Business analysis glossary
Product Owner
What it is
The product owner is the person in a Scrum team accountable for the product's value. They own the backlog, set its order, accept completed work and represent stakeholders' needs to the team. The role is a single person, not a committee, so that decisions can be made quickly and the team has one place to ask questions.
Why it matters
Someone must make prioritisation decisions. Analysts often support the product owner by clarifying needs and writing stories, but the ordering decision stays with the product owner. In many organisations the analyst helps the product owner by elaborating stories, running refinement sessions and checking the work against criteria.
Example
At Pinecrest Software, the product owner decides that "export to spreadsheet" will wait until after "reset password" because support calls about passwords cost more. The analyst updates the stories accordingly. The decision is the product owner's, and it is based on information the analyst gathered from the support team about call volumes.