This is one of the most common questions IT organizations ask when they get serious about Product Ownership.
Should the Product Owner come from “the business” or from IT?
It sounds like an org design question. In practice, it’s a capability question. The real issue is not where the Product Owner sits, but whether someone can successfully fulfill the responsibilities of the role as it is meant to be practiced.
It’s About Being “Full STAK”
So, what are the capabilities you need to be a good PO? At Humanizing Work, we’ve found it useful to describe strong Product Owners as “Full STAK”—having the Skills, Time, Authority, and Knowledge to do the role well.
And it’s a big role… Great Product Owners hold strategic vision while collaborating daily with their teams. They structure work across multiple planning levels, facilitate continuous learning, make value-based tradeoffs explicit, and align stakeholders. These responsibilities require real capabilities, not just a certain reporting line.
Most Product Owner failures come from a gap in the STAK. Missing key product management skills. Not having time to be both strategic and collaborative. Lacking the authority to make priority decisions stick. Being unaware of how customers actually do their work. Neither business experience nor IT experience guarantees the full range of capabilities the role demands.
Business-side POs often start stronger on domain context and stakeholder access, but may struggle with time or product skills. IT-side POs often start stronger on collaboration and delivery mechanics, but may struggle with customer knowledge.
So, instead of asking whether the PO should be from IT or the business, ask: Who can realistically be Full STAK for this team, in this organization, right now? And what needs to change around them to make that possible?
We’ve created a comprehensive guide that breaks down what great Product Owners actually do and what Full STAK means in practice. Read the full Humanizing Work Guide to the Product Owner Role here.
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