The Product Owner is a fulltime job and is accountable for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the Teams. How this is done vary widely across organizations, Teams, and individuals. It is their job to understand their customer base and market very well and have an external focus in order to build the right things. Teams have a rather internal focus to build things right, and a Scrum Master helps them to build the right things right.
The Product Owner is also accountable for effective Product Backlog management,
– Which leads to a high level of transparency and understanding on a possible future; and,
– Which provides a high level of focus to the Teams and customers involved in delivering, and learning, what most valuable is at that moment in time.
The Product Owner may do the above work, or have the Teams do it. Regardless, the Product Owner remains accountable.
For the Product Owner to succeed, the entire organization must respect their decisions. These decisions are visible in the content and focus within the Product Backlog, and through the transparency of the Product Increment at the Sprint Review. Those wanting to change the Product Backlog can do so by trying to convince the Product Owner.
(entire chapter based on the Product Owner chapter in the 2020 Scrum Guides)
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