Introduction
 

Typically, there will be one Product Owner in a Scrum Team. One of the most common issues that agile enterprises face in a Scrum environment is related to finding the right Product Owner. Having onboard the right Product Owner can make a significant difference to the way the items in the Product Owner get prioritized and executed. This is because it is the Product Owner’s responsibility to identify which items have the highest value for the business, while never losing focus of the end customer.

This means that the Product Owner needs to be a multi-skilled person – one who understands the users on one hand, and what is essential for the business to make money, on the other. The Product Owner is the person who decides what needs to be done first. To be a Product Owner, it is imperative to develop the right mindset. Since, this is one area of work where decision-making after careful analysis and evaluation of ideas, items, goals, and requirements are concerned, it is vital to develop the correct mindset to get started.
 

How to Develop a Product Owner Mindset?
 

From a customer-centric viewpoint to ensuring that the business goals are synced relevantly, here are seven top Product Owner mindset that helps define and create the right roadmap for the teams involved.
 

Mindset #1: Users and your target market are the most critical element of the entire process.
 

As long as you make the effort to keep your end-users in mind, your Product Owner mindset is on the right track. You must have your team members interact with users periodically so that there is information. Data relevant to what the customer wants, what is frustrating for them, how they are looking at the improvisations, and other such related data can help in productive prioritization of items from the backlog. As a Product Owner, you need to be hands-on; in fact, in real-time be updated about the changing user needs and trends.
 

User research needs to be a mandatory part of the process.
 

• User interviews should be included too.
   
• Involving multiple teams to get information. Remember, your sales and marketing team has crucial customer data – tap them more proactively.
   
• Get reviews direct from horses’ (users) mouth.
   
• Create user personas to understand better.
   
• Involve team members to be present while users use the product – this way they get a clearer idea about the challenges that the user is facing while using the solution.
   
• Be ready to improvise and update based on feedback and data received.
   
• Keep all team members on the same platform and educate them on the changing trends.
   

Mindset #2: Never lose sight of Quality
 

Product quality needs to be on the top of your mind at all times. But it is not only about that. You also need to think about the quality of ideas, and data being shared. You also need to make sure that the user stories are top quality and optimized.

Never forget that in the entire gamut, the Product Owner is the one who envisions the product and determines the path. The key decisions in the team are taken by the Product Owner. Therefore, you need to be a visionary to be able to provide vision to the team and the stakeholders.
 

Mindset #3: Ensure accountability
 

Being the owner of the product, you need to have the right Product Owner mindset – you must ensure that your team members are inspired by you – not let down. The team meets should not end up being battlegrounds for teams to settle scores with one another. Leadership skills are extremely important in this role.

As a Product Owner, make sure that instead of pointing fingers at one another, team members are ready to co-inhabit the workspace. They should be of the mindset to let work happen productively – towards which they coordinate, collaborate, give constructive feedback, review previous decisions, critically analyze the same, and then move on.

The decision towards the release of the product in the current state may be taken, with prioritizing work for release in the next Sprint.
 

Mindset #4: Let team members ideate freely and then order the ideation outcome
 

You need to let the team exchange ideas in an open environment. There should not be any rights and wrongs during this phase. Only when it comes to ordering the outcome, everyone needs to be on the same platform to help reach closure. These are the ideas that the product Development Team is going to work upon.

As a Product Owner, the idea of ordering the outcome is not to overrun your decisions. It is to help you reach proper conclusions and make the right decision from the perspective of business value and customer needs.
 

Mindset #5: Address concerns immediately
 

Loopholes and gaps can exist in any ecosystem. It is true for product development too. If there are alerts, there are issues that come to your notice – do not sit on it – you need to review and take it up instantly with the Development Team.

Remember that time is of the biggest essence here. Time is money, which is why there cannot be any wastage of crucial time. If the changes are difficult in the current stage, you need to plan for the next immediate Sprint. Again, remember to keep the user at the top of your mind, always!
 

Mindset #6: Remember the product is the central character
 

In the entire sequence of activities drama, it is the product that has a key role to play. This means that you can never afford to keep the product out of sight. So, it is imperative to keep going back to the product basics – reminding the team about the product vision.

Even if everyone knows it, after all, everyone is working on it, day and night; you, as the Product Owner needs to go back time and again to refresh the vision.
 

Mindset #7: Never take on another role while you are the Product Owner
 

Remember this basic mantra of the Product Owner mindset. Often, people are made the Product Owners even when they have their own set of job responsibilities; or the current Product Owner is assigned the role of a Scrum master because the present one has gone. These are risky temptations that should be avoided. 

The role of a Product Owner is integral to the success of the product. It is a dedicated full-time role. Enterprises and managers need to understand this and stop overburdening the Product Owner – this way they are putting a lot at risk.  

Developing the right Product Owner mindset is crucial for product success. Here are some tips to get the right mindset developed:
 

Give up the idea of micro-managing every aspect of product development.
 

• Empower your team members. 
   
• Keep reinforcing the product vision and business goals.
   
• Prioritize the backlog.
   
• Be a good leader – practice transparency.
   
• Be available for the team members.
   
• Set examples for the team to follow. 
   
• Create the roadmap and keep updating it with changing trends.
   
• Ensure that there is a test environment for testing the product whenever.
   
• Be good in your communication skills. 

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