Expectations on the Product Owner Role in Systems Engineering - A Scrum Team's Point of View

Abstract

Product Owners (PO) in the Scrum framework have an important role in the development process. While the POs primal description is straightforward - the actual implementation of this role in industries is not. Many companies face the difficulty of assigning the right level of tasks and responsibilities to this role. To provide solutions to this problem, the Product Owner role became a subject of research. However, most of the studies focus on the actual state of the role to propose solutions on how to tailor it. What is missing is the Scrum Teams perspective. Therefore, we were interested in the Teams expectations on the Product Owner role. Which tasks do they expect to be performed by this role and how would they characterize a perfect Product Owner? In an attempt to answer this question, we conducted an online survey in the oil and gas industry and gathered feedback from all members of the Scrum Team. Our findings indicate that the Scrum Team expects the Product Owner to write user stories and prioritize the backlog solely. Other tasks are expected to be done either in direct collaboration with the management or the scrum master or are not expected to be done by the Product Owner role at all. Also, the respondents would characterize a perfect Product Owner primarily as trustworthy.