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Are you a Product Manager or a Product Owner


What?
As you may know, the product owner descends from Scrum, where the role is in charge of "maximising the value the item creates. " This sounds like a text-book product management responsibility to me. Nevertheless, the product owner is often regarded as a a plan role focused on handling the product backlog, cleaning requirements, and interacting with the development team. Just how come?

The confusion stems--at least partly--from the truth that Scrum is a simple framework dedicated to aiding teams develop software. That does not cover common product management practices, such as, product strategy development, product roadmapping, and financial forecasting; and the only product management tool it offers is the item backlog.

Additionally, some approaches like SAFe employ a distinct product manager and merchant role. Using a tactical product role--the product manager--and a tactical one--the product owner--is a common small business technique. Functions particularly well when a system is stable or maturing,? nternet site describe in my post "Scaling the Product Owner Part. inch

But calling the tactical role "product owner" is an unfortunate oversight in my mind: The SAFe product owner is totally different from the Scrum product owner! Having two different product owner roles makes the confusion worse.

So what on earth?
So why did Scrum introduce a product owner role in any way? Why did not the framework use the term product manager? The moment Scrum was developed in the 1990ies, product management was different from what it is today. Item managers used to do the upfront market research, product planning, and requirements definition work. They would then hand off a requirements specification to a project manager who would assist development and test to supply the product. The product manager would returning only to issue change requests or help with the launch.

This is in stark contrast to the collaboration in an agile process where product people are required to collaborate with the development teams by using an ongoing basis--without neglecting industry and the internal stakeholders.

Secondly, Scrum has been applied outdoors the realm of program and commercial software products. Many organisations which may have followed Scrum like banks, stores, and media companies typically don't have a product management group and hence no product mangers. Nevertheless they do have scanners that either help market and sell their revenue-generating offerings, such as, an online banking app, or they develop software that is employed to automate business processes, increase productivity, and reduce cost.

By providing the product owner role, these organisations can start working in an souple way without the immediate need to establish a product management group and initiate an organisational change process. Instead, employees from the appropriate sections can--with some training and coaching--act as product owners. (In the long run, however, establishing a product management function is useful, as I discuss in my post "Five Tips for Introducing Product Management to Your Company. ")

Right now What?
So where may this creates? My desire is that we will move past the divisive product manager-product owner issue and just speak about product people.

On the short term, we have to acknowledge that the product owner is a product management role. People performing the role should therefore acquire the relevant product management skills. As Marty Cagan and others, including myself, have pointed away, a two-day training course is insufficient to become a competent product owner. Product management is a complex, multi-faceted discipline that takes time and energy to master.

Additionally, My spouse and I recommend using either the term product manager or product owner in your business and qualifying it when it is necessary, for instance, by employing the conditions senior and youngster product manager / owner and strategic and a plan product manager / owner. This reduces confusion being able to help unite people.

What concerns are generally not job roles and titles. It's the good we do for the users and our businesses.

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