What knowledge should not have a product owner?
Luxoft Training in the series of master classes with famous speakers invites you to get acquainted with the translation of Joe Rheinsberger’s article " No, a Product Owner doesn't need programming skill ".
Joe Rainsberger is a Canadian software development consultant, author of many IT work. For his contribution to the development of flexible methodologies, he was awarded the highest award from the Agile community - the Gordon Pask Award in 2005 (in the first year of creation of the award). He is the founder of XPDay (North America). JUnit Receipes: Practical Methods for Programmer Testing, a book by Joe Rainsberger, has become world famous. Joe has been practicing flexible methodologies since 2000, and during that time his articles on Agile development have been published in leading developer journals, including IBM DeveloperWorks and IEEE Software. In IEEE Software magazine, Joe is the editor of the “Not Just Coding” column.
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What kind of education should have a product owner?
I do not like the term "Product Owner". I would like Brian Marik's term “product director” to become more popular.
One LinkedIn user said that he had seen Product Owner jobs, where candidates needed TDD, BDD, OO, programming skills, and a degree in IT. (I assume that a degree in computer science is suitable, otherwise I would not get such a job myself.) On the one hand, this does not surprise me, since the people placing these announcements probably copy and paste requirements from a standard set of flexible techniques. On the other hand, I don’t quite understand why someone deliberately demands programming skills from the product owner.
I expect that the Product Owner will have the information and authority to decide which functions to create next and what it means to use these functions. In other words, this person must either know these things, or be able to figure them out, and at the same time feel comfortable taking this responsibility. He should also feel comfortable recognizing that he might not know something, gaining new knowledge or accepting help from other people. He cannot sit back and hope that all unknown factors will be resolved themselves.
Product Owner must understand the business and be ready to explore it deeper. He also needs to understand how “important people” will make a decision about the success of a product, since on this basis, it will choose functions. If you are lucky, he will need the basics of financial literacy to make such decisions based on profits, but more likely he will need to understand what the product can make a “personal victory” for interested parties. And this is based more on sales psychology. I mean the knowledge that can be learned by reading “The New Strategic Selling”.
I do not think that Product Owner should be a programmer. If he was a programmer 15 years ago and now pretends that his understanding of technical compromises remains relevant today, this can lead to disastrous consequences. I worked with people who finished programming 15 years ago and could not understand why something that was easy to do on a green screen takes more time on Enterprise Java. In several cases, this has led to conflicts in assessing the cost. A programming skill can help you find out what is feasible and what is not. But if the Product Owner works with programmers he trusts, then it becomes less of a problem.
Product Owner should have testing skills, as with their help it can better find vulnerabilities in the product before. I have never collaborated with a Product Owner who has ever worked as a qualified tester, so this statement is purely hypothetical.
I just don’t know why HR departments expect Product Owner TDD / OO skills. I can understand why they are looking for candidates with the BDD skill, but you can have a good BDD skill without programming experience. To any interviewer who thinks differently, I recommend recalling Liz Keogh articles. Start with Step Away From the Tools.
For example, I would trust a candidate with a degree in economics who understands the basics of finance (distinguishes profit from revenue) and which shows willingness to cooperate and negotiate. I can teach him key techniques if necessary. No programming skills required.
Joe Rainsberger will conduct an online master class on value-oriented software development. Details here .
Joe Rainsberger is a Canadian software development consultant, author of many IT work. For his contribution to the development of flexible methodologies, he was awarded the highest award from the Agile community - the Gordon Pask Award in 2005 (in the first year of creation of the award). He is the founder of XPDay (North America). JUnit Receipes: Practical Methods for Programmer Testing, a book by Joe Rainsberger, has become world famous. Joe has been practicing flexible methodologies since 2000, and during that time his articles on Agile development have been published in leading developer journals, including IBM DeveloperWorks and IEEE Software. In IEEE Software magazine, Joe is the editor of the “Not Just Coding” column.
No, the product owner does not need programming skills.
')
What kind of education should have a product owner?
I do not like the term "Product Owner". I would like Brian Marik's term “product director” to become more popular.
One LinkedIn user said that he had seen Product Owner jobs, where candidates needed TDD, BDD, OO, programming skills, and a degree in IT. (I assume that a degree in computer science is suitable, otherwise I would not get such a job myself.) On the one hand, this does not surprise me, since the people placing these announcements probably copy and paste requirements from a standard set of flexible techniques. On the other hand, I don’t quite understand why someone deliberately demands programming skills from the product owner.
I expect that the Product Owner will have the information and authority to decide which functions to create next and what it means to use these functions. In other words, this person must either know these things, or be able to figure them out, and at the same time feel comfortable taking this responsibility. He should also feel comfortable recognizing that he might not know something, gaining new knowledge or accepting help from other people. He cannot sit back and hope that all unknown factors will be resolved themselves.
Product Owner must understand the business and be ready to explore it deeper. He also needs to understand how “important people” will make a decision about the success of a product, since on this basis, it will choose functions. If you are lucky, he will need the basics of financial literacy to make such decisions based on profits, but more likely he will need to understand what the product can make a “personal victory” for interested parties. And this is based more on sales psychology. I mean the knowledge that can be learned by reading “The New Strategic Selling”.
I do not think that Product Owner should be a programmer. If he was a programmer 15 years ago and now pretends that his understanding of technical compromises remains relevant today, this can lead to disastrous consequences. I worked with people who finished programming 15 years ago and could not understand why something that was easy to do on a green screen takes more time on Enterprise Java. In several cases, this has led to conflicts in assessing the cost. A programming skill can help you find out what is feasible and what is not. But if the Product Owner works with programmers he trusts, then it becomes less of a problem.
Product Owner should have testing skills, as with their help it can better find vulnerabilities in the product before. I have never collaborated with a Product Owner who has ever worked as a qualified tester, so this statement is purely hypothetical.
I just don’t know why HR departments expect Product Owner TDD / OO skills. I can understand why they are looking for candidates with the BDD skill, but you can have a good BDD skill without programming experience. To any interviewer who thinks differently, I recommend recalling Liz Keogh articles. Start with Step Away From the Tools.
For example, I would trust a candidate with a degree in economics who understands the basics of finance (distinguishes profit from revenue) and which shows willingness to cooperate and negotiate. I can teach him key techniques if necessary. No programming skills required.
Joe Rainsberger will conduct an online master class on value-oriented software development. Details here .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/286702/
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