CSPO (Certified Scrum Product Owner®) is an important strategic profile within an organization on which the success of a product is largely dependent. CSPOs keep the product’s total cost of ownership (TCO) within reasonable limits and always pave the way for optimum ROI. S/he keenly monitors development team’s activities for optimizing the value of efforts put in so that the end product becomes flawless. Apart from managing and updating Product Backlog, CSPO is responsible for cancelling Sprints and taking a decision regarding the appropriate time of releasing product increments to clients.
CSPO training would make you join the league of eminent product owners who shoulder important developmental responsibilities and are lucratively rewarded. After all, as a CSPO, you have to play the vital role of effectively aligning the aspirations and expectations of clients with a business product under development. Also, you have to articulate the same to your Agile team and ensure timely responses from them. CSPOs across different top-notch companies in India draw handsome pay packages as is evident below.
Source: PayScale
Why Is the Role of CSPO so Significant?
Scrum Guide summarizes the importance of CSPO’s role in these words, “For the Product Owner to succeed, the entire organization must respect his or her decisions….No one is allowed to tell the Development Team to work from a different set of requirements (other than those represented in the Product Backlog – AOC), and the Development Team isn’t allowed to act on what anyone else says”.
Organizations are attaching huge importance to the role of CSPO because of numerous reasons. Some of the essentials ones are mentioned below.
1) CSPO Drives The Activities of Development Team
As a CSPO, you will manage the product backlog and assign responsibilities to the members of the software/ product development team. You would prioritize the features list of the product and describe the required functionalities in the product backlog.
You can learn more about it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBmjKZLxs18
2) CSPO Ensures Fair Representation of Customer’s Requirements in Product
You, in the capacity of CSPO, would have to invest quality time interacting with clients and relevant stakeholders. This is important for evaluating the relative value of various functionalities incorporated in the Backlog. Based on the analytical results, you have to strategically place an order on the development team.
3) CSPO Defines the Technical Dependencies Among Constituent Product Elements
You will have to build stories for showcasing the actual technical dependencies existing among various product constituents. This forms the base for preparing for the next Sprint review wherein the usable product can be tested for accuracy on pre-defined parameters.
4) CSPO Takes Complete Ownership of The Product
This implies that you may have to promote some negligible aspects of the product over the more important one momentarily for ensuring the success of the Sprint Review. During Sprint demonstration, this would facilitate the team to accurately present the evolving product prototype.
5) CSPO Defines Feasible Targets at Sprint Planning Meeting
For defining targets for the next review, you will take inputs from clients and managers. But eventually, your decision would prevail when it comes to ranking the items in the backlog. You will develop consensus on Sprint goals and define the targets to be an accomplishment at the conclusion of each iteration. Based on your forecasts, the timeline of the product development would be set.
Why CSPO Certification Is Important?
By completing the Certified Scrum Product Owner Course, you would gain functional and actionable insights into the scrum principles and values.
The major outcomes of the program would be:
- Your facilitation skills would improve significantly
- Your awareness about the deliverables of the Product Owner role would improve
- You will become competent in managing and liaising with stakeholders and clients
- Your proficiency in prioritizing listings within backlog/ creating user stories will grow
- You can maximize the outcomes of each Sprint review
- You can understand the priority level of a function intuitively
- You will complement Scrum Master in Agile implementation within the team
- You will be a champion of consistent improvement and Scrum philosophy
CSPO Certification is Ideal for Whom?
If you are a professional who is discharging responsibilities in following capacities, you must complete the CSPO certification.
- Product Owner
- Product Manager
- Quality Assurance Manager
- Business/ Sr. Business Analyst
- Scrum Manager
- Team Leader
Upon successful completion of training, you would be conferred with Certified Scrum Product Owner®(CSPO) Certificate and Scrum Alliance Membership valid for two years.
Is CSPO Certification Worth Doing?
CSPO Certification endows you with negotiation, liaising, facilitation, collaborative, team management, and stakeholder management skills apart from strengthening your emotional intelligence quotient. These skills render you as a domain expert.
Each year, numerous start-ups are appearing on India entrepreneurial horizon with unique ideas and novel disruptions. They require the services of dedicated CSPOs to drive project success, and therefore the opportunities are endless for a skilled CSPO. The right certification would steer your career on the path of constant growth.
