With organizations shifting towards adopting Agile methodologies, new job roles have emerged, out of which one is that of a product owner.
A product owner plays an essential role in conveying customers’ needs to the development team responsively and dynamically.
According to Scrum Guide, the role of a Product Owner is to increase the product value resulting from the Development Team’s work.
They are the sole person responsible for managing Product Backlog. On any Scrum team, one of the most vital members is a product owner.
They’re in charge of bringing to life whichever products customers want.
They perform various activities such as attending Scrum meetings and collaborating with the Scrum team, launching the product, managing the budget, working with customers, users and stakeholders, release planning, refining product backlog, and most importantly, creating product vision.
Product owners require skills such as the ability to influence the team and other stakeholders to get input from other business stakeholders, creative thinking, conflict management, and facilitation.
The most important qualities of a product owner include being a doer, visionary, leader, team player, communicator, negotiator, empowered, committed, available and qualified.
They work closely with the organization’s leadership, product/service stakeholders as well as customers.
A product owner is like a bridge connecting customers to development teams and coordinates efforts that align with customer value.
A product owner needs to be qualified by obtaining a Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)® certification from Scrum Alliance.
With this product owner course online, an individual gets acquainted with the basics and real-world issues that a product owner would typically face.
Product owner courses help individuals learn how to maximize the value of a product by providing faster delivery of product features, leading Scrum teams, and coordinating with stakeholders.
The CSPO® certification training also leverages effective communication between stakeholders and the development team about the final product to maximize product ROI.
Trained product owners know the correct way to transform themes into actionable user stories.
With training, product owners would learn to prioritize product backlog items, keeping in mind the business goal and the overall strategy.
Product owners interact with customers to update the team about their priorities at every stage of product development. The CSPO® certification helps with this.
There are various benefits of the CSPO® certification –
- Demonstration and application of core Scrum knowledge
- Collaboration with Scrum practitioners committed to continuous improvement
- Increase in the scope of job opportunities in different sectors that have adopted Agile methodologies
- Understanding the Scrum foundation and learning about the roles and responsibilities
- Understanding the team
- Appropriately using velocity ranges
- Quickly cooperating with Agile practitioners
- Project charter development
- Prioritizing backlog items
- Expanding your career horizons
- Increasing your earning potential
Apart from the certification, an individual would also receive a two-year membership with Scrum Alliance.
If you want to pursue higher levels of certification in Scrum, such as Certified Scrum Professional (CSP), then CSPO® certified members get 16 Scrum Education Units to contribute to the total 70 SEUs required to become a CSP.
Based on data from Payscale and Glassdoor, the average annual salary of a Certified Scrum Product Owner is around $100,000 in the United States. In India, it is around 18 lakh rupees per annum.
The top companies worldwide hire CSPO® certified product owners, making it one of the most in-demand certifications.
To become a Certified Scrum Product Owner, one must familiarize themselves with Scrum by reading the Scrum Guide and Agile Manifesto.
You can also watch the Scrum Foundations eLearning Series, a product owner course online.
After completing these prerequisites, you would have to attend an in-person CSPO® course taught by a Certified Scrum Trainer (CST).
It is a two-day, in-person course consisting of two 8-hour classes.
You will learn the fundamentals of Scrum and the responsibilities of a product owner through discussions, exercises, and case studies. The main topics in a CSPO® course include:
- How to manage stakeholders
- An overview of sizing in Scrum
- How to identify user needs
- How to create, maintain and order a Product Backlog
- Techniques for developing Product Vision
Hence, for every aspiring product owner who wants to work on the business side of projects, a Certified Scrum Product Owner certification is a must-have.
With this certification, it is ensured that an individual has a solid foundation to jumpstart their career as a product owner.
