The Product Owner (PO) is the pivotal role in enabling the seamless flow of development from value to product. This is the person who connects two key functions and associated groups of people: the ones who identify what value is needed (the Business) and the ones who determine how and implement it (development team).
Featured resources
Getting started
Begin by reviewing the resources in the Context of the Product Owner Role box to understand how the role fits in the context of Lean-Agile. Then work through the Reading Path (guided readings) and library pages that pertain to the role.
The Product Owner Reading Path. A general introduction to the Product Owner role including responsibilities, essential practices, alternatives for your context, and helpful resources.
The Decomposing Requirements Reading Path describes the Lean-Agile process of understanding requirements “just in time,” adding “just enough” detail to keep the work progressing but never more than what we need at the time. Product Owners are involved in decomposing requirements in time for the team to pull team. Pay attention to the Activities section, especially Decomposing a Capability into MBIs and Decomposing an MBI into Features.
Going Deeper
Here are additional resources to explore related to the Product Owner role.
Disciplines and Practices. People engaged in the team level must master the disciplines and practices of Lean-Agile. Product Owners should review resources about requirements. If you are using SAFe, see the SAFe library page.
Resource Libraries for the Product Owner. This page lists the complete set of resources in the Lean-Agile Portal related to the Product Owner role. The Value Stream Levels library collects resources by level. Especially, see the Program Level.
The Lean-Agile Straight Talk podcast features interviews of experts in Lean-Agile. Subscribe to the podcast to receive updates. Here are sessions that apply to the Product Owner role:
Net Objectives routinely hosts webinar series to explore important topics in Lean-Agile. Here are sessions that apply to the Product Owner role:
Investigate Product Owner-oriented training by Net Objectives, starting with the training roadmap. Then consider the relevant courses in Lean-Agile at Scale.
The Product Owner Role in a Transformation
The transformation to Lean-Agile involves everyone. The Product Owner is critical in working with leadership and teams as make decisions about how to realize Lean-Agile in their own context. Lean-Agile Thinking guides these decisions so that everyone in the value stream is aligned.
