The 10 commandments of Product Owner

1 – You shall have TECHNICAL knowledge

You have technical knowledge or a strong thirst for technique, which allows you to better communicate with the developers and better understand their constraints.

2 – You shall incarnate MASTERY over Product Backlog

You know the backlog of the product by heart. Your main tasks: create and update them. Each and every modification or addition you make, is well thought out, in order to maintain the goal of delivering a final product that meets users’ expectations as much as possible.

3 – You shall know how to say NO

A good Product Owner can say no, and justify his choice, to the addition of irrelevant feedbacks as for the product in progress.

4 – You shall pass on the VISION of the product

Spokesman of the customer, you pass on the vision of the product to the team of developers. Unifier, you re-align your team whenever necessary, with the goal you need to achieve.

5 – You shall include your client AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE in his project and you shall not forget that.

You do not have to be the only one who knows the product by heart. The customer must know his product, have it tested, and be aware of the budget, consumption of one man/ day, technical constraints, obstacles, difficulties, revolving around the technical realization of his project.

6 – You shall write PROMISING user stories

They are clear and complete. For each specific example, you illustrate a specific example. But most of all, you make sure that the developer who will develop this, is on the same wavelength as you.

7 – You shall never stop aiming for QUALITY

Only you have the power within the agile development team to validate a User Story and state it as “finished”. You are the guarantor of the quality of the product and the one who maintains constant improvement, as if it were a state of mind within the project team.

8 – You shall be an EXCELLENT communicator

To communicate with the customer, stakeholders and developers: you adapt to the various personalities, you are the leader, you understand the constraints and expectations of others.

9 – You shall like to solve and handle CONFLICTS

You are able to defuse conflicts between members on the IT project. You know how to trigger a conflict, if need be, to solve an issue.

10 – You shall always try to optimize the KING

You make sure you optimize the KING of the product and regulate the additional costs.

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