The Product Owner Role in Practice: A Triangulation of Industry Expectations, Activities, and Soft Skills in Brazil

The Product Owner (PO) role has become increasingly central in agile software development, acting as a bridge between business, technology, and users. Despite its relevance, there is still limited empirical evidence on how this role is defined and enacted in the Brazilian industry. This study presents a multi-source comparative analysis between PO job postings and professionals’ perceptions, aiming to identify convergences and misalignments between industry expectations and real-world practice. To achieve this, 202 job postings targeting Product Owner positions were analyzed, alongside 25 responses from professionals working in or related to the role. In addition, a Systematic Mapping Study (SMS) was conducted, identifying 33 soft skills associated with the PO role. The results reveal that the Brazilian industry strongly emphasizes mid-to-senior profiles, multidisciplinary backgrounds, and technology-driven sectors, reinforcing the strategic and integrative nature of the role. From an operational perspective, the findings highlight that Product Owners are primarily engaged in coordination-intensive activities, such as backlog prioritization, stakeholder communication, and collaboration with cross-functional teams. However, the analysis also uncovers a relevant gap between expected and actual tool usage, particularly regarding data-driven decision-making tools, which are frequently required but less adopted in practice. Regarding soft skills, communication, analytical thinking, teamwork, leadership, and negotiation emerge as core competencies consistently highlighted across job postings and professional perceptions. At the same time, several skills identified in the literature—such as ethics, feedback, and trust—are rarely made explicit in job descriptions, suggesting that they are treated as implicit expectations. Furthermore, variability in the perceived importance of skills such as leadership and adaptability indicates that their relevance may depend on contextual and organizational factors. Overall, the results reveal a partially misaligned scenario in which the PO role is broadly defined, highly flexible, and often ambiguous, combining strategic, operational, and relational responsibilities. These findings contribute to advancing the understanding of the PO role in the Brazilian context, highlighting the need for clearer role definitions, better alignment between market expectations and professional practice, and more structured approaches to the development and evaluation of soft skills in agile environments.产品负责人（Product Owner，PO）岗位在敏捷软件开发中的核心地位日益凸显，其作为连接业务、技术与用户的桥梁发挥着关键作用。尽管该岗位的重要性不言而喻，但目前针对巴西行业中该岗位的定义与实践方式，相关实证证据仍较为匮乏。本研究针对PO岗位招聘启事与从业者认知开展多源对比分析，旨在厘清行业预期与实际实践之间的契合点与偏差之处。为此，研究团队共分析了202份PO岗位招聘启事，并收集了25份来自该岗位从业者或相关从业人员的反馈。此外，本研究还开展了一项系统映射研究（Systematic Mapping Study，SMS），共识别出与PO岗位相关的33项软技能。研究结果显示，巴西行业对PO岗位的招聘偏好显著集中于中高级从业者、多学科背景人员以及科技驱动型行业，这进一步强化了该岗位的战略性与整合性属性。从运营层面来看，研究结果表明PO岗位的核心工作以协调类活动为主，例如待办事项优先级排序、利益相关方沟通以及与跨职能团队协作。不过，分析同时也揭示了预期与实际工具使用之间存在显著差距：数据驱动决策工具便是典型代表——招聘启事中频繁提及该类工具的要求，但实际从业者的采纳率却相对较低。在软技能方面，沟通能力、分析性思维、团队协作、领导力与谈判能力成为招聘启事与从业者认知中共同强调的核心胜任力。与此同时，文献中提及的多项技能——例如道德规范、反馈能力与信任构建——却极少在招聘启事中标注明确要求，这意味着这类技能往往被视为隐性的岗位预期。此外，从业者对领导力、适应性等技能的重要性认知存在差异，表明其相关性可能取决于具体的情境与组织因素。整体而言，研究结果揭示了一个部分错位的场景：PO岗位的定义宽泛且灵活性极高，往往兼具模糊性，融合了战略、运营与关系协调等多重职责。本研究结果有助于深化对巴西语境下PO岗位的认知，同时也指出了三大亟需改进的方向：明确岗位定义、缩小市场预期与专业实践之间的差距，以及在敏捷开发环境中建立更系统化的软技能培养与评估机制。