Who is a Product Owner?
Product Owner is one of the Agile/Scrum roles who plays an important role in product development process. Primarily, the product owner creates user stories as well as prepare, maintain and prioritize product backlog. Product owner interacts with a variety of departments and teams. This includes;
- Senior management team.
- Product team members.
- Product users.
- And other stakeholders.
Product owner is the focal person for the development team for any product related requirement on behalf of the customer. It’s the product owner’s responsibility to clarify queries from developers (the development team) related to user requirements.
Key Job Responsibilities of an Agile Product Owner?
Defines the Vision:
He is the point of contact person for the development team and uses his/her high-level perspective for defining goals and creating a vision for the product.
Managing the Product Backlog:
Another responsibility of a product owner is to create a list of backlog items (PBIs) and then prioritize them as well based on the overall business objectives and chosen strategy.
Prioritizing the Work Needs:
Product owner has to prioritize the needs in terms of scope, time, budget, and weighing priorities according to the objectives and requirements of the stakeholders.
Anticipate the Needs of the Client:
Another responsibility of a product owner is to understand and anticipate the client’s needs and manage the development process efficiently.
Evaluating the Progress of the Product:
The product owner above all responsibilities is also accountable for every single step of the development process and the final product. He/She plays a primary part in inspecting and evaluating the progress of the product through each iteration.
Required Qualification/Education:
If you wish to become a product owner then the minimum time it would take for you to become one is six years.
- For that you first need to earn a bachelor’s degree in a computer science or any other relevant field. It will take about four years to complete this degree.
- Then you need to gain at least two years of work experience in project management and/or Agile or scrum experience.
- Having a master’s degree will add value to your profile.
Required Skills:
- An in-depth knowledge of both scrum and agile software development methodology is required.
- Working knowledge of product development architecture can make you qualify for this job title.
- Similarly, you must be proficient in the use of analytic tools.
- Moreover, you need to have excellent knowledge of user-centered design principles.
- Next, you must possess excellent oral and written communication skills.
- Lastly, what makes you qualified for this job title is having an understanding of design quality standards.
Product Owner Fundamentals
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- Jeremy Aschenbrenner & Vivek Khattri via Udemy
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Digital Product Management Specialization
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- University of Virginia via Coursera
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In-demand Certifications:
Did you know?
- If you earn a certification then it puts a great impact on your CV and increases your chances of a bonus or high salary.
- It has been found out that all those individuals who have the Certified Scrum Product Owner certification tends to earn 9 to 10% more than those who don’t have a relevant product owner certification.
- Moreover certified product owner can earn more than 100K annually.
These facts and stats show how important it is to earn a certification and that is why we have lined up some of the best certifications for a product owner to consider. The below certifications are specifically aimed for product owners and can affect their salary to a great extent and few of them are worth looking.
- Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)
- Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO I)
- Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO II)
- Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO III)
- Project Management Professional (PMP)
- Certified Product Manager (CPM)
- Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP)
Product Owner PSPO 1 Scrum Product Owner Certification 2023
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- Michael James via Udemy
- 16,230+ already enrolled!
- ★★★★★ (919 Ratings)
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Product Owner Certification Mock Exams 2023 – 800 questions
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- Ludovic Larry via Udemy
- 7,528+ already enrolled!
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Product Owner Vs Project Manager:
| Product Owner | Project Manager |
| Product owner is an individual who has to maximize the value of the product. How he does that is by continuously making choices relevant to what should and what shouldn’t be built in the product. With that, product owner is also responsible for product vision and manage the product backlog and stakeholders. | On the other hand, project manager is an individual who manages a project on daily basis. He is the only one who has this day-to-day focus on the project and that is why his role can never be shared. A project manager has to run a project on behalf of the Project Board. |
| He is accountable for the entire success and failure of the product. | He has to create and manage a business case. |
| He has to provide a unified direction for the product. | He is responsible for managing all the changes and change requests relevant to scope, time, and budget. |
| He has to provide visibility and sustained support for the product. | He has to manage to project organization from start to end. |
Product Owner Vs Scrum Master:
| Product Owner | Project Manager |
| Product owner has to manage the product backlog and make sure that the company is gaining maximum value from the product. The role of the product owner is key in agile. This role has been found out to be an emerging job in the US in the year 2020 and onward. | A scrum master on the other hand has to lead the entire agile development team and support the product owner. He does this by relaying all the relevant updates to the employees. He is also accountable for establishing Scrum as defined exactly in the Scrum Guide. He has to help everyone understand and implement the scrum practices. |
| A product owner has to create and maintain the product backlog. | A scrum maser has to plan and execute the Agile Methodology with the entire Scrum development team. |
| He has to work side by side with the product manager and create a product vision and roadmap. | He has to monitor the sprint’s progress and then remove any obstacles that prevent the product development. |
| Similarly, he has to collaborate with the scrum master and make sure that the product’s development is aligning with its original vision. | Moreover, he has to work with the product owner and make sure that the product backlog is fully updated. |
| Moreover, a product owner has to make sure that the product backlog is not only updated but available to the entire development team as well. | He has to teach scrum practices and principles to the team. |
| He also evaluates the progress throughout the development process. | In addition, he also has to host daily stand-up meetings. |
| Lastly, he has to work keenly across multiple departments and then prioritize tasks by taking into consideration the stakeholder needs and then pass it to the scrum master. |
Top Companies/Organizations Hiring Product Owner
Product owner being a very in-demand job these days, it is quite obvious there will be a lot of companies out there looking to hire one.
Did you know top companies like Nike, Bank of America, IBM, Walmart, AT&T and many others like these are hiring product owners in different relevant departments.
From healthcare to banking and finance, entertainment to Internet of things product owners have now become the need of almost every sector. Thus overall this job role is worth all you efforts.
Agile Product Owner Salary Statistics
USA:
Working in America as a product owner can help you make an average annual salary of $156,474.
UK:
In England, a product owner can earn an average annual salary of £57,716.
India:
The average salary of a product owner working in India is ₹2 Million a year.
Australia:
Product owners working in Australia can make around A$123,750 annually.
Concluding Remarks:
The above information we believe is enough for any reader to understand who a product owner is, what he does, how much he can earn, and many other things. Therefore, we can conclude our conversation by saying that product owner is indeed a rewarding profession and interested individuals must make a plan to adopt this profession.
References/Sources:
- https://builtin.com/salaries/product/product-owner
- https://uk.indeed.com/career/product-owner/salaries
- https://www.ambitionbox.com/profile/product-owner-salary
- https://au.talent.com
- Please note that mentioned salary stats are as of September, 2023.
