Product Owner Role in Daily Scrum

The product owner is a middleman between the Development Team and the stakeholders in Scrum projects. He/She reports directly to the stakeholders and is responsible for boosting the results of the product worked on by the Development Team. He/she is one of the most important and senior members of a Scrum project. They decide the Sprint Goal for the team and command it through the Scrum Master. 

One of the key functions of the Product Owner is to manage the Product Backlog effectively. They do this by arranging the backlog items and ensuring that the Backlog is visible, transparent, and understood by the whole team. The Product Owner makes all the major decisions of any Scrum project, and every team member should respect and follow his orders. 

A Product Owner is always a single person, not a committee of members. This is because no Scrum project allows many members to participate. If any stakeholder wants to change the Product Backlog or prioritize something, he will have to convince the Product Owner. 

He will make that change if he feels it is right and helpful for the project. Any final major decision is always the Product Owner’s call. The big question is, what is the Product Owner's role in daily standup? Or is it really necessary for the Product Owner to attend Daily Scrum? To do so, you first need to understand what daily standup is.

What is Daily Standup & Can a Product Owner be part of It? 

The daily standup is a meeting held between the whole Scrum team, of which the Product Owner is not part. The team involves all the Developers and the Scrum Master. The daily standup also goes by the name of Daily Scrum. This meeting takes place each day of the Sprint to discuss the progress made by the Developers in that Sprint and whether there is something slowing their work. 

The Daily Scrum lasts 15 minutes and never more. The main purpose of this meeting is to keep the sprint's progress transparent in front of the whole team, monitor the sprint's daily progress, and address issues that arise within the Sprint's workflow. 

Can a Product Owner Join The Daily Scrum?

Please note that the product owner does not participate in the daily standup. But, at the same time, he is not prohibited from joining the daily standups. A Product Owner can join the daily standups as often as he wants or desires; no one will stop him from doing that but he is suggested not to participate in the meeting. 

He can join the meeting as an observer and take notes of the progress and risks discussed by the team. He should let the whole team present their daily reports and let each member raise queries about the Sprints. It is better for a Product Owner to be quiet for the whole time and speak only if required, and that too once everyone has completed their daily progress reports. 

Under no circumstances can the daily standup be extended more than its fixed time, which is 15 minutes, as Scrums are always time-bound projects where every minute is important. The Development Team can utilize extended time by any Product Owner in developing the product, and one should not take that thing for granted for one's own sake. 

A Product Owner should notify the team on prior notice that he will be joining the team's daily standups so the team is prepared for his presence in the meeting. With the Product Owner's availability, Daily Scrum team members can track the sprint's daily progress and check whether it is running as scheduled. 

Is Joining A Daily Scrum Beneficial for The Product Owner

As it has never been made official for the Product Owner to be mandatorily part of the daily standups people have not given a thought to the benefits of his presence in the meeting. Many Developers do not feel that daily standups are a place for Product Owners who have zero knowledge of software development and will not be able to contribute to the meeting in any manner. 

They might be right about his lack of knowledge about software development or how the team works, but they are wrong about the idea that he cannot contribute to the meeting in any manner. The presence of the Product Owner in every daily standup can benefit both the team and the project. One just needs to have the eye to see its benefits, and he will surely consider this idea in his next Scrum Project.

Issues Resolved On the Meeting Table Only

In Scrum meetings, the Product Owner's presence allows Developers to tell about facing any obstacle in their way of work and can directly convey it to the Product Owner. Usually, if a Developer comes across any problem that is causing harm to his work, he has to complain about it to the Scrum Master, and the Scrum Master takes it to the Product Owner. Then, the Product Owner starts to work on resolving the issue.

This whole process takes a while, but when the Product Owner is available in front of you in daily standup, you can also tell him about the obstacle in your way while sharing your progress. This way, you avoid the chain of information passing, and the Product Owner will probably resolve your issue right there. It saves a lot of time and energy for Developers, Scrum Masters, and Product Owners. 

Complete Transparency

Generally, with a Sprint Goal, a Product Owner knows that the team is supposed to deliver the item in the given amount of time but is unaware of the sprint's daily progress. But when a Product Owner joins the daily standups, he gets to track the team's daily progress towards the Sprint Goal. This helps the Product Owner understand whether or not the team is working at the right pace. 

He also calculates the probability of achieving the Sprint Goal in the given time. His presence makes the whole work completely transparent to everyone and he can also give daily updates of the work to the stakeholders to make them understand that project is working on its expected schedule. 

When joining Daily Scrums, the Product Owner can also make notes of the progress, which will help him plan the Sprint Goal for the next Sprint if the team's pace is faster or slower than the estimated pace. 

Proper Inspection

The product owner doesn’t need to run inspections of the development team's work, but doing so would not harm the project in any sense. The product Owner’s presence can work as the inspection of the daily work done by the team and make sure there are no loopholes in the work from the Developers that might harm Sprint or the project later. 

Attending daily Scrums helps avoid such risks, and the product owner gets to inspect the daily work of each developer closely. When each team member gives his daily report, the Product can sit back, listen and observe each one, take notes, and try analyzing his efforts. This way, the product owner will have an idea of whether he is working his best or if there is still room for him to make more efforts each day. 

A Helping Hand to Scrum Master

The presence of the Product Owner in every daily standup is quite helpful for the Scrum Master. A Product Owner in a daily Standup can free the Scrum Master from many small duties. In every daily standup, the Product should sit next to the Scrum Master and help him draw a track report of the daily progress. 

Once the Product Owner himself is present there, the Scrum Master does not have to listen to the Development Team’s queries as they can directly address them to the Product Owner. With such responsibilities removed from the Scrum Master's head, he can use that time for more important parts of the Sprint and find ways to make the Sprint more efficient. 

Also, Check:  A Day in the Life of a Product Owner

Wrapping Up

Although the Scrum Guide never mentions that the Product Owner must participate in Daily Scrums, this has not stopped him from doing so. For the Product Owner, daily standup meetings bring multiple benefits for the whole project and improve workflow efficiency. This is why many Product Owners have started adapting this idea widely, and they somehow manage to pull time from their schedule to attend Daily Scrums. Simpliaxis offers a range of Certified Scrum Product Owners (CSPO) for comprehensive training in project management methodologies like Scrum and other essential skills. These courses provide invaluable insights and techniques to enhance capabilities further, ensuring success in endeavors.