how to survive as a product manager
Post on 17-Oct-2014
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How to survive as a product manager
The enemies and allies in different environments
EnvironmentsPhoto: Kaptain Kobold , http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaptainkobold/3273951718/
The START UP environment
Founder
Engineer
Designer
Marketing
VC/Angel
First customerPhoto: crisis_crs, http://www.flickr.com/photos/33774513@N08/4737480125/
The GROWN UP company environment
Executive Management, VPs, Directors
Product Managers
Product Marketing Managers
Engineering, QA
UX, Research, Design
BI, Sales, Community, Finance, Customer Support, ... Photo: Brent Moore, http://www.flickr.com/
photos/brent_nashville/4781919499/
How to survive in the enterprise
environment?I have no clue - left after
three month, realizing I don‘t have the power to do things
there.
Photo: Lee LeFever, http://www.flickr.com/photos/leelefever/5095425212/
Enemies and AlliesPhoto: Joe Shlabotnik, http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik/305410323/
The Founder
In most cases the founder is the natural product lead - deep knowledge about market and customers
Either strong in business and marketing or engineering (weak on the other side)
There often is no other product manager in the beginning
Try to get insights from real customers besides the founder
Learn from the founders market insights
Establish processes
Characteristics How to cope with him
Photo: Dunechaser, http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/134672123/
The Engineer
The engineer has a strong opinion about the product
„Users are f*** i*** that just don‘t get it“
„Product Managers (Marketing, UX, etc) are just a hurdle in getting things done“
Develop some engineering knowledge
Show him real users using the product
Protect them from outside disruption
Give them time for experiments
Characteristics How to cope with him
Photo: RobethK, http://www.flickr.com/photos/39066002@N05/3595313340/
The Tester
This species often only exists in the more grown up organization
They seem to slow things down, but actually they help you don‘t release shit
They tend to know your app in even more detail then your developers
Characteristics How to cope with himIntegrate them in your communication workflow with the engineers
Make your priorities clear to them
They are edge case explorers - use this knowledge to simplify your application
Photo: mattdwen, http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattdwen/4673123229/
The UX Person
Don‘t miss them in your team
They ask probing questions, better be prepared (5 Whys)
Eye and ear to your customers
Characteristics How to cope with himShare a desk with him (figuratively)
Give them the freedom to define the details
Share market and business details with him
Photo: Jordan Cooper, http://www.flickr.com/photos/jordoncooper/427503420/
The VC/Finance Guy
He asks probing questions about numbers
Sometimes don‘t understand what you do
He eats numbers
Characteristics How to cope with himKnow your numbers
How much
How many
How long
Have a story prepared to foster understanding
Photo: dunechaser, http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/2363484670/
The Marketeer
He tells the world about the product
He tends to dream up things that doesn‘t exist yet
He knows how to measure and will produce numbers about people
Characteristics How to cope with himMake him an integral part of your roadmap communication
Have always a positive attitude towards him - he is just trying to help you get new/active customers
Prepare copy and marketing texts with him to speak with one voice
Photo: dunechaser, http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/6042982955/
The Customer supporter
He has to deal with stupidity and ignorance on both sides
He knows things about your software you don‘t want to know
The better he knows your plans the better he will help keep your customers happy
Characteristics How to cope with himFix the top things that produce the highest amount of tickets
Go work with him from time to time
Review his standard/automatic answers
Invite him to review meetings and parties
Photo: dunechaser, http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/6042982211/
The Sales Person
Deep insights on market and customers
Want to dictate functionality that they can sell easily
Characteristics How to cope with himPrepare sales material with them
Provide them with useful numbers to support sales
Regular outlook on roadmap planning
Photo: dunechaser, http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/103294155/
The Customer
Diverse
Depends on your continent (market)
Characteristics How to cope with himKnow some of them in person
Talk to them directly
Most of the time they are eager to help
Involve UX - Dealing with them is time consuming
Photo: dunechaser, http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/103294209/
The Product Manager
Communicates strongly and regularly
Thinks big
Simplifies: get 80% for 20%
Prioritizes: Quick wins vs platform investments
Executes: nothing can stop him shipping his product
Understands tech and design
Convincing rather than commanding
Endless positive
Characteristics How to cope with himSpeak out your mind
Have arguments not opinions
Photo: dunechaser, http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/134672102/
Survival tacticsPhoto: cjdc, http://www.flickr.com/photos/wiredforsound23/5341870566/
Build Allies
Make your production team your ally
Your peers as well
Look for people in areas you are weak
You can‘t be successful without support from c-level
Make your customers your ally
Share instead of keep
Talk to people without having something in mind
Have an open ear and help even if it‘s not your turf
Go to lunches and brunches
Whom How
Communicate
Talk about what you do and why you do it inside and outside of your company
Talk about your plans and visions
Even more
Whom HowShared backlog and board, no hidden agenda (asana, trello, jira, post its on a reachable wall)
Show in big letters how you doing on KPIs
Present regularly what you have done and what you plan to do in the future
Blog inside and outside the company
Speak at conferences
Engage in your community
Trust and respect
Trust and respect the people you are working with
Trust and respect your customers
Divorce from people that exploit that
Whom HowKnow your shit
Talk with people not about them
Respond fast
If you are emotionally touched, wait a day
Don‘t interrupt people
Be available and on time
Do stuff according to what you said
SkillsPhoto: LEGO Bro, http://www.flickr.com/photos/lego_bro/7055702973/
Customer knowledgeTech knowledgeMarket knowledgeTeam collaborationStakeholder managementProduct visionProduct discoveryProduct optimizationProduct evangelismFinancial knowledgeLeadership skillsTime management skillsUX knowledge
weak strong
Source: http://www.svpg.com/developing-strong-product-owners, From a session with Marty Cagan
to be
as is
What's a typical day like for a product manager at Asana?
Source: http://www.quora.com/Asana/Whats-a-typical-day-like-for-a-product-manager-at-Asana
25%
5%5%
15% 15%
18%
18%
Customer research
PM/Backlog work(prioritize, write stories, write blog posts and best practices, ...)
Work with team(Brainstorming, Reviewing prototypes, discuss ideas, ...)
High level thinking(Vision, explore strategic ideas, Roadmap)
Project management
Personal DevelopmentRecruiting
Other: Repro Bugs, comm w/ team/others,
presenting to board
Ideal world
Product Management vs. other roles
„Product managers are responsible for what the product should do; other roles are responsible for how the product does that.“
Jonathan Korman
http://de.slideshare.net/jefflash/user-experience-and-product-management-two-peas-in-the-same-pod
Questions?
More sourcesBoxes and arrows: Transitioning from User Experience to Product Managementhttp://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/transitioning-fromhttp://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/transitioning-from26
Jonathan Korman: Where do product managers fit?http://www.cooper.com/journal/2004/09/where_do_product_managers_fit.html/
http://www.goodproductmanager.com/
http://www.svpg.com
http://www.quora.com/Product-Management/What-distinguishes-the-top-1-of-product-managers-from-the-top-10
http://www.quora.com/Google/What-makes-someone-a-great-product-manager-at-Google
http://www.quora.com/Asana/Whats-a-typical-day-like-for-a-product-manager-at-Asana