We work with many companies who are looking for full-time Product Owners. Product Owners are in high demand and it can be a long process to find the right fit for your organization. While the companies go through the search, EGI Inc. fills in as a temporary Product Owner, keeping IT projects on track and helping to train the new hire once the perfect person is found.
While filling in for our clients as Product Owners, we were almost always tapped on the shoulder to help with building the Product Owner Job Description, creating a skills test for the candidates, and asked to suggest interview questions. This can be a difficult role to hire for not just because of the high demand in the market but also because a great PO is a magical unicorn of dichotomies with excellent facilitation, oral communication, and written communication skills. They are skilled negotiators, they understand technical specs and can write specific, independent user stories. In short, they are the missing link (the link, in this case, being a magician who speaks IT and Business.) Oh, and on top of this, this magical unicorn can say no in a way that makes your stakeholders feel good about themselves.
A great PO in one organization may fail miserably in another. Culture and fit are so important to this role and therefore a canned interview script can not be used.
As we were asked to help with this numerous times it got me thinking that there are probably more Hiring Managers and Recruiters out there who would benefit from the resources we have developed. So without further a due, I present to you: Hire a Product Owner – A DIY guide with expert insights
I know I know- what makes this so cool? Let me tell you. We had our friends over at Code Elves help us out with a cool web tool to help with all of your hiring needs!
Once you build the Job Description (guidance and template provided!) you move into the interview script web tool that allows you to build an interview guide for the role with a few simple clicks!
Check it out.
First Select the role you are interviewing for (BREAKING NEWS ALERT- You can only select Product Owner at this time but fear not my friends, I will be adding more roles soon!).
Once the Product Owner is selected you will see a carefully curated list of Behavioral Skills that are imperative for the Product Owner Role. Select the 5 – 10 skills that are most important to your company culture and click next.
A list of questions for each of the selected behavior skills will appear.
Select a question or two from each of the behavioural skills sections and also make sure to select the relevant questions from the Product Owner specific list as well.
And VOILA!!
Instant Interview Guide that will ensure all your candidates go through the same interview with the same questions helping to make your hiring decision equitable and defensible. Because who doesn’t like their defensibility with a side of equity. (Disclaimer- if your candidate pre-screening process is super biased this will not solve your equity problem).
To top it all off you get a handy Product Owner Aptitude Test to assess the competencies of the Candidate and not just take their word for it.
The product can be found on our site here: https://egiinc.ca/product/hire-a-product-owner/
And if you need a time spliced or short-term Product Owner give us a call! We can help keep your project moving forward while you look for that magical unicorn to fulfill your project value needs!
