Just into the fifth sprint of my Scrum project I can sum up what I think about my life as a product owner. The experience has largely been a positive one with only few negatives.
However being a product owner doesn’t cut it for me.
But let’s start with the good and the bad. There was no ugly.
Working close with a motivated team was a nice experience again and a whole lot of fun. Though I have to admit that I had similar experiences before Scrum and I would put that down to the people involved and the task at hand.
I liked the sprint durations in which only little work was required of me but I felt assured that work was being done as intended. The team as well seems to appreciate these phases of calm with a clear todo list at hand.
I absolutely loved the reviews where we were able to bend the processes until they fit our requirements. The being pragmatic approach may not be Scrum as intended but as long as everybody feels good about it and we are able to reach the goal it can not be wrong or can it?
I like the motivation drawn from user stories. Encapsulating a single story that can be finished and that indicates what it is done for seems to work well and keeps motivation up. Writing them can be another story entirely.
I like being decisive and this Scrum project gave me plenty of opportunity. This puts responsibility where it belongs to me the product owner. Whenever something is unclear I have to solve it. these obstacles pop up frequently so there is no surprise at the end of the tunnel nor are developers forced to make assumptions. If I make a mistake the responsibility is with me. Good.
But.
I know that currently a lot of companies are looking for Scrum experienced people to hire and I can honestly say that being a product owner I don’t mind. However being nothing but a product owner would not be rewarding at all.
I am doing so many other different things apart from being a product owner and I must say that these are much more fulfilling for me.
Being a product owner alone would be boring.
