Here are 10 key differences between the Product Owner (PO) and Business Analyst (BA) roles in Scrum:
- Focus: The PO focuses on defining the product vision, strategy, and roadmap, while the BA focuses on analyzing and defining the functional requirements of the product.
- Ownership: The PO is the ultimate decision-maker and accountable for the product success, while the BA works in collaboration with the PO to support product development.
- Customer interaction: The PO is responsible for interacting with customers and understanding their needs, while the BA primarily interacts with internal stakeholders such as the development team and product owner.
- Backlog management: The PO is responsible for maintaining the product backlog and prioritizing features, while the BA provides inputs and supports the PO in grooming the backlog.
- Business value: The PO is responsible for ensuring that the product delivers business value, while the BA focuses on ensuring that the functional requirements are met.
- Stakeholder management: The PO manages relationships with all stakeholders, while the BA works with specific stakeholders to elicit and define requirements.
- Agile ceremonies: The PO is an integral part of all Scrum ceremonies, while the BA may participate in certain ceremonies such as Sprint planning and review, as required.
- Technical expertise: The PO does not require technical expertise but needs a deep understanding of the market and the customer, while the BA requires technical expertise to understand and define functional requirements.
- Acceptance criteria: The PO is responsible for defining acceptance criteria, while the BA helps to refine and clarify them.
- Documentation: The BA is responsible for documenting the functional requirements and ensuring that they are clearly communicated to the development team, while the PO focuses on communication and vision-setting.
Overall, the PO and BA roles have distinct but complementary responsibilities in a Scrum team, working together to ensure that the product is aligned with the business goals and customer needs.