key to product management success: building team morale

The Product MentorMaintaining Team Morale on Remote Collaborative Teams April 2016

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IntroductionJenn Bornstein

• Current - TouchTunes Music Corporation- TouchTunes TV, Senior Product

Manager- Locations: NY, Chicago,

Montreal, Chicago, Oxford• Previous

- DirectTV, Product Manager, 2nd Screen

- Locations: NY, LA- Nielsen, General Manager,

RewardTV- Locations: NY, Chicago,

Oxford, Belgium, Singapore, Bangalore

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Overview TODAY’S TALKING POINTS

• Review issues caused by Remote Teams

• Identify tools that help

• The importance of face-time

• Must remembers

“A virtual team – whether across the street or across

the world – is a team whose members

simultaneously work together to a common

purpose, while physically apart.” – Yael Zofi

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Structure IDEAL TEAM

• Product Management• Development• Project Management• Design• QA

Co-location

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StructureREALITY – e.g. Current TouchTunes Team

• Product Management• Design

• Project Management• Developers

• QA

NYC Montreal

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ISSUES OF REMOTE TEAMS

• Harder to get to know one another

• Easy to get out of step on day-to-day activities

• Harder to realize when there is miscommunication

• Easy to get disconnected on long-term goals

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IMPACTS ON MORALE

Feel disconnectedFeel Frustrated

Feel unheardFeel alone

Feel unsupportedFeel confused

Feel uniformed Feel hopeless

Feel like everything is a fightFeel burnt out

Feel set up for failure

So how can we make it work?

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Making it work UTILIZATION OF THE RIGHT ONLINE TOOLS

• Support communication

• Support organization

• Support process

• Support collaboration

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Online ToolsSo Many Choices! Which one do I choose?

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Online ToolsEXPLORING SLACK

• Slack has allowed TouchTunes to create conversation channels for every project

• What it has done for us:• Reduced emails

• Real-time communication

• Project management

• File management

• Provided an archive

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Online CollaborationSLACK: THE RIGHT TOOL FOR TOUCHTUNESSlack’s partnerships have

allowed us to integrate in other tools to create 1 big super-tool. • Google Hangouts – Video

Conferencing• Dropbox – File storage &

Transfer• GitHub – Code related project

management• Trello – Roadmapping/Kanban• Google Drive – create, store,

collaborate on documents online

MTL team sharing a pic of a recent release celebration

Getting beyond digital

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Beyond DigitalGETTING “REAL” FACE-TIME

• Office visits

• Making time for socialization

• Getting out of the office

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Beyond DigitalTHE BENEFIT OF OFFICE VISITS

• Getting on the same page

• Getting a better sense of what people are working on

• Observing how people work

• Hashing out the hard stuff in person

• Opportunity to work on longer -term vision & strategy

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Beyond DigitalTHE BENEFITS OF GETTING OUT OF THE OFFICE

• Rent a Breather Space

• Do a little group field research

• your products• a competitor’s product• a workshop• a breather space

Check out:

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Beyond DigitalTHE BENEFITS OF MAKING TIME FOR SOCIALIZATION• Get to know one another

personally

• Shared experiences bring everyone together

• Group activities promote teamwork

• Go to lunch or dinner• Grab a drink• Karaoke• Bowling• Trivia Night

• Escape Rooms• Scavenger Hunt

Suggestions:

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IN SUMMARY

• Find online tools that work for your team to keep them in easy contact

• Make sure to visit and face-time

• Get out of the office for collaborative time

• Socialize and get to know one another

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Always Remember

• Digital solutions can never replace actual conversation (pick up the phone)

• Go with your gut – if something feels off, it probably is

• Pat yourselves on the back for your accomplishments – and make note of what you all want to improve