What Are the Roles & Responsibilities of a SAFe® Product Owner?

21/06/2022

Just like the Scrum PO, the SAFe Product Owner is also a core member of the team. But what does he really do? Well, this is where the SAFe Product Owner certification and training come into the picture. In this blog, we will have a closer look at the below questions:

What are the roles and responsibilities of the Product Owner in SAFe?
What Skills are usually asked when someone looks for a Product Owner in SAFe?
What can one do to develop skills to become a Product Owner in a SAFe context?

Seems interesting? Then what are you waiting for?

Grab a chair and start reading!

What Are the Roles and Responsibilities of the Product Owner in SAFe?

A Product Owner is an Agile Team member who defines the stories and prioritizes the team backlog. He maximizes the value produced by the team and ensures that the stories meet the user’s needs and comply with the Definition of Done. He also attends the relevant Product Management events for planning and Program Backlog/Vision refinement.

Key Responsibilities

Work with Product Management to discover new features.
Support validation of business value delivery of features.
Track key performance metrics and suggest changes to improve their performance.
Report Product and customer trends highlighting the value and business insights.
Updates the team backlog and contributes to the program vision, roadmap, and content presentations.
Reviews and re-prioritizes the team backlog for Iteration Planning, including coordination of dependencies with other POs.
Leads story definition, providing the clarifications to assist the team with their story estimates and sequencing.
Communicates story detail and ensures the team aligns on a final iteration plan.
Validates that the story meets acceptance criteria and complies with its Definition of Done (DoD).
Works together to determine the team’s PI objectives for the upcoming PI.
Preparation for the PI planning meeting, work with Product Management, Team and Other POs to come up with Startup User Stories.
Takes part in the Iteration Retrospective, where the teams gather to improve their processes and are active in the Agile
Release Train’s (ART’s) Inspect and Adapt (I&A) workshop.
Plays an instrumental role in producing the System Demo for program and Value Stream stakeholders.
Take part in the PO-Sync Meeting to ensure transparency about work done by the team.

What Skills Are Usually Asked When Someone Looks for a Product Owner in SAFe?

Below are the skills that organizations look for in a Product Owner in SAFe:

Skills and Competencies

Ability to facilitate required sessions like Team Backlog refinement effectively.
Skilled in market and user research to develop a solution for business issues.
Expert in the specialized area to Partner with technology teams to define and refine team backlog.
Ability to lead/facilitate activities, such as product training, documentation, and support.
Skilled in managing demos of the completed product feature/function.
Facilitates cross-functional discussions to drive issues and prioritize efforts.
Recommends alternative solutions and advances where disagreements persist.
Skilled in stakeholder communication using management dashboard.
Ability to identify risks and issues.
Ability to provide and lead formal reporting and analytics development.
A steadfast problem solver and out-of-the-box thinker in finding solutions.
Associate degree preferred, such as SAFe Product Owner, Certified Scrum Product Owner, Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner, etc.
Skilled in Design Thinking tools like User Persona, Affinity Mapping, User Journey, Story Mapping, etc.
Ability to prioritize team backlog based on business value and risks.
Expert in User Story discovery and Splitting User Stories
Ability to discover and communicate functional and non-functional acceptance criteria.
Should be able to create wireframes.
Skilled in using tools for work management like Jira.
Comfortable with data presentation tools like PowerBI and Excel.

What Can One Do to Develop Skills to Become a Product Owner in a SAFe Context?

To develop skills to become a Product Owner in the SAFe context, you can follow the below options to advance in your career path:

1. SAFe POPM Certification – The professionals who want to explore the best strategies to perform Product Owner and Product Manager roles in the Scaled Agile environment can pursue the SAFe® Product Owner/Product Manager certification and training. This certification is also for individuals who want to connect SAFe Lean-Agile principles and values to the Product Owner and Product Manager role.

2. Product Owner YouTube Series – We ‌have a Product Owner Interview Q&A series. Almost all the essential questions and scenarios are covered in the YouTube series. You can watch the videos and enhance your Product Owner’s knowledge.

Get The Upcoming Sessions Details

We can help you develop new expertise related to Product Owners and bridge the skill gap for recognition and growth in the global corporate world. We deliver high-value training through innovative and practical approaches to enhance your professional performance and drive your organizational success.

Name	Schedule
SAFe® Product Owner / Product Manager	View Schedule
Certified Scrum Product Owner®	View Schedule
Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner®	View Schedule

It’s time to add a professional milestone and earn your SAFe® Product Owner certification. The effort you apply now will have a lasting positive impact on your career opportunities. To gain more information on SAFe® Product Owner certification and training, subscribe to our YouTube channel, which has 55,000+ subscribers from over 50 countries.

Still, have questions in mind?