• Product Owner

The 6 types of Product Owner you do want to be able to be

Sure, it’s pretty easy to decide together what kind of Product Owner you’d rather not be. But as an incisive Product Owner, you especially want to know what you do need to work on. See, that mindset is valuable! With these six attitudes, or call it traits, you will ensure that you become a true value maximizer.

As Product Owner, you have a crucial role within Scrum. As the owner of the product, it is your job to get the maximum value out of the Scrum Team. But therein also lie pitfalls, 5 to be exact. On the other hand, there are also a lot of opportunities, which I would like to make clear for you in the form of these 6 attitudes of an impactful Product Owner.

Where is your strength as a Product Owner?

1. Customer Representative
As Product Owner, you are the voice of the customer. You know exactly where pain points lie, what the needs are and what customers are really waiting for. That means you don’t just rely on assumptions, but actively engage with customers, analyze data and gather feedback. The better you understand the customer, the more valuable the solutions you create with the team.

• Your challenge: Do you really talk to customers or do you base decisions primarily on what stakeholders think customers want?

2. The visionary
A backlog without a clear product vision feels like a rudderless ship. You are the one who paints the bigger picture. Why are we building this product? Where do we want to be a year from now? How does each backlog item contribute to the long-term goals? A strong vision provides direction and helps the team stay focused on what really matters.

• Your challenge: Can you explain in one sentence what the vision of your product is?

3. The experimenter
Successful Product Owners dare to experiment. You don’t work from a set plan, but continuously test assumptions with prototypes, A/B tests and customer interviews. What works, you polish and scale up. What doesn’t work, you throw out. This is the core of empirical work: build, measure, learn.

• Your challenge: When was the last time you did an experiment to validate a product decision?

4. The influential PO
You don’t have formal power, but you do have great influence on the organization. You have to convince stakeholders, inspire team members and get people on board with your product strategy. That means you not only have to be a good listener, but also tell your story clearly and convincingly.

• Your challenge: How do you make sure stakeholders understand and support your choices?

5. The Collaborator
Of course, a Product Owner does not work alone. You build bridges between stakeholders, customers and the team. That means you actively contribute to a culture of open communication, where ideas and feedback are welcome. The better you work together, the greater the chances of a successful product.

• Your challenge: Do you really collaborate with your team, or do you throw work over the fence?

6. The Decisive PO
Doubting takes time and can completely block your team. An effective Product Owner dares to take decisions and make clear choices. Of course you base those decisions on data and feedback, but ultimately you are the one who decides what the team focuses on.

• Your challenge: Do you dare say “no” to a feature that delivers little value, even if a key stakeholder asks for it?

What type of Product Owner can you improve yourself in?

Depending on the situation, as a Product Owner you naturally switch between these stances. Sometimes you have to be the visionary, other times the collaborator or the experimenter. Do you want to make real impact as a Product Owner? Then take a critical look at your own approach: which of these stances do you already master, and where can you still grow? We can spar about this together, schedule a non-binding appointment with me here.