The key tasks of the Product Owner

The central tasks of the product owner

The role of the product owner is complex and demanding. It requires both strategic thinking and operational implementation skills. The following areas of responsibility describe the core profile of this role:

1. Development of a clear product vision

The Product Owner is responsible for developing and communicating a clear product vision that is aligned with customer needs, company goals and technical constraints.

2. Collaboration with product management

Working closely with product management, the PO ensures consistent alignment between product strategy, market environment and user requirements. This tandem is crucial for a successful product-market fit.

3. Prioritisation of the product backlog

The product backlog is at the heart of agile product development. The PO prioritises entries according to business value, urgency and technical feasibility – ensuring that the most important tasks are always being worked on.

4. Obtaining and utilising feedback

The product owner evaluates the impact of individual features through continuous user feedback, market analyses and internal feedback. The feedback is used to prioritise specific improvements and steer product development based on data.

5. Stakeholder management

The PO is in constant communication with all relevant stakeholders, including customers, sales, management and external partners. They ensure that their expectations are understood, documented and appropriately taken into account.

6. Release management

The Product Owner plans when new product increments or features go live. They coordinate releases, communicate deadlines and ensure that these are implemented in a way that makes sense both technically and strategically.

7. Translation of requirements into user stories

The PO formulates clear and understandable user stories, which the development team uses as a basis for their work. These stories contain acceptance criteria and provide contextual information that explains the purpose of the requirement.

8. Communication and leadership in an agile environment

Although the PO has no disciplinary management responsibility, he or she is nevertheless a manager in this area. He or she makes decisions, provides guidance, addresses obstacles and mediates between the team, management and customers.

Requirements for a successful product owner

An effective product owner combines professional, technical and communication skills. These include:

• Leadership strength without formal hierarchy
• Strategic thinking combined with operational detail
• Basic technical understanding to be able to realistically assess requirements
• Excellent communication skills, both internally and externally
• Empathy and customer focus to identify and prioritise genuine user needs
• Experience in agile work and product management

As the interface between customers, the team and the organisation, the Product Owner ensures that everyone is working towards a common goal: to create a product that is both marketable and user-centred.

Conclusion: Product owners play a key role in Scrum teams

Close cooperation between product managers (strategic leadership) and product owners (operational implementation) is crucial to a product’s success. While product managers are responsible for the long-term vision and profitability, product owners ensure effective implementation in agile day-to-day business.

Despite overlaps, clearly separated roles offer distinct advantages:

• Greater focus
• Faster decisions
• Better product-market fit

The result: competitive products that can sustainably hold their own in the market.