Product ownership and the library website redesign process

Abstract

This article presents a case study in which one library designated Product Owners to steer a website redesign project. The Product Owner, commonly used in agile approaches to software development, plays an important leadership role in the development process. In the case described here, two faculty librarians were selected to co-lead the project. This article outlines the benefits of using Product Owners and the factors that led to the two librarians being put on the project. The authors explore the challenges related to faculty librarians becoming Product Owners—a recognized leadership role without formal management responsibilities.

Keywords:

• Agile project management
• academic libraries
• library website redesign
• Product Owners