How to Answer: Why do you want a career as a product owner?
Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Product Owner job interview.
1. Why do you want a career as a product owner?
How to Answer
As Scrum processes have developed and become more popular in recent years, more and more companies are hiring product owners to oversee and manage all processes. Successful product owners can come from many backgrounds and industries and if you are one of these candidates, your interviewer will want you to talk about why this is the best career move for you. This will allow them to hear the passion you have for the role for your long-term success in it. As you answer, use your background and your interests to say why you are so interested in this career move.
Written by Ryan Brunner on January 8th, 2024
Answer Example
"Over the last eight years of my career, I've played an integral role as part of a development team on a Scrum team with my current organization. In this work, I've done the groundwork in Scrum sprints and have always been proactive in mapping out goals and achieving them. In recent years, I've been more involved in overall goal setting and have received many accolades for my work here. My current Scrum Master on my team has witnessed this excellent vision and was actually the person to mentor me for a future role as a product owner. I feel it is a great move for me to put my managerial and visionary skills to work."
Written by Ryan Brunner on January 8th, 2024
About the Author
In the early 2000s the cross-functional application development teams I was a part of began the transition from waterfall to agile. This was tricky for several reasons, but one of the biggest hurdles involved figuring out how our traditional roles of analyst, project manager, engineer, tester, and customer translated to the scrum-based model.
While I would like to tell you making the move to scrum was an easy and seamless adventure, it wasn't. I was working with a talented group and many of them were subject matter experts with well-developed leadership skills. Our thoughts about accountability and authority did not align with the Agile Manifesto and we had to rethink our entire approach.
Honestly, I hated working in the product owner role at first. I felt like a great deal of my authority to specify how features should work was usurped. My teams and I were spinning on conversations about stories written on notecards that I could have avoided altogether with a well-delivered set of requirements. I had to ask my clients to completely shift the way we worked together and ask them to trust in my ability to ensure they would get all of the features they needed without them signing off on anything. Do not get me started on the pain that was learning how to estimate user stories as a team...
Over time, things got better and I learned to appreciate the power of scrum. I no longer authored 300-page requirement documents or change requests. I had the opportunity to deliver and test functionality in a controlled setting while embracing changes that added value. Ultimately, the experience I gained as a product owner, scrum master, and leader of agile projects represents a cherished and invaluable time in my professional journey.
I genuinely appreciate the work of talented product owners, and I enjoy partnering with them in my current role as a career coach. I hope this Q&A set assists you in proving your worth to your prospective employer, and I encourage you to check out several of our other helpful sets written by experts using the links below.
Learn more about Karrie Day