What exactly is a Product Owner? Today, Mousiliw Christian ASIMIU explains the role and the day-to-day reality of being a Product Owner.
This article contains a number of technical terms — feel free to check out our Product Owner glossary at the end of the article.
Interview with Mousiliw Christian ASIMIU
DC: What does the job of Product Owner involve?
A Product Owner is the member of an Agile team — whether using the Scrum or SAFe framework (different approaches to agility) — who collaborates with the Scrum Master and the delivery or development team. The Product Owner is truly the person who represents the client and gathers their requirements in the form of "Stories" (tasks or activities to be completed) to pass on to the delivery team who will carry out the work. They need a thorough understanding of the requested product and must stay on top of developments in their field through ongoing technology monitoring. The Stories they write must be well understood, managed, and prioritized within what is called a "Product Backlog" — the complete list of tasks and activities. They are responsible for gathering feedback from all stakeholders to ensure everyone is aligned on the same objectives. They remain close to both the client and the delivery team, ensuring that these two parties — for whom they serve as an intermediary — communicate and collaborate closely. They also organize workshops that allow them to focus on meeting needs by using design thinking tools, based on their experience in the field.
DC: Product Owner and project manager — what's the difference?
A project manager is not part of an Agile team, as this role does not exist in the organizational structure of Agile project management methodologies — though they may collaborate with one.
The project manager comes from traditional project management, known as Waterfall, whereas the Product Owner comes from Agile project management.
These two methods are different and are applied depending on the context of each project or product.
The project manager, who is the team leader and manager, drives, checks, and oversees a project from start to finish, is responsible for completing the various stages or milestones on a functional and/or technical level, and ensures cost and schedule management.
The Product Owner, on the other hand, only decides on resource allocation and is not the team manager, but they do ensure the success of the product from conception through to development — because they know what the final product should look like based on the list of requirements in the Product Backlog, for which they are responsible.
DC: What was your career path to becoming a Product Owner?
I started out as a developer at Orange before moving into project manager, Scrum Master, and Product Owner roles at various companies including Galeries Lafayette, Inetum, Airbus, Aéroports de Paris, and SHS France. I then decided to become an Agile & DevOps Coach.
Two years ago, I set up my own training organization as a partner of the SAFe framework to deliver certification training for product owners and others, and to teach in engineering and business schools to share the Agile mindset and working methodology.
DC: Who do you work with? Which departments and which colleagues?
In the world of software development, the Product Owner works with the agile team, clients, and also with production teams, testers, business analysts, architects, product managers, and all stakeholders who can help deepen their understanding of the product — whether from finance, human resources, or elsewhere — since agility now extends across entire organizations.
In the marketing field, where agility has long been in use, the Product Owner also works with sales and technical departments.
DC: What does a typical day look like for a Product Owner?
A PO's day is quite varied and organized around their schedule.
Every morning, they review the meetings they will or will not attend.
They take part in daily Scrum ceremonies — synchronization and sharing meetings known as the Daily meeting — to reinforce the product vision.
Every day, they write and rewrite the requirements or needs in their Backlog and prioritize them.
They answer questions from development or delivery team members to clarify requirements, or run UX design prototype validation workshops, brainstorming sessions, and gather feedback from all stakeholders.
They also invite clients to review sessions to demonstrate what has been completed before the end of each sprint (a fixed, short period of time dedicated to completing a set of tasks).
They verify that all tasks are completed and validated on a daily basis, and check in with teams and marketing departments.
They carry out all of these activities according to their schedule, but attending the Daily, writing Stories, and updating their prioritized Product Backlog are all daily tasks.
DC: What are the key skills and qualities needed to be a good Product Owner?
- A solid understanding of the business and its clients
- Technical expertise in product definition
- The ability to make sound decisions quickly and detail features at the right time
- And above all, an open mindset, a willingness to embrace change, and strong negotiation skills
DC: Your best advice for young people interested in becoming a Product Owner?
It is a role that requires rigor, strong technical product expertise, and a sharp sense of communication and collaboration.
As such, it demands a great deal of commitment and responsibility, as it is essential to the success of product development.
It is a conductor's role that requires a solid digital background to interact with various professions, as well as a good understanding of agile project management and marketing.
In summary, sharing a product vision is a challenging and complex task that demands open-mindedness, adaptability, and a genuine curiosity and desire to make new discoveries. All of this takes time and training — and it is important to recognize that expertise is built over time.
Being in an agile environment means, above all, operating within a culture of continuous learning.
Product Owner Glossary
Agile Methodology: A project management approach originating in software and technology projects. This method is based on relatively short development cycles focused on one feature at a time — known as sprints — in order to develop a product faster and at lower cost.
Scrum Master: The team leader of the "scrum" (a term borrowed from rugby). They coach their team and support them through each sprint cycle.
Workflow: The full set of tasks to be completed in order to finalize the features and the product.
SAFe Framework (short for Scaled Agile Framework): The methodology that enables multiple agile teams to work together within a large enterprise context.
Backlog: The list of all the features and/or elements that make up the finished product. This list is then ranked in order of priority. The Product Owner is responsible for managing the backlog.
Sprint: The unit of working time during which the team works on one or more features. A sprint has a fixed duration — from one to several days — during which the task or feature must be delivered. Once a feature's sprint is complete, the team moves on to the next sprint to produce another feature.
Stories or User Stories: A comprehensive description of the finished product and all its features. A Story must be written in plain language to align as closely as possible with the needs and usage of the end user. It is written and updated by the Product Owner as the product is developed.
Design Thinking: An innovation management method rooted in creativity, originating in the United States.