The role of the product owner in an agile team

The product owner in an agile team plays an important role in defining and prioritising the product backlog to make sure the team delivers maximum value to the users. They should act as the bridge between stakeholders and the development team ensuring that the product vision is clearly understood and aligned with business goals.

The key responsibilities within the team are to:

• articulate the product vision and strategy to the team
• ensure the development team understands the product goals and user needs
• create, prioritise and maintain the product backlog
• communicate with stakeholders to gather requirements and feedback
• make decisions on scope, priorities and trade-offs when required
• review completed work against acceptance criteria
• continuously refine the backlog based on feedback and changing priorities
• make sure Government Digital Service (GDS) standards are being followed

Working with the delivery manager

The product owner and delivery manager work closely together to ensure the successful delivery of the product. While the product owner focuses on defining and prioritising the product backlog, the delivery manager is responsible for overseeing the execution of the development process.

Their collaboration ensures that the team is aligned with the product vision and that the delivery process is efficient and effective.

• Both roles ensure that the team understands and is aligned with the product vision and goals.
• The product owner prioritises the backlog, while the delivery manager plans and coordinates the development activities for sprints.
• They maintain open and continuous communication to address any issues, changes, or updates.
• The delivery manager ensures that the team has the necessary resources, while the product owner provides clarity on priorities.
• They work together to track progress, with the delivery manager focusing on timelines and the product owner on the value delivered.
• Both roles identify and mitigate risks, ensuring that the project stays on track.
• They establish a feedback loop to continuously improve the product and the delivery process based on stakeholder and team input.

Working with the business analyst

In the various agile delivery teams across the NHSBSA, the business analyst and product owner work closely together to ensure that the product being developed meets the needs of the stakeholders and delivers maximum value.

The business analyst normally supports the product owner with:

• refining the product backlog by breaking down high-level requirements into detailed user stories, prioritisation of stories and ensuring they are ready for development
• working together to explain the user stories to the development team, answer any questions, and ensure that the team understands the scope and objectives of the sprint
• to provide regular feedback to the development team through the sprint, addressing any issues that arise and responding to any questions

Working with user centered design (UCD)

The product owner collaborates closely with the UCD team to ensure that the product is not only functional but also user friendly and meets the needs of its end-users.

The product owner and UCD team work together on:

• refining the backlog by incorporating user research findings into the product backlog - this ensures that user needs are represented, prioritised and can be planned into the development process
• collaborating in sprint planning to explain the user stories and design requirements to the development team
• walkthrough proposed designs to help development teams understand the user experience, the rationale behind design decisions and can implement them effectively
• participating in design reviews with the UCD team to provide feedback and ensure that the designs align with the product vision and user needs
• participate in sprint reviews to gather feedback from stakeholders and users
• reviewing insights from surveys and other feedback channels
• provide the UCD team with feedback, ensuring there is a continuous feedback loop in place

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