Domain knowledge required for PO
Hi
I'm interested to know what people's thoughts are on the domain (i.e. product) knowledge required to be a successful Product Owner. How deep should they understand the product, the regulatory requirements, customers and so forth
A PO should understand the domain well enough to be able to maximize the value of the product.
The more knowledge on the product's domain the better :) Otherwise, how could the product owner maximize the value the development team is delivering iteratively? Could you as a PO maintain a product backlog without considering bussiness value, customers interests, market counterparts, tendencies or novelties in the field and other related considerations?
Depending on the product I guess the PO could survive by simply satisfying the stakeholders requests, but will he be as efficient as someone who really has that domain knowledge? This kind of 'expert' PO can even provide advise or reorient the product to something of more value (something that even the stakeholders haven't considered before).
"The New New Product Owner" by Charles Bradley is very worth reading.
Exactly, thanks to his domain knowledge he could even identify additional, crucial stakeholders...