Product Owner as a contracting career?

[Smartie]

Yes, I see your point - I'm just loathe to take the place of a permie as a PO. For the client's business benefit that knowledge should be kept in-house as much as possible in my view.

Agreed, it's not ideal. It is though a pragmatic approach to take when it will benefit the team/project. Ideally we need co-location and plenty of time from the PO but of course it's not an ideal world.
All the information on the product was shared with the team and I provided enough documentation on the process and system to make maintenance easy. There was also a (perm) Test Analyst who ended up with a deep understanding of the system.
So all in all, not exactly SCRUM but the project brought in a Minimum Viable Product on time, on budget and the Client was VERY happy :-)

[cojak]

In case you want to look at doing any certifications, this is what my colleague, who is an agile coach, advised a friend of mine who was also looking at becoming a product owner, although he wanted a perm job. He wrote:

"There are two widely accepted certification organisations:
Agile Alliance
Scrum.org

With the Agile Alliance, you have to do an expensive course before you are allowed to do the exam.

Scrum.org asks a reasonable price, has more difficult certification questions (but you can pass the exam if you know enough!) and you can do the exam if you think you're ready for it (they don't force you to follow an expensive course).

I prefer Scrum.org"

There is also the the DSDM Consortium.

[sunflower]

In case you want to look at doing any certifications, this is what my colleague, who is an agile coach, advised a friend of mine who was also looking at becoming a product owner, although he wanted a perm job. He wrote:

"There are two widely accepted certification organisations:
Agile Alliance
Scrum.org

With the Agile Alliance, you have to do an expensive course before you are allowed to do the exam.

Scrum.org asks a reasonable price, has more difficult certification questions (but you can pass the exam if you know enough!) and you can do the exam if you think you're ready for it (they don't force you to follow an expensive course).

I prefer Scrum.org"

[cojak]

I've had a contract recently where I ended up as a proxy PO in addition to my usual BA/PM role. It worked out very well - the product was new so their wasn't a great deal of knowledge in the organisation about it, just requirements. The PO was a senior exec in the US - short of time and often inaccessible. It was a SCRUM environment however a lot of places use variations on that and to be honest, do what works.

BA's are pretty well suited to the PO role - if they help to write the user stories, they have a great understanding of the requirements. They're used to talking to the business and the technical resources and that's very handy when managing the backlog.

Yes, I see your point - I'm just loathe to take the place of a permie as a PO. For the client's business benefit that knowledge should be kept in-house as much as possible in my view.

[Smartie]

BA can

Absolutely right - Product Owners own the product because they (should) know all about it and that knowledge should be in-house.

In SCRUM environments BA's sit outside of the Project - SCRUM Masters are sort after inside SCRUM projects.

(As a DSDM BA I sit inside but I'm not a Proxy-PO.)

I've had a contract recently where I ended up as a proxy PO in addition to my usual BA/PM role. It worked out very well - the product was new so their wasn't a great deal of knowledge in the organisation about it, just requirements. The PO was a senior exec in the US - short of time and often inaccessible. It was a SCRUM environment however a lot of places use variations on that and to be honest, do what works.

BA's are pretty well suited to the PO role - if they help to write the user stories, they have a great understanding of the requirements. They're used to talking to the business and the technical resources and that's very handy when managing the backlog.

[MPwannadecentincome]

Absolutely right - Product Owners own the product because they (should) know all about it and that knowledge should be in-house.

In SCRUM environments BA's sit outside of the Project - SCRUM Masters are sort after inside SCRUM projects.

(As a DSDM BA I sit inside but I'm not a Proxy-PO.)

I'm getting confused about what you mean by inside/outside "Project", do you mean the BA is in the Project but outside the SCRUM development team?

Sorry if I'm being pedantic.

[Bellona]

*Newbie Alert*

Any other Product Owner/Product Managers here that are/want to go contracting? It seems as though the role (and AGILE in particular) is growing in usage but wanted thoughts for those with this skill set and the contracting market..

I work as a Change/Transformation PM. Many of my client's have (alleged to !) work to/ in Agile Environments in terms of development.

Having spent a number of years building up creditbility / acceptance with the dev teams at longstanding clients, I recently (while on the bench) took my Agile Product Owners certification exam.
It was more to prove that it was possible to understand / integrate the concept of Processes with Agile methodology than to try and shift my expertise.

It has not produced any additional or distinct new opportunities in it's own right, but does back up the statement on my profile summary of being " experienced in working in Agile environments".

As other posters have commented, Scrum Master roles are more distinct and do offer more contracting opportunities.

[cojak]

I have seen contract roles for product owners. Typically, it's something a business analyst might step into. There are less contracts in this area than say scrum master. Scrum master roles can demand some technical background as well and be combined with technical lead. One point to consider is that you might need to be very mobile and flexible to be able to bid for product owner roles. Otherwise, a perm job. Many organisations would probably want to keep the business knowledge in house if they can.

Official certifications will help you as will previous experience as a product owner or in agile teams.

Seems to be quite some competition for these sorts of roles too.


good luck

Absolutely right - Product Owners own the product because they (should) know all about it and that knowledge should be in-house.

In SCRUM environments BA's sit outside of the Project - SCRUM Masters are sort after inside SCRUM projects.

(As a DSDM BA I sit inside but I'm not a Proxy-PO.)

[sunflower]

*Newbie Alert*

Any other Product Owner/Product Managers here that are/want to go contracting? It seems as though the role (and AGILE in particular) is growing in usage but wanted thoughts for those with this skill set and the contracting market..

I have seen contract roles for product owners. Typically, it's something a business analyst might step into. There are less contracts in this area than say scrum master. Scrum master roles can demand some technical background as well and be combined with technical lead. One point to consider is that you might need to be very mobile and flexible to be able to bid for product owner roles. Otherwise, a perm job. Many organisations would probably want to keep the business knowledge in house if they can.

Official certifications will help you as will previous experience as a product owner or in agile teams.

Seems to be quite some competition for these sorts of roles too.

I am not in this area myself, but I know someone who does freelance as an agile coach. He did have to build up his experience in that area before he got longer projects.

good luck

[northernladuk]

What are you after? Some advice? Coffee shop chat? Feel for the market?

Have you camped on Jobserve and had a look at the number or roles that fit the skillset to gauge rates etc? What is out there in the market is just as important as musing from your peers I think so could help.

[Qwerty]

*Newbie Alert*

Any other Product Owner/Product Managers here that are/want to go contracting? It seems as though the role (and AGILE in particular) is growing in usage but wanted thoughts for those with this skill set and the contracting market..