r/ProductOwner

Hey everyone. Long time product owner, program manager, and project coach here.

I've spent most of my life on the engineering side of the fence, working with product management to understand the product roadmap and come up with an actionable backlog. I have found that it's very rare for teams to get what they need from product managers. In fact I've mostly found that product managers that aren't specifically assigned the direct responsibility of helping with the backlog are generally only helpful on user requirements at a high level. Now, there have been some exceptions, but not many.

I've also found that the product owner role seems to work best when it's under the engineering organization, simply because it's easier for the product owner to get help from the engineering side. Maybe this is because a lot of developers just want to be fed requirements to code from, and if the PO is on the product management side then the belief is that the onus is on product management to get their act together and then come talk to us. I'm not saying this is correct, or even a good way to think, but it seems to be the default.

I have found that backlog creation, ordering, and refinement works best when the product owner has that combination of some technical skills plus domain knowledge... they know the product and how it will be used. That product owner also sits with product managers to get the high level requirements down, and then sits with the team to finish refinement. A good product owner OWNS the backlog, manages it, and will push back on 'while we're at it' requests from stakeholders.

What are your experiences? How does your team actually get a backlog? Who runs refinement, and are all Developers on the team involved, or just a lead? Is this working for you?

Hi,

I am working with a SAAS industry from past 9.5 years in a product support role, managing operational processes leading a team and now I am thinking of switching to the product manager role with very basic knowledge. As this Product role really excited me and would wanted to do something good. But skeptical about my decision whether I should take this call or no, as completely switching my career path from support to PM. Need suggestions whether this will be a right decision or not?

I’m planning to apply as a PO.

For context, i am a Software Developer for 5yrs, and was transitioned to be a Tech Lead, and started leading a startup as PO for a year. I was with the company with all these growth, however i got laid off. I haven’t coded for more than a year and I’m planning to focus on being a PO since it’s where i enjoy now.

However, upon job searching, i noticed almost all companies needs 3+ years of experience. While in my previous company, i was speaking bisaya to communicate with the stakeholders, i can speak English but not fluently and can’t really deliver what i wanted to say.

Are there jobs that are open for PO with 1year experience? should i get certifications? Should i just apply regardless the requirements and even tho im not confident in speaking English? Do you have any tips and advice?

I'm 32 and just got fired from my first management position at an agency after 2 months. Before this position, I ran my own tech business for a couple of years and mostly worked as an IC. Around 6 ppl got assembled for this gig, everyone was kinda new.

The frustrating part is that the team was delivering results. The client was also very happy. The project I inherited mid-flight was already in rough shape when I joined, and I had to push a lot of decisions get things back on track because we needed to be functional for a couple of important events that served as our deadlines.

I cared a lot. Even though it was only a 10-week gig, I was doing 12+ hour days to get the product in order, aligning the engineering team and the client across two time zones, and handling everything else that came with it.

I was also dealing with a difficult high performer lead who was openly rude and one low performer team member who complained constantly (it was a guy who after 13 years working in corporate joined an agency gig for the first time in his life, so everything was new to him and he was having issues that I never seen ppl having), and I think I let that affect the way I managed everyone else.

In the end, they banded together and complained to the COO, who decided to knowingly dump a negative feedback bomb on me two days before my wedding, when I was already very busy preparing us for launch.

I didn't take it well. I pushed back hard. What was supposed to be a 30-minute feedback meeting turned into a 2-hour rant from me, and afterward I even sent him an A4-page rant explaining my side of everything. I guess that was the final nail in my coffin.

That said, I do agree with some of the criticism. I was probably too hard on people. I'm not here to argue that I was treated unfairly. I can see my mistakes.

But I've been replaying this over and over in my head all week, despite having a conversation with the CEO during my exit interview. He told me I did 90% of things well and mainly needed to improve the way I give and receive feedback. He even laughed about me clashing with the COO and joked that we should probably "clean our chakras" together.

It hurts a lot because I cared so much and even when deciding to go i to PM i thought Im gonna be better than my past managers, but no work life balance and stress got to me. I also feel stupid because it was a very well paid gig but I let my principles to get in a way. I keep wondering whether I'm just not cut out for management or whether this is simply one of those painful lessons that many first-time managers go through.

I'd appreciate any seasoned manager or even some mature fatherly advice at this point.

This is often what happens despite the expensive transformation programs, pixel-perfect decks with messy operations. I keep seeing the same transformation blueprint; lay-off, restructure, uplift technology, voila!

