SAFe® 5 POPM Certification vs. CSPO: Which One Is The Best Choice For You?

It is important to know the similarities and differences between a SAFe^® 5 POPM Certification and a CSPO (Certified Scrum Product Owner) in order to decide whether to pursue just one or both courses to climb up the ladder of success in your career.

SAFe^® POPM (Product Owner/Product Manager)

A certified SAFe^® POPM is a professional who has completed the SAFe^® Product Owner Online Certification training. He works with customers and development organizations to identify and prioritize their requirements.

Core competency areas

• Apply SAFe^® principles and practices and a Lean-Agile mindset
• Identify customer needs
• Content Authority of stories, epics, capabilities, and features
• Prioritize work to deliver value to the organization

CSPO (Certified Scrum Product Owner)

If you are someone who enjoys working on the business side of projects, becoming a Certified Scrum Product Owner is definitely the right choice for you.

As a CSPO, you will be responsible for the following:

• Creating the product vision
• Ordering the product backlog
• Ensuring that the best job is done to delight the customers

When should you go for the SAFe^® 5 POPM certification?

If you are looking to gain knowledge and understanding of the roles of a Product Manager and Product Owner in an organization implementing  SAFe^® , then this course is ideal for you.

Through the SAFe^® 5 POPM Certification course, you get a chance to explore the role of a Product Manager and Product Owner, how to prepare and participate in Program Increment (PI) planning, and ways to seamlessly execute backlogs to deliver complete business value at Scale.

When should you go for the CSPO certification?

If you want to begin your Scrum and Agile journey by working in small or medium sized organizations with smaller Agile organizations, then the CSPO certification is something that you should definitely consider.

Through the CSPO, you will learn about:

• Developing a product vision
• Prioritizing product backlogs
• Optimizing product value to satisfy customers

Parameters to differentiate SAFe^® 5 POPM Certification and CSPO:

1. The focus

 SAFe^® POPM Online Training

The focus is on two key roles and areas.

Product Management

• Strategic function at the level of Program Management with respect to SAFe^®
• The focus is on the market and the customer.

Product Owner

• Plays a key role in an Agile Team having 5-11 individuals to build, test and deploy in a short time duration.
• Collaborates with stakeholders – Product Management, Business Owners, and Customers.

CSPO

• The entire focus is on the role of the Product Owner for a Scrum Team.
• The development team consists of 3-9 members who build, test and deploy in a short time period.
• The Product Owner is focused on the market and customers. He also focuses on collaborating with stakeholders.

2. The Learnings

 SAFe^® POPM Online Training

• Preparation and participation in PI planning.
• Delivery of value in a Lean-Agile enterprise.
• Refine features into stories.
• System Demo and Solution Demo.
• Collaborate with Agile teams to estimate and forecast work.
• Design thinking at the program and enterprise levels

CSPO

• In this course, you will learn to maximize the value of the product through the work of the development team. Sometimes the role is limited to focusing only on the team.

3. Product Vision and Roadmap

 SAFe^® POPM Online Training

• The product vision and roadmap are owned by Product Management.
• The Product Owner contributes to the vision and roadmap.

CSPO

• The Product Owner owns the product vision and roadmap in a Scrum Team.

4. Backlogs

 SAFe^® POPM Online Training

The management of backlogs takes place at two levels.

Program backlog

It is owned by Product Management which drives both Program Increment and Product.

Team backlog

The Product Owner is the content authority who approves and accepts stories for an Agile team.

CSPO

• Focus is on the product backlog.
• Product Owner is the proprietary content authority for it.

If you intend to study and understand how to work as a Product Manager or Product Owner in a large organization, the SAFe^® Product Owner/Product Manager Certification or SAFe^® Product Owner/Product Manager Online Certification Training is for you. If your organization is already using SAFe^®, this could probably be one of the best career investments that you can make.

If you desire to work as a Product Owner or mentor Product Owners as a Scrum or Agile coach, the Certified Scrum Product Owner course is for you. It broadens your knowledge of the Owner’s overall role. Professionals who wish to become great Product Owners should pursue this path.

If you are planning to get a SAFe^® 5 POPM Certification, you first need to register with an institute for SAFe^® POPM online training. AgilityPAD is a leading institute that you can consider for training, after which you can give the exam. To know more about the SAFe^® 5 POPM Certification courses and training, contact AgilityPAD today.