I’m working as a product owner in a company in germany.

I’m working as a Product Owner in a company in Germany. One year ago, they “introduced” scrum by telling an internal PM that she’s PO and SM now. After noticing that this doesn’t work, the

company hired POs ans SMS. As many companies in Germany, agility has not arrived yet. This also goes for new work structures. Germany is a bit behind the rest of world when it comes to these

things. IMHO a product has a right of existence to do the “work with the client” as a single source of contact, to build a personal connection. Someone who shows, that it’s a personal goal

of the company that the customer is satisfied and taken care of. One person who knows all details. As a PO, I always discuss the user stories with the team during the planning. Therefor I

happyly pass the time-box rule of Scrum, to ensure that there is a complete understanding. And my team decides the priorities (with my feedback what has been important for the client during

the meeting. Customer first) and I respect their decision m, because they are the experts. I’m not a developer at all. I have been a “customer man” all my life. Taking care that the customer

is happy for 100%. Not being a dev guy creates the need that my dev team explains issues to me in “human language”. The advantage is, that I will discuss and explain issues also in human

language. Our customer is clueless about technology but explaining things in an understandable manner (sometimes with drawings) improves understanding and communication. It also ensures the

self-esteem of customer, making him feel more secure and better. In our case, the team is busy enough, to adapt true Scrum and to reach the goals by creating increments (we have less

experienced developers). I’m sure that most of us know, that developers often are not the most communicative people in the world. When I would ask my guys to visit the client, the would

refuse. Another task of mine are controlling budget/costs, value and market situation. These are administrative duties and also discussed with the client. So I’m not sharing the opinion that

there is no need for a Product Owner, because we do this all for the client. To ensure, that we deliver great products, which helps our customer in his business and to satisfy 100%. Reading

all those articles written by experts and during Meet-ups facilliated by experts, I often get the feeling that it’s all about organizational subjects and not about “daily life” and paying

customers. A bit like governments not knowing what’s happening on the streets with the people.