When do you think organisations will stop spending millions of $$$ on cookie cutter transformation initiatives that don't transform the operating model and the culture behind it?

https://preview.redd.it/wyb87h5jtejh1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=c47aa5a0f89eee858aba95894c81540dd3a077ce

Hi everyone,

I know I'm lucky to even have two offers in this economy, so I'm not complaining. But I have two remote Product Owner offers (both Germany-based). Both are 40hrs contracts.

Currently, 9 years of experience as a PO, currently at ~€90k, including bonus.

Offer 1:

Belden: €98k 104k base + up to 10% bonus 
Domain: industrial networking/connectivity (GenAI virtual assistant)
Never heard of the company before this process, honestly
During the interview, they did state there is room to grow into the role, so potentially higher salary later.

Offer 2:

Siemens: €106k base, IG Metall (all inclusive, T-zug, holiday bonus, etc.)
Domain: industrial automation/software (GenAI platform)
Big brand, looks good on the CV 
From people who work there: bonuses are paid out (~€3-4)
It is EG12, stufe A, BY

Got the Belden offer yesterday and Siemens today. Leaning towards Siemens, but I don't know much about Belden. Anyone suggest I should accept Belden? 

Edit: Belden tried to match with 104k base.

Negotiation tips also welcome, still have a few days. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I know I'm lucky to even have two offers in this economy, so I'm not complaining. But I have two remote Product Owner offers (both Germany-based). Both are 40hrs contracts.

Currently, 9 years of experience as a PO, currently at ~€90k, including bonus.

Offer 1:

Belden: €98k 104k base + up to 10% bonus 
Domain: industrial networking/connectivity (GenAI virtual assistant)
Never heard of the company before this process, honestly
During the interview, they did state there is room to grow into the role, so potentially higher salary later.

Offer 2:

Siemens: €106k base, IG Metall (all inclusive, T-zug, holiday bonus, etc.)
Domain: industrial automation/software (GenAI platform)
Big brand, looks good on the CV 
From people who work there: bonuses are paid out (~€3-4)
It is EG12, stufe A, BY

Got the Belden offer yesterday and Siemens today. Leaning towards Siemens, but I don't know much about Belden. Anyone suggest I should accept Belden? 

Edit: Belden tried to match with 104k base.

Negotiation tips also welcome, still have a few days. Thanks!

I have been on the look for new opportunities but it seems that either all the PO jobs get hundreds of applications or my profile is not a match.

What's the main differential skill you noticed is highly evaluated and important for your job?

How do you guys manage to deliver results when you barely have any resources? I'm dealing with 1 backend and 2 front end engineers, we have more "managers and leads" than engineers, and getting a ton of requests from the business team and customers, but I can barely keep up with them.

I requested more developers so many times, and every hiring cycle, they turn down so many people and for the people who reach the final stage just get rejected or end up rejecting the offer because its low. So I guess I'm stuck with this for 2 more months minimum

Been a PO for almost ten years, relatively new at my current company. Getting feedback that I handle things wrong. Specifically that when something’s off (bad requirements, a sketchy timeline from another team, a tester flagging something in the wrong meeting), my instinct is to deal with it privately or after the fact instead of calling it out live in front of everyone.

I’ve never gotten this feedback at any company prior, in my entire career.

My read has always been that part of the job is protecting people and not putting them on the spot, especially when the issue isn’t really about them personally. The other read is that not addressing it live makes me look evasive and will tank my credibility long term.

Trying to figure out how much of this is legit and how much is just management style. For those of you who’ve been doing this a while, do you actually call things out live in meetings, in the moment, even when it involves calling out a specific team or person? Or is there a middle ground I’m missing? Genuinely want to know if this is a real skill gap or just a personality clash.

Thanks in advance!

Hi guys! I am currently a mid level business analyst with 4 years of experience in supply chain and now in AML and risk. My plan is to become a product owner in about 3 years time. My background is in financial crime(AML and Risk) in merchant onboarding. My current skills are the following:

- Process flow mapping

- Data mapping

- API integration

- Prototype and wireframe generation

- Querying in SQL and mongo

Based on my current skillset and experience, what would you guys say a young BA like me(25 years old) should be focusing on to become a product owner? I feel like it's a fairly smooth transition to make, but keen to hear what others think.

I’m currently transitioning into a Product Owner career and would really appreciate advice from people already doing the job.

