Program Leader
Short Tip: The person responsible for keeping consistency across multiple related products (programs).
What is it?
Often known as Product Lead, Senior Product Manager, Program Manager, or Head of Product, this position is common in organizations with multiple complex products.
The Program Leader’s main duty is to keep consistency regarding the initiatives employed in multiple products, under a guideline that is aligned with the organization’s strategic goals. To that end, he/she can influence the priority given to specific product initiatives, if that impacts other products.
As indicated for the Product Owner in the Scrum guide, the program leader should be one single person, not a committee. This prevents noise caused by inconsistent decisions about the program.
Duties
The two main duties of a Program Leader are:
- Measuring and maximizing the program’s overall value when considering multiple related products;
- Keeping the Program Backlog’s consistency by keeping it organized, ordered and communicated to Product Owners.