The job nobody in a small business has
Every software project needs someone on the client's side who knows what the product is for, decides what gets built first, answers the developers' questions the same day and tells the business what is happening. In a software company that person is called a product owner and it is a full-time role.
In a business of twenty people it is nobody's job. It lands on the owner, who is running the company, or on an operations manager who has never commissioned software before. Decisions wait. Developers guess. The project drifts, and the invoice does not.
A Virtual Product Owner fills that role on a part-time, monthly basis. Applicable has offered it since 2024 and it is the service most unlike anything else in the NZ small business market.
What a Virtual Product Owner does
Day to day, the Virtual Product Owner:
- Owns the vision. Keeps a clear written statement of what the product is for and uses it to say no to things that do not serve it.
- Runs the backlog. Turns your goals into a prioritised list of work and keeps it in the right order as things change.
- Writes it down. Produces the requirements, wireframes and acceptance criteria developers need, so nothing is built on a guess.
- Talks to the developers and vendors. Answers questions, reviews demos, pushes back on scope creep and holds vendors to what was agreed.
- Manages the money. Tracks spend against budget, flags risks early and reports progress to you in plain English.
- Runs testing and rollout. Organises user acceptance testing with your own staff, signs off releases and plans the launch.
You still make the business decisions. The Virtual Product Owner makes sure they are informed, made on time and carried through.
When you need one
You need a Virtual Product Owner when at least two of these are true:
- You are commissioning software and nobody in-house has done it before.
- The person nominally in charge of the project has another full-time job.
- You have a developer or vendor already and communication is the problem, not their skill.
- You cannot tell whether the project is on track and the vendor's updates do not help.
- You have a product idea and need it validated, scoped and costed before anyone writes code.
You do not need one if you have a capable internal product lead with the time to do the job, or if the project is a straightforward website. Applicable will say so.
Who the Virtual Product Owner works with
The Virtual Product Owner sits on your side of the table regardless of who is building. It can be Applicable's own developers, another vendor you have already chosen, or a mix of contractors. Because the role is independent of the build, it works just as well with someone else's team, and having a product owner who is not employed by the vendor is a useful check on the vendor.
How the engagement works
- Assessment. A short initial engagement to understand your business, the product and where the project is. If it has not started, this includes validating the problem, researching users and evaluating the technology and vendor options.
- Vision and roadmap. A written product vision, a prioritised roadmap and a budget you can take to the board or the bank.
- Ongoing ownership. A monthly retainer, sized from a day a week to near full-time, covering backlog management, documentation, vendor liaison, testing and reporting.
- Handover. When the product is live and stable, either the retainer scales down to a light touch or Applicable helps you hire and hand over to an internal product owner.
The retainer is priced on the days per month you need, agreed up front and reviewed as the project changes. There is no lock-in.
Why Applicable
Applicable is led by John Halvorsen-Jones, who has spent more than 30 years in technology leadership, and has been building software for New Zealand clients since 2008. The Virtual Product Owner draws on that experience of scoping, building and supporting software, and on a bench of developers when the project needs them. Christine Robertson of the NZ National Commission for UNESCO described a piece of Applicable's work as "detailed, well researched and also easy for us laypeople to understand," which is the standard the role is held to.
Key takeaways
- A Virtual Product Owner is a senior person who owns the product vision on your behalf, runs the backlog, manages budget and liaises with developers and vendors.
- You need one when you are commissioning software and nobody in-house has the time or technical background to run it.
- The role works with Applicable's developers or with a vendor you have already chosen.
- Applicable offers the Virtual Product Owner as a monthly retainer sized in days per month, with no lock-in.