Let’s be honest, in Agile teams, it’s easy for roles to get messy. Speed is often mistaken for clarity, roles get blurred, assumptions multiply, , and suddenly no one’s quite sure who’s doing what. One of the most common grey zones? Product Owners and Business Analysts.
Both talk to stakeholders. Both shape features. Both are pulled into planning. But unless their roles are clearly defined, teams end up with duplicated work, conflicting input, and product gaps that don’t show up until late in the cycle.
At Volpis, we’ve seen what happens when those lines get blurred, and also what happens when they’re clearly defined.
For example, in one of our recent app development projects, The Holy Quran, a non-profit mobile app created to help people study the Quran and understand Islam more deeply, we saw just how powerful the right strategy can be.
The app had heart and a growing user base, but it struggled with outdated UX, technical debt, and no clear product direction. That’s when our Business Analyst stepped in: thoughtfully uncovered key insights from 1,568 user surveys and over 400 feature requests, which guided the creation of a focused product vision, informed backlog prioritization, and supported a complete UX redesign.
As a result of these thoughtful improvements, the app has achieved over 1 million downloads across iOS and Android platforms, while maintaining a 4.8-star rating and receiving more than 11,000 positive user reviews.
And it all started by making sure the right person owned the right part of the process.
They’re Not Interchangeable — and That’s the Point
A Product Owner is not a Business Analyst with roadmap access. A Business Analyst is not a “junior PO” writing tickets. The split is simple:
- The Product Owner sets direction. They define value, own priorities, and steer the product toward business outcomes.
- The Business Analyst turns that direction into execution. They uncover edge cases, structure requirements, and make sure everything is technically and legally sound before it reaches development.
At Volpis, where we regularly work on real-time fleet tracking systems and high-availability logistics apps, this division has proven critical to delivering reliable software — not just working demos.
What the Product Owner Owns
The PO is closest to the “why”:
- Defining product goals
- Prioritizing the backlog
- Making trade-off decisions
- Aligning stakeholders
- Owning delivery timelines
Their perspective is strategic. But that perspective alone doesn’t define workflows, handle legal edge cases, or clarify what happens when real-world inputs don’t go as planned.
Where the Business Analyst Takes Over
The BA ensures features can be executed correctly — especially in regulated or high-risk environments. Our BAs routinely work with legal teams to implement audit logging, cross-border data handling, or automated alerts tied to compliance events like Hours-of-Service violations or license expirations.
BA responsibilities include:
- Writing detailed user stories and acceptance criteria
- Defining system behaviors and exception flows
- Aligning features with regulations (e.g. GDPR, ELD mandates)
- Creating data maps and flow diagrams
- Supporting QA with test scenario modeling
When you’re dealing with software that tracks live vehicle movement across jurisdictions or monitors driver behavior, skipping these steps isn’t an oversight — it’s a liability.
Field-Tested Example
One of our clients, scaling a logistics platform into the EU, needed to implement vehicle downtime notifications based on diagnostic signals.
- The Product Owner set the goal: notify fleet managers of critical downtime events to reduce operational loss.
- The Business Analyst translated this into clear logic: trigger rules, region-specific thresholds, fallback behavior, audit requirements, and user roles.
The BA also ensured these rules complied with EU safety regulations and didn’t contradict workflows in less-regulated regions like LATAM. That saved months of rework and prevented regulatory risk exposure at launch.
What Happens Without a Clear Split
We’ve been brought in to rescue projects that collapsed under unclear ownership. Common patterns:
- Product Owners drafting user stories without technical feasibility review
- Developers stuck rewriting features due to missed edge cases
- QA missing compliance testing criteria
- Legal issues discovered in staging instead of discovery
When there’s no clear swim lane between PO and BA, the product suffers — and delivery slows down under constant re-alignment.
A Simple Division of Work
When both roles are aligned, features don’t just move through the sprint — they’re shipped confidently, with quality and coverage.
| Area | Product Owner | Business Analyst |
| Product Vision | ✅ | — |
| Backlog Ownership | ✅ | — |
| Feature Prioritization | ✅ | — |
| Requirement Detailing | — | ✅ |
| Edge Case Handling | — | ✅ |
| Legal/Compliance Inputs | — | ✅ |
| System Behavior & Workflows | — | ✅ |
| Stakeholder Interviews | Shared | Shared |
| Technical Feasibility | Informed | ✅ |
| Acceptance Criteria | Shared | ✅ |
Shared Goals, Distinct Responsibilities
We’ve delivered tailored solutions for clients across industries, from North American logistics networks to European vehicle tracking platforms. In every successful project, the Product Owner and Business Analyst worked closely together: one shaping the vision, the other grounding it in practical execution.
If your product involves real-time data, spans multiple jurisdictions, or carries compliance risks, don’t leave Business Analysis to chance. Embed it early. You’ll reduce rework, ensure quality, and scale with confidence.
About company: Volpis is a software development company with deep expertise in fleet, logistics, and regulatory-compliant digital systems. Our Business Analysts partner with Product Owners to ensure delivery is smooth, strategic, and legally sound from day one.
