Week1: the product owner

This post is part of the series “Z2A: From zero to agile”.

The product owner

Another topic to be taken care before starting with the next action (hopefully all these can be done in the one week, the first week, otherwise feel free to take more time before tackling the product backlog): appoint the product owner.

The product owner is a person. One person, not a committee. Committees may exist that advise or influence this person but people who want e.g. to change an item’s priority have to convince first the Product Owner.

He/she is the requirements responsible, the person in charge of converting the project goal or the customers wishes into requirements. He/she is also the person who takes the final decision about the requirements priority or to change them or to clarify them.

For the Product Owner to succeed, everyone in the organization has to respect his or her decisions. No one is allowed to tell the team to work from a different set of priorities, and teams aren’t allowed to listen to anyone who says otherwise.

Characteristics:

• Product visionary
• Represents the business needs, the stakeholders and the end-users so the team is guided by one voice.
• Must be fully committed to the team. Or at least, must be available to give immediate feedback on delivery and performance questions to the team.
• Own and maintains the product backlog.