Unicorns wanted: Navigating the Product Owner shortage in IT [Video]

Underestimating the importance of this role could make or break your operating model transformation: here’s how to think about sourcing the role that will only increase in importance.

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This article was co-authored by Kira Kessel, Associate at Metis Strategy.

You’ve seen the virtues of transforming from a project to a product operating model: value-driven work, delivered by dedicated teams rather than through projects led by disparate team members.

But as you embark on this transformation, you’ll have to remember one thing: you can’t do it without a product owner. The strategist, the technical expert, the business savvy leader—those with all three commonly called unicorns, or rock stars—is a person not easy to find.

Why are they unicorns?

Product owners are the linchpin of the product operating model; on product teams, a bad engineer is one bad apple, but a bad PO can sour the whole batch. No one else has the end-to-end accountability for a product …