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The Voice of the Customer: Understanding the Role of a Product Owner

Understanding the Role of a Product Owner

In today’s fast-paced business world, the role of a Product Owner has gained significant importance, especially in software development companies. The Product Owner is the key person responsible for determining what products the company should build and why.

However, for a recruiter who is looking for the proper PO for the first time, it can be a challenging task. With the large number of candidates who want to try themselves in this role, especially if the person has worked as a Project Manager or Product Manager before, a recruiter can easily make a mistake in the search.

In this article, we aim to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of who a Product Owner is and how it differs from other seemingly similar roles in business. As you know, the devil is in the details.

So, who is a Product Owner?

The role of a Product Owner originated within the Agile software development methodology, which emphasizes iterative and incremental development of software products. The Agile approach emerged in the early 2000s as a response to traditional “waterfall” development methodologies that were deemed too slow and inflexible.

The Product Owner is a role that is responsible for ensuring that the product meets the needs of its stakeholders. They work closely with the development team to ensure that the product backlog is appropriately prioritized and that the team is building the right product features.

The Product Owner is the Voice of the Customer, he is responsible for ensuring that the product meets the customer’s needs and is ultimately responsible for the product’s success or failure. PO collaborates with stakeholders to gather feedback and insights to drive product development, ensuring that the team works on the most critical features to maximize business value.

What is a Project Manager?

The Project Manager, on the other hand, is responsible for managing the project’s overall delivery. They work with the development team to ensure that the project is completed on time, within budget, and to the desired quality.

The Project Managers are responsible for managing the project’s schedule, budget, and scope, and ensuring that any risks and issues are identified and addressed. They work closely with the team to ensure that all project activities are properly coordinated and that everyone is working towards the same goals.

Product Owner vs Project Manager: the key differences between these two roles.

Focus

The primary focus of the Product Owner is on the product, while the Project Manager focuses on the project. The Product Owner’s responsibility is to ensure that the product meets the customer’s needs. At the same time, the Project Manager is responsible for ensuring that the project is completed on time and within budget.

Scope

The scope of the Product Owner’s responsibility is to ensure that the product backlog is appropriately prioritized and that the team is building the right features. The Project Manager’s scope is more comprehensive and includes managing the project’s schedule, budget, and scope, and ensuring that the project is delivered on time and within budget.

Stakeholder Engagement

The Product Owner is responsible for engaging with stakeholders to gather feedback and insights to drive product development. In contrast, the Project Manager focuses on managing stakeholder expectations and communicating project progress.

Decision Making

The Product Owner makes decisions regarding the product, such as prioritizing the product backlog and deciding when to release new features. The Project Manager makes decisions regarding the project, such as managing the project’s budget and schedule and identifying and addressing risks and issues.

Product Owner vs Product Manager

The Product Manager is responsible for the overall success of the product. They work closely with the Product Owner to define the product vision and roadmap and ensure that the product is meeting the needs of the customer. However, the Product Manager has a broader role and is responsible for the entire product lifecycle, from ideation to launch and beyond.

The Product Manager is responsible for defining the product strategy, developing the business case, and ensuring that the product is profitable. They work closely with the development team, sales /marketing team, and other stakeholders to ensure that the product is meeting the needs of the customer and the business.

In summary, all these roles are critical in delivering successful projects and products, and organizations need to ensure that they have those roles filled appropriately to achieve the desired project outcomes.

GLOBRECS’s team wishes your business a successful development and reminds you that mistakes in recruitment might lead to significant financial losses and the higher the role is in the company structure the greater the scale of your losses from any such mistakes may be. In order to avoid them, we suggest you think about cooperation with the GLOBRECS | Global Recruitment Solutions team, which specializes in finding programmers, IT specialists, as well as top and middle managers all over Europe.