The Octopus Diaries: The Role That Stretches

Are we just Product Owners, or is there more to it?

It began with a joke over coffee. Someone quipped, “You’re like an octopus! Always juggling a million things at once.” I laughed at the time, but as the days unfolded, the nickname started to stick. One week, I managed to finalize a product roadmap, facilitate a stakeholder alignment meeting, and troubleshoot a client-reported bug—all at once. It wasn’t just a nickname; it was a reflection of the complex dance we Product Owners often find ourselves performing.

The joke, while lighthearted, captured something profound about the role: our ability to juggle diverse responsibilities with precision, much like an octopus navigating its intricate underwater world. From stakeholder management to product strategy, team coordination, and a dash of firefighting, we stretch ourselves across every corner of the product's lifecycle. It’s not just multitasking—it’s mastering the art of being everywhere at once, ensuring that every moving part works in harmony.

A Day in the Life

Product Owners. A title so crisp and clean, yet deceptively simple. On paper, we’re responsible for the product’s vision, prioritizing the backlog, and ensuring the team is aligned. But the reality? Far messier, far more chaotic, and far more human.

One moment, I’m a Product Owner, a visionary, conjuring dreams of products that don’t yet exist and mapping out how they’ll solve real problems. The next, I’m a Business Analyst, dissecting ambiguous requirements and uncovering hidden truths. By afternoon, I’ve shifted into the role of a strategist, much like a Product Manager, walking the tightrope of budgets, timelines, and expectations, ensuring everyone stays focused on the bigger picture.

As the day unfolds, I become a diplomat, much like an Communications Specialist, smoothing over disagreements; a Project Manager, steering the ship through turbulent waters; or a quality advocate, diving into details others might overlook. And let’s not forget the occasional foray into UX, QA, or even Tech Lead territory.

Boundaries as Thin as Mist

The truth is, the boundaries between roles in our world are as thin as a London fog—barely visible and easily crossed. One day, I’m writing test cases for a critical feature, leveraging my deep understanding of the product’s functionality to ensure alignment with user needs—a perspective unique to the Product Owner role; the next, I’m steering a risk assessment as a Project Manager when a key dependency falls through. Budget constraints, team dynamics, and organizational needs blur these lines even further. Suddenly, the Product Owner becomes the glue, holding the fragments of roles together and ensuring everything sticks.

We adapt because we must. It’s not a sign of superhuman abilities but a testament to our versatility. And yet, in this shapeshifting role, it’s easy to wonder: What am I, really?

The Heart of It All

At the end of the day, it’s not about titles or boundaries. The essence of our work is problem-solving and finding joy in bringing order to chaos. Take, for instance, resolving a conflict between stakeholders—such as a product manager advocating for innovative features and managers pushing for immediate client fixes—requires not only data-driven prioritization but also delicate diplomacy to align competing interests. It’s about aligning everyone toward a coherent goal. Like Hercule Poirot arranging the pieces of a puzzle, we examine every angle, anticipate every challenge, and weave it all together into a coherent solution. 

Perhaps that’s why the team thinks I’m a superhuman. Not because I’m extraordinary, but because I’m everywhere at once—like the Octopus, with arms reaching into every corner of the project.

We are, at our core, dreamers and doers. We dream of products that will delight users and transform businesses. Then we roll up our sleeves to bring those dreams to life, weaving market insights with customer feedback, business goals, and technical feasibility.

In the quiet hours, we imagine not just what a product is but what it could be. In meetings, we fight for that vision, balancing its purity against reality’s constraints. We are artists painting the future while engineering it brick by brick.

It’s this seamless blend of dreaming and doing, of crafting and coordinating, that defines our work. It’s not about being extraordinary—it’s about making the extraordinary happen.

So, Are We Just Product Owners?

No. We are so much more. We are the quiet detectives of the development world, piecing together clues like uncovering an edge case that caused a spike in errors or leading a cross-functional team to resolve last-minute blockers for a major release. We are the glue holding the story together, the compass that keeps projects on course, and the unsung heroes in the background. Our work may defy neat definitions, but therein lies its beauty. It’s not just a job—it’s a craft, a journey, and yes, sometimes, a mystery waiting to be solved.

We uncover needs, anticipate challenges, and orchestrate solutions. We’re visionaries, we’re researchers, we’re strategists.

And then there’s the nickname: the Octopus. It feels apt, not because of some mythical ability, but because of our reach. Like the octopus, our arms extend into every corner of the product’s life, touching vision, design, strategy, and delivery. We stretch because we must, adapting to fill gaps, connecting the dots, and ensuring nothing slips through.

At the end of the day, being a Product Owner isn’t just a role—it’s an adventure. It’s about turning complexity into clarity, connecting people, ideas, and technology to create something extraordinary. If that means being a little bit of everything—well, I’ll wear the Octopus nickname proudly.

So, with a nod to Agatha Christie herself, I leave you with this thought: Being a Product Owner is not about what you do—it’s about the magic of making things happen.