Top 10 signs you are a Product Clerk and not a Product Owner

1. You never actually used a similar product.
2. You were never annoyed by the limits of existing product (competing or not)
3. You understand the high level basics of the needed solution. No more.
4. You answer almost every question with “I’ll go ask”
5. Since your main source of input is the development team, your Product Backlog is filled with horizontal and technical items.
6. Feedback mostly comes from stakeholders during Sprint Reviews.
7. Putting your foot down sounds like a feather hitting the floor.
8. You are unable to quickly and convincingly state the Vision of “your” product.
9. You call meeting after meeting and then a few more meetings with your development team since Mr. Stakeholder 2 overturned the request of Mr. Stakeholder 1, and then back again.
10. Your budget is…..Well you don’t really have one.

Bonus :

You don’t have that twinkle in your eye when you talk about “your” product.

If you recognize yourself, I must inform you that you are a Product Clerk :

|prod-uhkt klurk|

1 a person employed in an office to keep records and accounts and to undertake other routine administrative duties.

…and not a Product Owner.

You might be tempted to use a cooler name like “Proxy Product Owner”  but the end result is the same.