Product Owner — Why not RENT instead?
Recent conversation with Ron Jeffries in the Agile Mentoring slack group got me thinking about the product owner role and its necessity. (I really recommend you consider joining Agile Mentoring to participate in some great conversations. Having said that, the views presented here are mine and not necessarily those Ron expressed in the discussion.)
Why Not Rent Instead?
What if Product Owner was a temporary role? We already know the main goal is for the developers and business people to work together. We also know that this is often impossible to achieve at the beginning. But ultimately we want the teams to take ownership, to become self-organized and self-managed.
If you are a Product Owner, what if you focused less on the product and more on how to make the business and the team understand each other? How to make them be able to work directly with each other, without the need for someone in the middle?
And if you are either a developer or a business customer, what if you tried to reach out to the other party more often? What if you listen and try to understand what the other party has to say? What if you explain your point of view and discuss things? What if you all become one team that delivers a great product?
There’s no “Owner” in the Manifesto
One of the principles behind the manifesto clearly says that:
Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
No mention of a Product Owner there. Only business people and developers. This makes a lot of sense to me because if you are to build a software product, the key thing is understanding why, for what and how it will be used. You can only know this if you get to know who is using the system, and the business people should be your primary source in learning about and developing empathy for your users.
Therefore it makes sense to share the responsibilities of Product Ownership so that more — or all — members of the development team develop a relationship with those who buy and use the product. (I also think the “Owner” is not a good title as it suggests sole ownership of the product by that one person. What if we aimed for collective ownership in the entire team, shared between developer and the business?)
This way we can avoid Product Owners (a.k.a. Product Watchers) who act like Project Managers, or try to wear the cape of a Product Super Hero. We can avoid subjecting the teams to Micromanaging Proxy Product Owners.
Have you had the same idea? Or any other thoughts about the Product Owner role? Let me know.
