I often get the question from people that are starting a project how much time the Product Owner will spend on the project. Yes, this question mostly comes from the client side if the PO is assigned by them.
Being the Product Owner is a full time job.
The answer should be as simple as: yes it’s a full time.
Depending on your project this might differ. In general for bigger projects this is mostly a full time since a Product Owner is constantly busy with:
- Backlog grooming
- Writing and explaining user stories to the development team(s)
- Attending demos and retros
- Discussing requirements with the stakeholders
- Answering questions coming from the development team(s)
- … and more
You can probably imagine this taking up the necessary time.
The best POs are committed to do what is needed to build the best product. This means actively being engaged with their teams and stakeholders.