PRODUCT OWNER — 7
GOLDEN RULES
Recommended to Product Owners who want to
incorporate good practices on a daily basis.
A Product Owner (PO) role can become a real pain point inside a team if this person doesn’t properly address all their responsibilities and their influence on the team. Considering that the PO is the main source of communication between the customer and the team, it is important that the PO collaborates effectively with their colleagues (both customer & internal team). The role is key to determining the end-to-end definition of every delivery, so having a
solid PO is critical. Here is my list of 7 golden rules that POs should take
into account.
- Know the strategic vision and roadmap:
It’s relevant for you as a PO to know what is going to come next, and when I say “next” I’m referring to knowing the product expectations you’re working on for the next few years. The roadmap is a good tool to predict how your product will look in the near future according to the strategy that the company established. - Don’t be afraid of asking questions:
One of the biggest fears POs have is asking questions. They tend to assume that if they ask a question, their colleagues will think, “What a dumb question,” or “You should have known that beforehand,” or “That’s too basic.”. The reality is that if you don’t ask, then you will probably start making assumptions that may not be the most appropriate. Also, your teammates may think you are not 100% involved in the project. Some tips
you may consider in order to ask good questions:
- Search within your project to see if there is any information already available on the topic about which you are uncertain.
- Prepare your questions to be as clear as possible.
- If the questions you want to discuss are going to take more than 10 minutes, then schedule a separate meeting, and include your questions in
the invite’s agenda.
3. Know your business:
This is a must. You can’t start creating anything if you don’t know what the business is. Some things you should know before creating any type of documentation are:
- What are the main business lines of your
product? - How can we achieve the best ROI?
- Where will my product be sold?
- How will the product be used?
- What differentiates the product from its
competition?
4. Think like an end-user:
PO’s are constantly facing new requirements that are going to impact the customers who are using our systems in some way (positively or negatively). The main question you need to be asking all the time is, “If I decide to add this new functionality, will it improve the relationship between the system and the customer?”
5.Understand the technical aspects of your product:
Some POs tend to give up on projects which are really technical. They are uncomfortable when developers are talking about something related to the code they have been building. If you don’t want to feel you are lost, take some time to learn at least the basic concepts on which your project is based. This will allow you to feel more involved in all the decisions that are going to impact your product.
6. Technical leads and product managers are your best friends:
You need to be strategic in order to build a successful product. You need to establish a good relationship with your technical lead and your product manager (or whoever your ‘user advocate’ is). The reason for doing this is simple: technical leads will find creative ways to implement those features you need in the best possible way, and your product manager will provide as much information as he/she can in regards to the business vision and product objectives.
7. Generate empathy with all your team:
Albert Einstein said, “Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others, it is the only means.” Remember, nothing is more important than empathy. As I said before, you’re working with people. Not all days will be good days, so try to show empathy to your teammates in both good and bad moments. Build a relationship based on respect, trust, and good
energy.
In conclusion, the PO plays a vital role in the success or failure of any product implementation. It is important to be aware that not only the technical skills are critical but also soft skills. The PO may be considered the heartbeat of the team, so if you are conscious about the people you are working with and treat everyone with respect and equality you will get better results from your team. Finally, keep the strategic vision of how your product will impact customers top of mind, and the probability of delivering a really good product will increase.