My background is a little unconventional. I spent 19 years as a licensed massage therapist and built and operated my own wellness business. That taught me a lot about listening to customers, identifying pain points, making business decisions, managing priorities, and figuring things out without having someone hand me a playbook.
Over the last two years, I’ve moved into building digital products. Most recently, I took an AI-powered wellness app called Harmoni from idea to launch. I did customer discovery and gathered feedback from about 50 target users/testers, identified the overlapping pain points, defined the MVP around the strongest need, worked with a five-person development team, tested and iterated on the product, and brought it to launch in April. We currently have about 25 subscriptions. I’ve also gotten pretty good at vibe coding and made a clinician portal for my wellness app and launched it. I also built 2 other web-based apps I haven’t launched yet.

I realized through that experience that the part I really enjoy is the Product Owner side of the work: understanding what users actually need, translating that into requirements, prioritizing what gets built, working with developers, testing, iterating, and keeping the product focused.

I’m now actively applying for Product Owner roles. At the same time, I’m taking two product-focused courses (one focusing on AI) and studying Agile, Scrum, backlog management, user stories, acceptance criteria, sprint planning, Jira/Confluence, product discovery, roadmapping, and the overall software development lifecycle. I’m also practicing PM/PO interview questions regularly.

I know that taking courses isn’t a substitute for doing the job, so I’m trying to figure out where the biggest gaps are between my current experience and being genuinely effective in a professional PO role.

For current Product Owners: if you were in my position, what would you focus on learning or practicing next?

What do you wish you understood before your first PO role? What separates someone who knows the Agile/Scrum terminology from someone who is actually good at the job? And are there particular skills or concepts you think career changers tend to underestimate?

I’m not looking for a shortcut. I’m trying to make sure I’m spending my study time on things that will actually matter once I’m working with a real product and engineering team.

Hi everyone! I’m hoping to get some advice from people in the product community.

I recently got an opportunity to transition into a Technical Product Owner/Product Owner role. I’m genuinely excited because it’s a career path I’ve been curious about for years, but at the same time I’m also nervous. I know I don’t have direct Product Owner experience, and I’m worried about whether I’ll be able to succeed once I’m actually in the role.

For some background, I’ve been a Software Engineer for almost 9 years, currently at a senior level. I’ve also had experience leading a small team of junior developers as a Dev Lead, so leading people and working closely with engineers isn’t new to me.

Last week, I was unfortunately affected by a company restructuring, and about half of our engineering team was laid off after being with the company for only 7 months. While I was starting my job search, something unexpected happened. The client-side manager (Banking/Fintech) from my previous/recent project reached out and asked if I’d be interested in becoming their Technical Product Owner.

She explained that she’s looking for someone with strong technical knowledge who can also take on BA/Product responsibilities. She told me she already trusts my technical skills.

I also met with my previous company’s account manager, who was very transparent about the expectations. She reminded me that this is a completely different mindset from being a Software Engineer. It’s more about product ownership, stakeholder communication, prioritization, leading Scrum ceremonies, managing the backlog, and making product decisions.

The opportunity isn’t official yet since I still need to wait around 1–1.5 months for everything to be finalized, they also need to work offering me the formalized job offer, but I already told them that I want to pursue it.

The reason I’m saying yes is because this isn’t a random decision. About three years ago, I almost transitioned into a Technical Consultant role because I realized the business + technical side of software interests me a lot. Unfortunately, that opportunity fell through when the company froze hiring during my job offer stage. So when this TPO opportunity came up, it felt like a second chance to explore a path I’ve been genuinely interested in.

Since I have some waiting time before everything becomes official, I’d love to prepare as much as I can.

For those who transitioned from Software Engineering to Product Owner or Technical Product Owner:
- What helped you the most during your first few months?
- What should I start learning now?
- Are there any online courses, books, or certifications you’d recommend?
- Any mistakes you wish you had avoided?

I’d really appreciate any advice. I know nothing beats real experience, but I want to make the most of this opportunity and set myself up for success if everything pushes through.

Thank you in advance!

I have a PO interview next week which are the main concepts I should know about it? That i can be asked?

I’m looking for a note‑taking app that lets me capture ideas by speaking instead of typing. It should turn my speech into text so I can review it later. I often have several ideas on the same topic, so I need to create multiple notes. I currently use Wispr Flow for voice‑to‑text, but it only works for real‑time messages. Are there any good mobile apps that can handle this kind of note‑taking?