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Product owner role - 2 activities part of the product owner role

Last post 03:15 pm April 14, 2020 by Patrick Vignal
3 replies
02:43 pm April 10, 2020

Hello, 

I have a debate about the product owner's role. An open assessment question says :

"ensuring that most valuable functionalities are produced first, at all time."

Although, I understand it is the product owner's role to set the priorities in the product backlog, it seems to me that it is down to the development team to pull the item, and to choose it for being part of a sprint.

I would have chosen "providing the development team with detailed specifications" to be more a product owner's responsibility, since it is clearly the product owner's role to make the items clear to the development team so they can choose it for being part of a sprint.

Considering the other responsibility of the product owner is interacting with stakeholders, what do you think ?

 

Best regard, Patrick


07:48 pm April 10, 2020

If the Product Owner is ensuring that the most valuable functionalities are produced first what would be a good technique for that?  Could it be that providing detailed specifications on the items that are the most valuable be a good practice?   

I think yYou are confusing a technique with a responsibility.  


09:56 pm April 10, 2020

it seems to me that it is down to the development team to pull the item, and to choose it for being part of a sprint.

How would a Sprint Goal then be framed and achieved?

I would have chosen "providing the development team with detailed specifications" to be more a product owner's responsibility

Shouldn't a Product Owner trust in the Development Team's creativity, and in their ability to handle emergence when developing a complex product?


03:15 pm April 14, 2020

Thank you guys for your support and clarifications,

This required a good deal of thinking, reading your comments over again and again and confronting them to the scrum guide as well as the open assessment questions.

If I understand your comments, a responsibility is :

          " ensuring the most valuable functionality is developed first, at all times "

the technique is :

          " providing the development team with detailed spécifications "

In what case, sure I was getting confused between responsibility and technique.


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