Have you ever heard about Chief Technical Product Owner? Keep your interest, since this is the focus of this article. Let’s find out.
What Is a Chief Technical Product Owner?
A Chief Technical Product Owner is a role that combines the responsibilities of a Product Owner, who defines the vision and strategy for the product, and a Chief Architect, who defines the technical direction of the product. This role is more complex than other Scrum roles. Also, should be filled by an individual with extensive technical knowledge of the product. Chief Technical Product Owners must have a good understanding of the market and customers’ needs. As well as be a good communicator, organizer, and project manager.
The main responsibility of Chief Technical Product Owners is to facilitate communication between all stakeholders in the Agile process. This person owns all issues related to architecture, design, quality assurance, planning and monitoring of sprints and releases, long-term product planning, and technical debt. They ensure that the technical direction of the product is aligned with the market’s needs. Also, that all technical decisions are made with the understanding of their effects on the whole product.
Chief Technical Product Owners work closely with business analysts. Also, domain experts to evaluate the product’s goals and to create user stories. They also work closely with Quality Assurance specialists and software architects. This is to review and approve stories before they are implemented by development teams.
Lastly, they work closely with Product Managers to ensure that technical choices made by development teams are in line with the overall marketing strategy.
What Does the Chief Technical Product Owner Do?
The role of a Chief Technical Product Owner is a very complex one. That is why it is recommended that the individual selected for this position should have a wide range of experience. In addition to defining the strategic direction of a project, they must also be able to work effectively with other team members. As well as have a good understanding of business stakeholders’ needs.
In Scrum, Chief Technical Product Owners work closely with every other role. Including developers, business analysts, quality assurance specialists, software architects, business stakeholders, and product managers. This role requires excellent communication skills to facilitate communication among these different groups of people.
They must be organized to manage all issues within their scope effectively while still being able to prioritize issues effectively. They must also have an excellent understanding of all aspects of the product to make decisions in regards to architecture and design which will not negatively impact any other parts of the project. Their final responsibility is to facilitate communication between all stakeholders. Why? So that all parties involved can remain up-to-date on the progress being made towards achieving goals for each sprint or release.
To Conclude
Chief Technical Product Owner is a key role in an organization that supports the Product Owner, ensures that all technical aspects are in line with business goals, and ensures that all technical decisions made by development teams are well-informed. As you can see, this role is quite complex. This is why it is recommended that Chief Technical Product Owners have a wide range of experience and excellent communication skills.