More Scrum trainers make the news every day. This time Mike Cohn speaks to a reporter from AgileSoftwareDevelopment.com about the relatively new Certified Scrum Product Owner course and its merits and goals. He also talks about his own experiences and challenges as a Product Owner.

Mike was asked what three tips he would give to a new product owner. He was quoted as answering,

"A product owner has to prioritize. I want product owners to take it very seriously, but I want them to listen to other opinions. I want them to talk to architects who may have opinions about technical risk and programmers about why it's easier or better to do something. So I would tell product owners to:

  1. Take prioritization very seriously.
  2. Make sure you don't do it on your own. It's not all just business value. There are other things: technical risk, the amount and significance or what we'll learn by doing a feature and so on.
  3. Not to disengage from the process. It's very frustrating for the team to be trying to go as fast as possible and not have access to their product owner."

When asked who should take a CSPO course and how it is different from a CSM course, Mike is quoted as saying,

"The Certified Scrum Product Owner class is for anybody who seems to be more in the business side of a project. Product Owners, analysts, people who might be working on what XP would call a customer team - those are the target audiences for the Product Owner class.

"I see the biggest differences in that ScrumMaster class is really oriented at both ScrumMasters and teams. The Product Owner class is aimed more at the customer side of things, meaning less focus on solving team problems, overcoming impediments, and doing those kinds of things. In the Product Owner classes I teach a lot the focus is on user stories, managing the product backlog, using the backlog as a scoping tool. It's about prioritization, optimizing value delivery, things like that."

When asked to clarify whether the class or the class attendees are certified, Mike was quoted as follows,

"You know that it's being taught by a Scrum Trainer who has been approved by the Scrum Alliance. I think that's the main part of the certification. At least you know you are getting quality training. I don't know that if somebody goes to a class but barely pays attention (which can be hard for the trainer to know) is going to be a whole lot better. But somebody who engages in the class and participates in exercises and discussion will be a better product owner. ... right now I think it's more about the quality of the class, than about 'you have attended a class and I as a trainer certify you as being a wonderful product owner.' I can't do that in a two-day class. All I can do is to try making somebody better."

To read the full article, visit 

http://agilesoftwaredevelopment.com/blog/artem/interview-mike-cohn

posted by Rebecca T. Traeger (25 Mar 08)