Next up in my blog series on problematic Product Owner Anti-patterns, I cover the topic of Product Owners who don’t have sufficient knowledge. To be successful, a PO must be an expert in their company’s industry, market, and business.
Product Owner does not do Industry or Market Research
Problem
Product Owners should understand their industry and market in-depth, but sadly, many do not. There are many possible reasons for this, including:
- Lack of interest.
- Not enough time available.
- Inability to delegate.
When Product Owners don’t understand their organization’s position in the larger landscape, it’s next to impossible to understand (let alone deliver) what value means to customers.
Solution
There are some actions Product Owners can take to become more knowledgeable about their industry and market. They could:
- Subscribe to industry magazines or other publications.
- Follow leaders in the industry on social media.
- Perform research about their market to understand their market position.
- Start or join a local meetup.
- Listen to podcasts or videos from industry leaders.
- Get excited about growing the product to be more competitive.
- Delegate any of the above to someone else on the Scrum Team.
Product Owner is not a Subject Matter Expert
Problem
Product Owners who are plucked at random from within a business, from IT, or hired from without are not necessarily subject matter experts. This makes it challenging for Product Owners to:
- Engage with stakeholders.
- Be effective in defining and leading the product vision.
- Prioritize work in the Product Backlog.
- Make decisions about what product features to focus on.
- Be an information resource for the Scrum Team.
Solution
If you want to be a successful Product Owner, you must become a subject matter expert. You must understand the strategy of your organization, which should drive everything you do. Learn everything you can, as quickly as you can. To become an expert, you could:
- Check out (and read) books from the library.
- Shadow someone else in the organization who is already an expert.
- Find a mentor who is willing to help you learn.
- Join a professional organization on the topics you want to become an expert on.
- Reach out to thought leaders in your professional network.
- Get formal instructor-led training.
- Sign up for an online course from Udemy or LinkedIn Learning.
- Go back to school to gain additional certificates or knowledge.
Product Owner does not perform any Competitive Analysis
Problem
As a Product Owner, if you don’t know who your competitors, that is a huge problem. Your competitors are researching you, so you better be investigating them, too. By not identifying and analyzing your competitors on a regular basis, it could cause you to:
- Lose market share.
- Become digitally disrupted by a nimble start-up.
- Get blindsided when your competitors release better products.
- Lag behind on providing in-demand product features.
- Become irrelevant and ultimately go out of business.
Solution
By performing competitive analysis, you will be able to:
- Understand your organization’s position in the market.
- Define a baseline of where you stack up against the competition.
- Figure out what product attributes you must have to maintain the status quo.
- Discover opportunities to improve or innovate to earn a competitive advantage.
- Build a better product to attract a larger market share.
Product Owner doesn’t know about or use the Product
Problem
Have you ever met a Product Owner who:
- Doesn’t know what their product is about?
- Isn’t a user of the product s/he’s developing?
- Can’t articulate the product’s value proposition to others?
- Has no clear idea or vision for the product?
Yeah… I have. You might be shocked by how often these things happen; it’s rather unfortunate.
Solution
The solution to this problem is the pick the right Product Owner in the first place. If someone is clueless about the product and can’t clearly state what the product or service is, and the value it delivers, that person has no business being a Product Owner. Choose a PO who is the opposite of the list above plus someone who:
- Knows the purpose of the product.
- Has passion for the product.
- Is personally and professionally invested in the product and its success.
- Understands the user’s journey and goals when using the product.
Final Thoughts
Being a Product Owner is a difficult job, and it’s that much more challenging if you’re not an expert in your industry, market, competition, business, and the product itself. So, before becoming a Product Owner, make sure you’ve done your homework and educate yourself on what you need to know to be successful. Thoroughly understand the competition and define a clear vision for where you want the product to go.
For more Product Owner Anti-Patterns that doom a product to fail, see the blog that spawned this series and/or download a handy PDF list.