
The History of Agile for the Product Owner – Part 2
Agile and the role of a Product Owner
Agile projects use feature and user stories to represent the end product. The product owner must also be analytical but, more importantly, takes complete ownership in producing the product. The iterative nature of Agile reduces the cycle time for the creation of features and user stories that in turn deliver the highest priority features.
Instead of creating linear requirements, a product owner will develop features and user stories. The features are defined by the product owner and included in a product backlog taking risk and prioritization into consideration. User stories are smaller components written in the voice of the customer. User stories are written to be completed within one sprint cycle which is generally no more than four weeks in duration. Multiple user stories can be used to deliver a feature. Product features are not assumed to be completely defined at the start of a project. They are evaluated as part of sprint planning. New features can be added. Features no longer required can be removed. Features can also be modified as the project evolves. Agile highlights the product owner’s role as a champion of continuous improvement through inspection and adaption.
Waterfall and Business Analysis
Waterfall projects assume a linear approach to design and development. There is one phase to create functional and technical design specifications that are believed to lay out the complete product solution. The business analyst will generally provide input into the design phase. This is not always the case. In some organizations, business analysts are not engaged as product experts during the design phase since the assumption is that the requirements should be complete and require minimal clarification.
Agile and Product Owners
Agile is an iterative process. The backlog is created with direct responsibility given to the product owner. Design and development take place during the execution of sprints. The product owner is directly involved in the design work with the refinement of user stories during sprint planning. While it is still the developer who completes the final technical design, the product owner is collaboratively involved as part of the delivery team to ensure that the design is aligned with the product vision.
Development is also completed during the sprint cycle. The product owner, similar to the business analyst, does not have a hands-on role in the actual creation of the user story. However, the product owner is part of the scrum team and is readily available for review of any user stories for clarification. As features are delivered, the product owner will play a key role in incremental and full functionality testing.
Waterfall Testing and Deployment
The business analyst traditionally participates in the development of test cases with a group of test team members. They are separate from the development team. The business analyst will support the test team in the clarification of any test cases. The business analyst may also support the test team and any users involved in testing. Since all requirements are assumed to have been delivered earlier in the project and no interaction had with the development team, this is the first chance to see the delivery of working code. This is the area where many waterfall projects encounter the greatest difficulties. Requirements that were incorrectly interpreted may have led to the development of complex pieces of code or processes that will have to be re-worked prior to deployment.
The traditional waterfall business analyst generally plays no role in the deployment of new functionality to the end user community. A business analyst may, however, be asked to participate in developing training materials.
The Product Owner role in Agile testing and deployment
Agile projects are based on providing feature value faster to the customer. This requires that the product owner be an integral part of the design, development, and testing that takes place during sprint execution. As features are ready to review the product owner will jointly test deliverables with the rest of the scrum team. Test cases are developed as part of the creation of the user stories in the form of Acceptance Criteria. This enables the development team to clearly understand the expectations of the story and aides in final validation that features are ready for review by key stakeholders.
The product owner holds considerable responsibility during the deployment of features. As the voice of the customer, the product owner will work with key stakeholders to review features for approval. The product owner will also keep an eye on the performance of features delivered to validate if changes are needed to the backlog for future releases.
The Evolution of the Product Owner
As Agile principles became widely valued in project delivery, the role of the product owner has evolved from being a scribe to fully participating as an owner of the end product. The product owner will champion the iterative approach with the scrum team to ensure that the right features and user stories are delivered. Feature definition will align and change as required to focus on a minimally viable product that meets the vision of the key stakeholders.
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Our Book Recommendations
We found these books great for finding out more information on Agile Scrum:
Master of Agile – Scrum Product Owner With 59 Seconds Agile (Video Training Course)
Introductory Offer: Free Course
What is this course?
This ‘Master of Agile – Scrum Product Owner With 59 Seconds Agile (Video Training Course)’ provides an in-depth understanding of the Scrum Product Owner roles and responsibilities
You will explore the Agile Scrum project life-cycle, including how an Agile User Story is created, to how we know when it is ‘done’
This course is aimed at those with or without prior knowledge and experience of the Agile values and principles
During this course you will learn the tools needed to succeed as a Scrum Product Owner
What will you learn?
You will gain an in-depth understanding of the Scrum Product Owner roles and responsibilities, and you will be able to
- Fully understand the role of the Scrum Product Owner
- Understand the roles involved in an Agile project
- Create an effective Product Backlog
- Effectively participate in Scrum Meetings such as the Daily Stand-up, Sprint Review and Retrospective
- Identify the roles involves in the Scrum Team

What topics are covered within this course?
You will cover the following topics during this course:
- An Introduction to Agile Project Management (Product Owner)
- The 12 Agile Principles (Product Owner)
- The Declaration of Interdependence (Product Owner)
- Introduction to Scrum (Product Owner)
- Scrum Project Roles (Product Owner)
- The Agile Project Life-cycle (Product Owner)
- Acceptance Criteria and the Prioritised Product Backlog (Product Owner)
- Epics and Personas (Product Owner)
- Sprint Planning (Product Owner)
- User Stories (Product Owner)
- The Daily Scrum (Product Owner)
- The Product Backlog (Product Owner)
- Scrum Charts (Product Owner)
- Review and Retrospective (Product Owner)
- Validating a Sprint (Product Owner)
- Releasing the Product (Product Owner)