Product Owner Certification: Who Needs it, Why, and How to Prepare?

Growing demand for digital transformations is obvious all over the world. Consequently, the demand for Product Owners is growing, too. What do you need to become a certified Product Owner?

We have already noted on Agile.Live that the world has changed, and only those companies who are able to adjust to the new digital realities will stay in the game.

This means that many businesses that do not specialize in software development realize the need to integrate digital solutions into their operations. These are banks, telecoms companies, manufacturing enterprises, and others. (You may read about a successful agile transformation in one of such companies in our post “How to Accelerate Agile Transformation: Understanding Product Owner Role”.)

Meanwhile, the demand for digitalization is growing and will continue to grow, and companies, from IT or other industries, will need Product Owners.

Who needs Product Owner’s certification and why?

Practically, we can identify three common reasons why representatives of IT and other industries contact us for training and certification:

1. Personal benefits, career advancement.
2. Recognition of current POs.
3. Professional development.

1. Personal benefits, career advancement

Due to the growing demand for digital technologies around the world, new career opportunities are opening up, especially for those who aim at working in a global company.

For some, this is an opportunity to go abroad, move to the country of their dream, live, and work there.
For others, it is an opportunity to mix business with pleasure — work and travel around the world and fill life with new experiences.

In one way or the other professional certification by scrum.org meets these goals perfectly.

2. Recognition of current POs

At the same time, many practitioners, who have not taken any courses, already play the role of a Product Owner (PO). However, they have questions, lack expertise or confidence, or do not fully understand their responsibilities in Scrum. Some are disturbed by constant interferences from their bosses, others feel pressure from the team (“Tell us what to do”) or face similar problems.

Taking a training course held by excellent coaches will help you not only find the answers to your questions, but also gain new knowledge and skills, pass the assessment from scrum.org, and receive PSPO Certificate.

On the other hand, some already work as Product Owners. They just want is to make sure they are on the right track and receive valuable insights from other experts. The only thing lacking is their formal recognition. PSPO Certification is exactly what they need.

3. Professional development

Finally, those who work in non-IT industries, yet deal with digital technologies (for growing business, gaining competitive advantages, implementing innovations, etc.) also gladly come to the training. Such companies aim to train a professional team able to compete with the best IT professionals.

Of course, many trainees come for the sake of their own professional growth or to start their Agile journey.

What competencies Product Owner should have:

1. Grasp Agile approach.
2. Know product development cycle.
3. Understand Scrum framework.
4. Know the Product Owner’s roles and powers.
5. PSPO (I, II, III) certification.

In Agile.Live you will be able to prepare for the official Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO) assessment and receive the Certificate from scrum.org. Ask a question.

How to prepare for Product Owner certification

PURPOSE
Keep in mind that the purpose of certification is to confirm:

1. Your understanding of the Scrum framework.
2. Your ability to support product value creation and implementation.
3. Your understanding of the Product Owner role.
4. Your skill to interpret the tenets of Scrum and Agile.
5. Your capacity to work with various cases and use your experience.

TRAINING

For the best result, POs undertake a Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO) training course in a training center such as Agile.Live. See the schedule of our training courses.

At the same time, those who already work as Product Owners and have a perfect understanding of the subject can pass the assessment without taking any preparatory courses.

WHAT SHOULD A PRODUCT OWNER KNOW

What material should a Product Owner learn in order to prepare for PSPO assessment and certification? What do you need to know?

1. Learn the Scrum Guide (https://www.scrum.org/resources/scrum-guide).
2. Understand Scrum concepts and tenets: values, team, event, artifact, goal, task completion criterion, empiricism, etc.
3. Know Agile Manifesto (http://agilemanifesto.org).
4. Understand the agile approach to product development and such terms and concepts as forecasting and release planning, vision, product value, product backlog management, business strategy, stakeholders, and users.
5. Understand product development and release, risk management, and flow optimization.

PSPO assessment is in English, the fee is $200, as of 2021. The costs of preparatory training courses are not included. Check our fees for the Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO) training course.

Summary

Choosing a Product Owner career is a good decision, as the demand for it is only growing, and opens up great opportunities for professional development in your country or abroad.

In order to compete as a Product Owner in the IT market or other industries that integrate digital technologies, you need to comply with the required competencies and have an industry-recognized certification.
You can get good training in authorized centers, such as Agile.Live.

Although preliminary training courses are not mandatory for Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO) certification, the requirements of scrum.org are serious. Many underestimate them, do not prepare well, do not read additional sources, and therefore fail, lose time and resources.

Only those will succeed and get the PO qualification and certification who devoted a great deal of time to diligent study, invested their resources in the training and passed the assessment.

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