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The new product owner: from backlog managers to product engineers

In traditional IT outsourcing, the product owner role tends to shrink to one task: backlog management. Requirements come in, user stories go out.  

The strongest outsourcing partners take a different approach. Their product owners operate with the capability and authority of senior product managers and are actively developing towards a new kind of role: the product engineer.

In many near-shore and outsourcing environments, the product owner role is difficult to shape well. It centres on building external products based on pre-set client requirements, so product owners end up acting as structural translators between client and development team. They receive instructions, shape them into user stories, and the team builds. There is rarely space to question whether those requirements are right. 

At Damilah, we work against this execution-only model. While our product owners carry the same title, they operate with the authority of senior product managers. We believe that to deliver real value, they need to own the full lifecycle – and that starts with product discovery.

Product discovery done right

Product discovery is an active, ongoing process product owners should lead from the start of any project – before development begins. They should ensure engineering effort goes towards problems that have been validated with real users. In practice, that means:

  • Step 1: Direct customer interviews. Run discovery sessions with users to understand their real challenges and how they work. 
  • Step 2: Map customer pain points. Map user journeys to identify friction points and the problems that matter most to customers. 
  • Step 3: Affinity mapping. Note patterns from user sessions, group common issues together and draw out clear themes to guide priorities. 
  • Step 4: Ideation. Run workshops with design and development teams to explore solutions before any architecture decisions are made. 
  • Step 5: UX/UI alignment. Work closely with designers to move from concept through wireframes to prototype. 
  • Step 6: User testing. Put high-fidelity prototypes in front of real users before any production code is written – to confirm the solution solves the right problem. 

The next step: the product engineer

As AI takes on more technical execution, the line between strategy and production is starting to blur. At Damilah, we are actively investing in this shift, developing our product people towards a new hybrid role: the product engineer. 

A product engineer combines strong product thinking with hands-on technical capability. By training our product people to work with live coding tools and AI, we are building professionals who can take a product from discovery through to a working prototype.

Case in point: The all-in-one product engine

Iskra Ristovska is one of our product leaders moving from a classical product owner role towards that of a product engineer. 

Working with a core client, she uses the client’s internal AI tools to analyse data, map dependencies and extract requirements in real time. During user discovery sessions, she works in a live coding environment, building, testing and refining prototypes on the spot. This shortens the gap between vision and working software, so customer feedback turns into tangible results quickly.

To support this way of working, we run a weekly review session with key stakeholders. We present the latest prototype, gather feedback and implement changes within the same cycle. The pace only works because it stays anchored to genuine client pain points – the AI tools support that focus, rather than becoming an end in themselves.

“We don’t wait for discovery to finish before we start building. We build during discovery, so customer feedback can turn into something tangible in the same session.” – Iskra Ristovska, Product Leader at Damilah

Why this matters to our partners 

When companies partner with outsourced development agencies, they often lose time in handoffs. The product manager speaks to the client, translates requirements to a designer, who hands them to an engineer, and something is lost at each step. That is how product feature factories form: lots of activity, bloated budget and not enough impact. 

Our investment in product capability addresses that directly. Our product owners bring senior-level discovery expertise and live-coding technical capabilities. With Damilah, you get a partner who understands your business architecture, can challenge your assumptions, and move from problem to working solution faster.

If you would like to explore how this approach could strengthen your product delivery and reduce friction between strategy and execution, get in touch here to start the conversation.