Mike Lyons describes a 2010 voter-registration system that failed because the product owner didn't talk to actual users. He argues that good product ownership means being the voice of the customer, prioritizing what matters, and shipping value early instead of waiting for a perfect launch.
Imagine standing in a crowded room filled with loud, passionate voices, each one representing a different perspective on what a product should be. Now, some are focused on features, others maybe on user experience, and a few are worried about costs and timelines. Now picture yourself at the center of this cacophony, all this noise, trying to figure out how to transform all of those ideas into a product that truly delights your customers. This is the reality of being a Product Owner in an Agile environment back back in 2010, I jumped feet first into my first role as product owner. I was on a statewide voter registration system enhancement project and our goal was to transform the sort of outdated county run processes into a more modern, streamlined solution. And initially we invested significant time engaging with various stakeholders, from elected officials to IT specialists to the voters themselves. Well, this approach, it led to mounting costs and missed deadlines because we failed to engage with the people who would use the system, the election staff themselves. That's embarrassing. And when we finally launched, the users found the system complex and not really aligned with their workflows. The subsequent years were spent rebuilding that system with continuous user feedback and finally transforming it into a system that truly served its purpose well. This experience it taught me a valuable lesson about product ownership. Without a deep understanding of the users, the actual users of the system, even the most well intentioned projects will fail. This failure really underscored the critical importance of stepping out of the boardroom and into the real world where the users are listening to their needs and iterating based on their feedback. At its core, agile product ownership is about being the voice of the customer within the development process. It's about understanding user needs and prioritizing features, ensuring that the team is always working on what matters most. And the role of product ownership. Well, it can manifest itself in various ways. In different industries and different geographies companies, you might find a dedicated product owner working closely with the development teams. In others, especially larger organizations, you might see a product manager overseeing a broader product strategy, with product owners focusing on specific features or components. Some organizations might have business analysts or even subject matter experts stepping into the product ownership role, bringing their deep domain knowledge to guide product decisions. It's important to note that while frameworks like the Scaled Azure Framework and Scrum and define specific roles like product manager and product owner, the essence of product ownership transcends these specific titles or frameworks. So for our purposes we'll use the term product owner to refer to this role within the broader discipline of product management. Regardless of the specific methodology or framework that an organization might Use. Now, the responsibilities of a product owner will probably vary depending on the industry and the specific product, but some core functions remain consistent across all organizations. And these functions, these responsibilities. It's a long list. Let me just buzz through a bunch of them real quick here. One of the key responsibilities of a product owner is defining the product vision. What problem is this product solving and who is it solving for? How will we know? Product owners also create and prioritize the product backlog. That's really a living document that kind of outlines all the work we might do to deliver for our customers. To keep the development team aligned with those priorities, it's essential for the product owner to break down complex requirements into small, understandable, value focused pieces of work. And of course, the product owner needs to be available for questions and clarification to help maintain momentum and foster shared understanding amongst the team members. Stakeholder management is another critical aspect of product ownership. Product owner must communicate effectively with diverse stakeholders from C level executives to end users. And strong facilitation skills are essential for creating, alignment and addressing concerns. Another key principle of agile product ownership is delivering value early. And often this means prioritizing features that will have the biggest impact, rather than getting bogged down in sort of nice to have features. And as if all of that wasn't enough, the product owner must also be adaptable, responsive, collaborative, empathetic, customer focused, strategic objective and data driven. So as we jump into this, keep these things in mind and consider your own journey in agile product ownership. Heck, take a moment right now to think about a product you use regularly. I'm guessing you have an improvement or two in mind as a regular user. Now, I can't read it. There's no, there's no words on it thing sucks. If you were its product owner, what would be your top priority? Is it the thing that you want? Well, maybe. Or maybe you're starting to see that it isn't really that simple. Effective product ownership is about creating products that genuinely enhance people's lives. So keep asking yourself, how can I deliver more value to my users and my organization?
