This slide deck offers tips to successfully apply the product owner role. It distinguishes different product owner flavours, explains hope the Scrum product owner role differs from the SAFe one, and how product ownership can be scaled.

1. Roman Pichler
romanpichler.com
TIPS FOR
EFFECTIVELY APPLYING
THE PRODUCT OWNER ROLE

2. Product Owner:
Responsible for maximizing the
value of the product.*
*Scrum Guide 2017

3. 3 © 2019 Pichler Consulting Limited
What’s in a Name?
3
Product
Creates value for the users and
the business.
Product Owner
Owns a product in its entirety and
is responsible for maximising the
value it creates.

4. 4 © 2019 Pichler Consulting Limited
Scrum
Product Owner
Component
Owner
Feature
Owner
Portfolio
Owner
Platform
Owner
SAFe
Product
Owner
Six Types of “Product” Owners

5. 5 © 2019 Pichler Consulting Limited
Vision
Strategy
Tactics
Scrum
Product Owner
SAFe
Product Manager
SAFe
Product Owner
Full Stack vs. Partial Ownership
Full stack ownership
Partial ownership

6. 6 © 2019 Pichler Consulting Limited
Scrum
Product Owner
The diagram above is based on Martin Erickson’s definition of product management.
Users and
Customers
Dev
Team(s)
Business
Stakeholders
Right Interactions

7. 7 © 2019 Pichler Consulting Limited
Scrum Master
Scrum
Product Owner
Trust and
Respect
Product Leadership
Process & People
Leadership
Design & Tech.
Leadership
• Process and method coaching
• Collaboration catalyst
• Organisational change
• UX design
• Development incl.
architecture and Q&A
• Self-organisation
• Vision, product strategy and roadmap
• Product backlog prioritisation
• Stakeholder community building
• User research
• Sprint goal selection
• Product backlog refinement
Shared Product
Responsibilities
Development Team
Right Leadership Focus

8. 8 © 2019 Pichler Consulting Limited
Competent Scrum
Product Owner
Leadership
Skills
Tactical
Skills
Strategic
Skills
Right Skills

9. One person, not a committee.*
*Scrum Guide 2017

10. 10 © 2019 Pichler Consulting Limited
Value
Time
Launch
Product-
Market Fit
End of Life
Single
Product Owner
Shared Ownership

11. 11 © 2019 Pichler Consulting Limited
Scaling Option 1
Scrum
Product Owner
Overall product decisions
Including product strategy, product
roadmap, product backlog
prioritisation, stakeholder collaboration
Feature and component
decisions
Including describing, validating, and
prioritising features and components;
working with the dev teams
Feature
Owner
Component
Owner
Feature
Owner

12. 12 © 2019 Pichler Consulting Limited
Scaling Option 2
Product A
Product A
Product B
Product
Owner A
Unbundle or
Create Variants
Product
Owner B

13. 13 © 2019 Pichler Consulting Limited
Scaling Option 3
Strategic product decisions
Product strategy, product roadmap,
stakeholder management, financial
forecast, KPIs
Tactical product decisions
Product backlog management, epics
and user stories, collaboration with the
development teamTactical
Product Role
Strategic
Product Role

14. Summary

15. 15 © 2019 Pichler Consulting Limited
Be clear on what you own: product vs. product
part, full stack vs. tactics.
The product owner is a product management role
and requires product management skills.
What matters are not job roles and titles. It’s the
good we do for the users and our businesses.

16. You can find more information at:
romanpichler.com
Please send questions & feedback to:
info@romanpichler.com
Thank you for your attention!
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