hacking your way to the top: essential skills for product leaders
TRANSCRIPT
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Hacking Your Way to The Top: Essential Skills for
Product Leaders
Tathagat Varma Knowledgepreneur
http://thoughtleadership.in
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What is your “top”?
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PM Stats…
Execs didn’t understand
PM!
No PM role, or not well
defined
75% 48%PMs
undergone training
2%
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Evolution of PMs… Factor Then Now
Business Rela+velylongbusinesscycles,Lowcompe++on,Longevity,Protec+ons
Vola+lebusinesscycles,Intensecompe++on,Ephemeral,Open
Tech Largelystabletech Mostlyevolvingtech
R&D MostlylargeR&D/Capex/IP/FirstWorld
Mostlyfrugal/Opex/OpenSource/Global&Distributed
User Rela+velyconsistent/basicuserneeds
Highlyfragmentedandconstantlyevolvinguserwants
Market Longmarketwindowsinlargelyprovenmarkets(MRDs~3-5years)
Shortmarketwindowsinnewmarkets(whereistheMRD?)
Product Longgesta+oncycle(1-3years),Globalproducts
Shortgesta+oncycles(1-3quarters),Localproducts
Focus Focuswasmostlytech LargelyProduct+UX+Design
Specs Market-research/MonolithicPRDs Hypotheses-valida+on/Dynamicproductbacklogs
Dev Forecastdriven/Predic+ve Feedbackdriven/Adap+ve
Talent TechiesgrewintoPMs GrowingtrendofhiringPMs
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So, who is a PM?
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What do PMs do?
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What do PMs don’t do!
• They don’t sell • They don’t do design • They don’t write code • They don’t launch products • They don’t create marketing campaigns • They don’t support customers • They don’t fix bugs • They don’t do siteops • … • …but…knowing and doing it doesn’t hurt!
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So, how can I get to the “top”?
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Do your job Develop passion
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Develop a fixed Medici mindset
“T”
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T-shaped PM
CorePMSkills
MarketResearch UX Engineering
BusinessAnalysis
Finance&Pricing …
Tech Compe++on
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Find opportunities solve messy problems
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Wait for orders Take initiative
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Think conservative creative
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Start writing
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Be a expert critic coach maker
hZp://www.sloma.org/images/makers2014.png
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Learn by doing experimenting shipping
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Avoid Mitigate Accept Embrace failures
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Be a scribe newscaster storyteller
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Work hard smart hard really hard!
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Influence with without authority
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Manage Control Trust the team
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Fear Enjoy the ride!
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Recap
• Product Manager is an orchestration role. Be a leader, not a boss!
• While expertize of various functions is not really required, knowledge of them could be handy
• The “top” for a product leader is making the dent in the universe!
• You surely need to know PM skills (IPL could help – and yes, this isn’t a paid endorsement J)
• More importantly, a product mindset is a must!
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References
• Good Product Manager / Bad Product Manager, http://a16z.com/2012/06/15/good-product-managerbad-product-manager/
• The Myths of Product Management, https://medium.com/@cwodtke/the-myths-of-product-management-7376eaf549a3#.ruyqduarj
• The Product Manager’s Essential Reading List for 2016, https://medium.com/@sicross/the-product-manager-s-essential-reading-list-for-2016-c7fd4c0491bf#.ej9qnsx0d
• So you want to manage a product?, https://productcoalition.com/so-you-want-to-manage-a-product-c664ba7e5138#.sdzh5mmhz
• Where do product managers come from? An analysis of 1,000 PMs, http://hackingrevenue.com/product-management/where-do-product-managers-come-from/
• Do Product Managers need a Technical Background?, https://www.productmanagerhq.com/2014/08/do-product-managers-need-a-technical-background/
• Behind Every Great Product, http://www.svpg.com/behind-every-great-product • Learning by Shipping,
https://blog.learningbyshipping.com/2015/01/11/ces-2015-recap-for-makers-and-product-managers/
• What is a Product Manager? A Different Perspective, http://www.productmanagerclub.com/2016/10/12/what-is-a-product-manager-a-different-perspective/
• http://www.slideshare.net/280group/product-management-survey • Gapingvoid for some great visual ideas!