Product Owner: The person responsible for deciding what the team builds and in what order, representing users and business needs.
Example
You aren’t sure whether search should include archived items, so you ask the Product Owner.
Why Product Owner matters for IT interns
For questions about what a feature should do, the Product Owner usually has the answer.
Where you will hear it
You will hear this term in team routines such as stand-ups, sprint planning, and retrospectives. If someone uses it and you are not sure what they mean in your project, it is completely fine to ask; every team uses terms a little differently.
Related terms
- Epic: A large piece of work that is broken down into smaller user stories.
- Kanban: A way of managing work on a board with columns such as To Do, In Progress and Done, focusing on a steady flow…
- Product Backlog: The complete, prioritised list of everything that might be built into the product.
- Retrospective: A meeting at the end of a sprint where the team discusses what went well, what didn’t and what to change next…
- Scrum: A popular Agile framework with fixed-length sprints, specific roles (Product Owner, Scrum Master and the…
- Scrum Master: The person who helps the team follow Scrum, runs the team meetings and helps remove obstacles.
Previous term: Product Backlog | Next term: Production
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
What is Product Owner?
The person responsible for deciding what the team builds and in what order, representing users and business needs.
What is an example of Product Owner?
You aren’t sure whether search should include archived items, so you ask the Product Owner.
Why does Product Owner matter for IT interns?
For questions about what a feature should do, the Product Owner usually has the answer.
Explore more internship terms
The IT Internship Glossary explains 199 terms you will hear before and during your internship, with simple definitions and real examples.
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About the author
Dhaivat has 16+ years of experience in the IT industry, working on AI and cloud technologies, project delivery, and engineering leadership. He has interviewed and mentored many interns, wrote The Lost Intern, and runs the non-commercial Career Impact Initiative, mentoring students for free.