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When a SME becomes product owner, the product tends to copy the old process
If you were pulled off your job to be the product owner, here’s what the job needs beyond process knowledge and four questions to ask before your next customization.
I helped a team at a financial services company adopt agile while they implemented a purchased workflow product. They were trying to customize the rules that assign tasks, and the customizations made those rules more complicated than they needed to be.
The organization had pulled an experienced subject matter expert from their regular job and made them a product owner. I saw the same pattern on a second team, working on a claims system at an insurance company.
Both product owners were great with the details and the business process. In effect, they were still acting solely as subject matter experts.
If that describes you, this post covers what the product owner job needs beyond process knowledge and what to ask before your next change request.
SMEs tend to answer questions and defer decisions
Both teams were fairly new to agile, so they expected the product owner to manage the backlog and…
