Scrum Created the Product Owner and Spawned a Myriad of Conflicting Functions

There are many different types of Product Owners — Not all of them respect Scrum

The Product Owner is one of the three accountabilities of Scrum. According to the most recent Scrum Guide, this accountability entails the following:

“The Product Owner is accountable for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the Scrum Team. How this is done may vary widely across organizations, Scrum Teams, and individuals.

The Product Owner is also accountable for effective Product Backlog management, which includes:

- Developing and explicitly communicating the Product Goal;

- Creating and clearly communicating Product Backlog items;

- Ordering Product Backlog items; and,

- Ensuring that the Product Backlog is transparent, visible and understood.” — Scrum Guide 2020

There’s surprisingly little to unpack here. Only a few things make a Product Owner:

• Accountability for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the Scrum Team. This last part is crucial. It implies the Product Owner is NOT responsible for maximizing the value that is not from the Scrum Team.
• Effective Product Backlog Management, which includes setting a Product Goal, creating, communicating, ordering Product…