You might be thinking - yet another Product Owner (PO) training? Can't I just open YouTube and quickly get trained within a couple of hours? Well, you could! And yet we felt the need to create our PO Crash Course. Here is why…
The PO role is not as well defined as you’d expect. Definitions vary among product managers based on their experiences, organizational cultures, or the nature of their products under development. In addition, different ways of working influence how the PO role is defined. Agile in particular, can be quite specific and leaves little room for interpretation. However, theory and reality usually diverge significantly.
At Publicis Sapient, we develop products with our clients to support their digital business transformation. We either support and coach client POs, often as Proxy POs, or we install our product managers for PO roles in large product development projects. In other words, we usually help clients develop their products. In that particular context, we not only require a clear definition of our product managers' roles, but we also need a set of tools to support our clients in the best possible way. Providing a clear image of what PO roles at Publicis Sapient clients look like and introducing a basic "PO toolbox" is what our PO crash course is all about.
Those who are new to the PO role or work in an agile team with a client PO new to their role often seek to understand what a PO is like in terms of personality, experience, and understanding. Interestingly, POs come from various disciplines and have different personalities. It depends on the product and environment they are dealing with. On one end, there are the pioneers who are great with entirely new greenfield products. Here, a creative mindset and a passion for cutting-edge technology will be helpful. On the other end, especially in the enterprise context, some POs own products that have been around for a long time but can be improved through process optimization, scale, or ecosystem integration. In that case, a structured mindset and a strong charisma to defend required, but sometimes painful progress in front of stakeholders and management proves beneficial.