In a scrum project, the product owner decides which requirements are to be implemented and when the software is to be delivered. The team carries out the work and decides how many requirements can be implemented in a sprint. During a sprint, the team organises its work independently. The Scrum Master helps the team to apply Scrum correctly and supports them in continuously improving their productivity. Typically, a Product Owner works together with a team and the team has its own Scrum Master.

The Product Owner in Scrum represents the end customer's needs during the project, manages the software development and works closely with the team. The role plays a central role in Scrum: The Product Owner has a significant influence on the success of a Scrum project. The role goes far beyond that of a traditional product or project manager. It combines product and project management tasks and has many advantages:

• Responsibility for defining requirements and realising the project is now in one hand
• Handovers and loss of information are avoided
• Requirements can be refined continuously and promptly

Merging the previously distributed roles is now a challenge for many companies and the following questions should be clarified:

• Which employees should take on the new role?
• Where in the organisation should the role be located?
• What opportunities for change are there for project managers or the Project Management Office?

The tasks of a Product Owner

The product owner is responsible for understanding customer needs and communicating them correctly. He acts as a link and must be able to create a product vision and clearly define the added value of the new software version and the business benefits. The product owner is responsible for creating the requirements, prioritising and maintaining the product backlog. New requirements are continuously added to the product backlog and existing requirements are refined. To ensure that customer needs are properly understood, the product owner must maintain constant contact with customers and users. They also manage the various stakeholders such as marketing, sales and service and record their needs.

What does a successful Product Owner do?

The following factors should be considered for the successful use of the role. In our experience, there is a connection between an authorised, present and qualified Product Owner and a successful Scrum project. If the product owner is not properly authorised, only partially present or not properly qualified, the progress of the project suffers greatly.

This is necessary to ensure that decisions are made quickly and consistently. It is best if the product owner is involved in product planning at an early stage and tasked with creating a product concept. This allows the product owner to influence the software version right from the start. Product owners who lead important projects should report to senior management in order to gain sufficient authority and visibility.

Conclusion

The role of the product owner in an agile project combines the tasks of the product manager and traditional project manager and is therefore not always easy to fill. In most cases, the consistent use of the role requires a fundamental change in the interaction between product management, the client and development. This is why this role is an essential cornerstone of Scrum. The Product Owner represents the end customer's needs, is responsible for the success of the project and works closely with the team throughout the entire duration of the project. In order for the product owners to work effectively, it is important to ensure that they are authorised, available and qualified.

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