Glossary
Product ChampionWe prefer the term Product Champion to Product Owner for several reasons.
• Product Champion comes from the Lean world and encompasses the notion that their role is to lead (champion) the team into discovering the best product available for the customer(s), be they internal or external.
• The champion creates a team of developers to best provide value to the customer. But it is still the team that is responsible.
• The champion leads, the team works with them.
• The phrase “Product Owner” has the connotation that it is the Product Owner’s responsibility to create the value for the customer. It is not. It is only their responsibility to prioritize the backlog. This requires a team effort. The person prioritizing the backlog must understand value as well as cost.
The primary Business representative who represents the “voice of the customer” and the “voice of the business” to the Sprint team. The responsibilities of the Product Owner include the following: • Manage the Vision. The Product Owner establishes, nurtures, and communicates the product vision. Achieves initial and on-going funding for the project by creating initial release plans and the initial Product Backlog. • Manage the ROI. The Product Owner monitors the project against its ROI goals and an investment vision. Updates and prioritizes the Product Backlog to ensure that the most valuable functionality is produced first and built upon. Prioritizes and refines the Product Backlog and measures success against expenses. • Manage the Release. The Product Owner makes decisions about when to create an official release. For a variety of reasons it may not be desirable to release at the conclusion of every increment. Similarly, if an official release is planned for after the fifth increment it may be released (with fewer features) after the fourth increment in order to respond to competitive moves or capture early market share. The Product Owner makes these decisions in a manner consistent with the investment vision that has been established for the project. Also known as Product Champion. See also: Product Owner