People often ask me what I mean when I say that Product Owners, in carrying out their role, must do so ethically and with due respect for the rights of others.
Product Owners hold the product vision, and it’s their job to always keep it before the Team. As with any vision, some parts of it may be less clear than others. When the Team needs direction on how to implement any part of the vision that is not clear, it’s often easier for a Product Owner to expound the idea by way of an example.
There’s a right and a wrong way to act at these moments. There’s a respectful and a disrespectful way of behaving in these situations. This is when Product Owners show leadership by doing the right thing.
During the development of the Kindle I guess Amazon’s product people must have put a story on the task board saying something like: “We should be able to silently delete material from Kindles already in use by customers in case we encounter digital rights issues after e-books have been purchased and downloaded.”
Take a look at this tricky situation that Amazon finds itself in and think about what you would do in the circumstances.
What’s my definition of a Product Owner? A Product Owner directs the team to deliver the right solution to market that meets user needs and stakeholder expectations, in a way that is innovative, ethical, and respectful of the rights of others.
