The product owner has a responsibility to ensure that a released product meets business values ​​and user needs. Therefore, it will be very beneficial for a project to have a certified product owner.

What is Product Owner?

The product owner is one of three roles within the Scrum scope. Launching PMI, the product owner is responsible for maximizing the value of the product and the work of the developer team. However, how a product owner works can vary greatly depending on the style of the organization, the scrum team, and the individual.

The main duties of the product owner include:

-Conveying the contents of the product backlog item (user wish list) clearly.

-Sorting product backlog items to best achieve project goals and missions

-Optimizing the business value of the work done by the development team.

-Ensure that the product backlog is visible, transparent, and clear to all parties, and shows what the scrum team will do next.

-Ensure that the development team understands product backlog items from users.

Why Product Owner Certification is Important?

Product owner certification shows that the product owner knows how to work with the scrum team, where their primary responsibility is to maximize the value of the deliverable product. Where, this requires them to define the product backlog, oversee project execution, and ensure that the deliverables meet the “Completed” criteria. In the end, product owner certification can show that the product owner understands the process to ensure the end result is as desired.

3 Product Owner Certifications That Are Beneficial For Your Career

1. Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)

The first product owner certification is the Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) released by the Scrum Alliance. CSPO certification is intended for product managers, product owners, or other stakeholders with basic knowledge of the Agile Scrum framework.

CSPO provides a basic understanding of product ownership principles such as:

-Understanding the role of the modern product owner

-Explain product objectives and development strategies

-Understanding end-users

-Experiment with product assumptions

-Develop and implement a product backlog

Overall, this one product owner certification would be ideal for anyone who wants to know the basic values ​​of Scrum to build a good team foundation.

2. Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO)

This one product owner certification can be called one of the most popular. Yes, Professional Scrum Product Owner or PSPO!

Released by Scrum.org, PSPO is a certification that is considered prestigious due to its fairly heavy test weight by testing its candidates according to good and true Scrum principles. Even so, PSPO is considered more flexible in terms of exam requirements, because you are not required to take special classes or previous certifications.

This certification has three levels:

PSPO I

This certification is an entry-level certification that demonstrates a basic knowledge of Scrum. Despite the most basic certification, PSPO I holders will be highly valued by many companies,

PSPO II

This certification shows the holder has a higher level of knowledge than PSPO I holders. PSPO II tests candidates on all basic and exploratory topics. PSPO II will test your skills on the topic of product backlog management to business strategy.

PSPO III 

This certification is available to anyone who has passed the PSPO I and PSPO II assessments and wants to demonstrate their ability to apply the Scrum framework to solving complex real-world product ownership issues. Known to be very difficult, the PSPO III exam consists of multiple-choice questions and essays with an emphasis on essay questions. Therefore, the PSPO III owner will shine and their credibility is recognized as a product owner in their work environment.

3. PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)®

Launched by a prestigious project management organization, Project Management Institute (PMI), PMI-ACP itself is not actually a product owner certification specifically. This certification covers not only the foundation of Scrum, but also Test-Driven Development (TDD), Kanban, Extreme Programming (XP), and Lean.

Therefore, PMI-ACP will help you demonstrate a knowledge of Agile frameworks. To get this certification, you must take a 3 hours exam that includes 120 multiple-choice questions.

In addition, the PMI-ACP certification exam has several other requirements, such as:

-Minimum secondary level education

-8 months experience with Agile projects gained in the last 3 years

-12 months general project experience accumulated in the last 5 years

-12 hours of Agile training

To maintain PMI-ACP certification, you must earn 30 professional development units (PDUs) in a relevant topic per three years.

Those are three product owner certification recommendations that can support your career in 2022. In addition, you can also gain new insights regarding project management and product development while participating in this certification.

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