints in the environment .
5. Facing the consequences of your decisions by reflecting on them, learning from your experiences and adjusting accordingly for sustainability .
6. Persisting as long as required to attain the desired end outcome.

Hence successfully taking ownership of any initiative you undertake entails being accountable, responsible and more through continuous planning, analysis, decision making , experimentation, learning and persistence until the desired end outcome has been achieved.