The Art of being a Product Owner
There are many articles written about product ownership, and many of them relate to knowing the product inside and out- which is great! But there is also an art to managing the competing parties and emotions that go hand in hand with product development. When I’m working in flow with this, I notice an impact in how quickly I build relationships and deliver value.
There are 4 main abilities that I consider to make up this art, the ability to: create tension; communicate easily; hold a product trustee mindset; and time travel.
Like anything method based over tick-box, the ability in which I master this ebbs and flows, but it’s this art that I carry with me to new workplaces, roles and products. Processes and people change, and it’s this I rely on to give others (and myself) confidence in my actions and methods.
Create Tension This might sound odd, given that we’re often experts in de-escalation, but tension plays an important role when you’re operating as part of a high performing team. Engineering and Product should hold a healthy dose of this between them, each holding their end of the rope, so if it’s not present, or present enough, create it! From a product perspective, we want the feature out there, on a stable platform, for the customer to use as soon as possible. Simply put, we want the fancy stuff. As long as we don’t notice any negative impact in experience (or not enough to counter what amazing functionality we have put live), you can do what you think is best behind the scenes as long as it take half the amount of time you think it might.. From an engineering perspective, we want to build it sustainably, preventing the need for future re-work and avoiding tech debt. After all, it won’t make any difference to the customer if a feature they don’t know is coming, is delayed by 2 sprints, but they will notice the landing page taking 3 seconds to load. It is the balance between these often competing viewpoints, which drives the quality of the first release of the feature, and the confidence in your product.
For those wondering where delivery sits in this, for me, they are the facilitators of this process, ensuring that all barriers to the team being self organised, are minimised, and that the team are protected from interruption or unhelpful pressure, (including from their product owner).
Communicate Easily It is a skill to be able to communicate with anyone, and another thing entirely to make that look effortless. You don’t have to make it look seamless all the time, but YOU should be in control of when you show emotion, or don’t. Emotions should have a seat at the table when sharing visions, problems and updates with stakeholders, and I often implement this as a useful tool in the belt. This can be helpful to show stakeholders that you are equally invested in the situation (something that can be easy to forget in the heat of the moment). We’re all on the same side here.
Some people communicate through emotions, and find it difficult to engage in logic alone. Imagine communicating the release of a feature, which your stakeholders have been looking to to drive significant sales, has been delayed by 4–6 weeks. By simply stating the new timescales, we may feel like we are taking all the heat out of the conversation (and sometimes, this is true) but we might be alienating ourselves, at a time when we want to empathise and retain confidence. Practise reading the room. Trust your gut, and respond appropriately. Regardless of who you are communicating to, your customers, stakeholders or delivery team should not be able to see that you are finding them difficult, or tricky, or that you would rather be anywhere else.. make it look easy, even when it’s not.
Hold a Product Trustee Mindset You’re entrusted with doing the right thing for the product, not your stakeholders, or even (sometimes) customers. There will be occasions where you will need to teach your customers how to use your product. In fact, if your aim is to be market leading, this should be something to reach for, not shy away from. AR functionality released in iOS 11, along with ARKit, resulted in many apps taking advantage of AR capabilities- just because customers may not have used something new to them, doesn’t mean they won’t. What better way to engender trust and loyalty than for them to gain confidence through first using it with your product? That’s the dream right there, right? Developing new ways of doing things or using technology isn’t a reason to not do something, but it will mean going against your stakeholders wishes at times. Hold your boundaries.
Time Travel Ha, no seriously. Learn your market, and what the future holds. The ability to think about when a feature will become important, and what problems your end user could face, is paramount in knowing which direction to head in. Not only will it allow you to prioritise in the best way for your product, but it will also enable a market-leading approach.
It’s also important to revisit things that may not have worked in the past, and identify why that’s been the case. If it’s a matter of the end-user not wanting it, when would they? What would be the trigger for it to become desirable, and how will we recognise it? What external factors can we influence, and in which direction should we go in? As people at the forefront, giving a lot of thought to our products, we are best placed to shape the future direction they can go in, as long as we bring our customers and stakeholders on the journey.
These might seem like straightforward concepts, but like any art, these can be tricky to master. The good news is, it becomes more intuitive and fluid the more you do it. It can feel vulnerable to practise with our colleagues and co-workers, but it’s really the only way to gain confidence. The more you hold your boundaries for the benefit of your product, the greater trust you will engender from others, and in yourself.
I’d love to know your thoughts on this- what skills and abilities do you rely on, and when did you notice the value in them?
