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A Product Manager's Job
- 3. WHAT EXACTLY DOES A PRODUCT MANAGER DO?*
- 4. *Can you explain it to your parents? Photo: Brian Brooks/Flickr
- 5. WHAT DOESN’T A PRODUCT MANAGER DO? - Write code (Engineering) - Create mock-ups (Design) - Sign deals (Business Development) - Plan PR (Communications)
- 6. Product Manager Define the Market & Customer Launch timing, Sales & Marketing Collateral Product Evangelist & Champion Define the requirements & roadmap Competitors, Products & Capabilities Define the problem & value proposition Internal/External stakeholder Communication
- 7. More simply... UX Tech Business Image: http://www.mindtheproduct.com/2011/10/what-exactly-is-a-product-manager
- 8. You are here UX Tech Business More simply... Image: http://www.mindtheproduct.com/2011/10/what-exactly-is-a-product-manager
- 9. Definition: A Product Manager helps their team (and company) ship the right product to their users. PRODUCT MANAGER
- 10. HELP YOUR TEAM Photo: Jon Candy/Flickr
- 11. Your team is anyone working directly on the product (or an area of the product). - Designers, engineers, QA, documentation, marketing - Assigned colleagues from team members from adjunct teams including business development, support, legal WHO’S ON THE TEAM?
- 12. YOUR ROLE ON THE TEAM You are not a “CEO of the product.” You are a team leader. - SET THE CADENCE - BRAINSTORM EFFECTIVELY - MANAGE PRODUCT OPERATIONS
- 13. SET THE CADENCE - Build the roadmap with brainstorm meetings (quarterly) - Articulate the roadmap clearly and consistently - Hold regular product operations meetings (weekly) - “Act Solid” (more on this shortly) - Take and share clear meeting notes
- 14. BRAINSTORM EFFECTIVELY - Everyone pitches ideas to drive biggest impact (No ideas are bad!) - Q&A where people pitch or describe ideas - Everyone votes for their top 3 - Discussion of why and how people voted - Re-vote - You now have top-3 roadmap plan. More or less.
- 15. MANAGE PRODUCT OPERATIONS - Share company news relevant for team - Gut check for features getting launched ASAP - Learnings and analysis of recent features - Roadmap check-in on new development - 1-2 key topics for brainstorm/discussion or guest speaker
- 16. AH, THE LIFE OF A GLORIFIED NOTE TAKER Some people think the job of product manager is glorious. Photo: OwlPacino/Flickr
- 17. In reality the most important thing you do is document decisions. Follow-up notes usually take longer than actual meetings. Involve people from extended team to get feedback, share plans. Photo: OwlPacino/Flickr
- 19. THE COMPANY FOCUS IS YOUR FOCUS Understand and communicate the company’s overall goals and objectives.
- 20. Remind the team of the founders’ vision. Attach incentives to company goals. Bonus Hiring Tip: When interviewing product managers, look for how often candidates refer to the bigger vision of the company.
- 21. HELP YOUR TEAM SHIP Photo: NCDOTcommunications/Flickr
- 22. SHIPPING > PERFECTION Helping your team only matters if you can ship the product to users - Providing clear criteria for launch readiness - Make the difficult tradeoffs - Prioritize ruthlessly
- 23. Great product managers understand the very tricky balance between getting it right and getting it out the door.
- 24. HELP YOUR TEAM SHIP THE RIGHT PRODUCT Photo: Alan/Flickr
- 25. Start with your team’s most creative solutions. Improve your ideas with: - Feedback from testers and active users - Criticism from non-users - Input from founders and leaders - Ideas from anywhere you can get them BELIEVE BUT LISTEN
- 26. MEASURE RESULTS Have a theory of the impact you want to have. Identify metrics to demonstrate that impact. Generate data: what works and what doesn’t. Keep an eye out for unexpected learnings.
- 27. TO USERS HELP YOUR TEAM SHIP THE RIGHT PRODUCT Photo: Josue Goge/Flickr
- 28. ADVOCATE FOR THE USER A Core Use Case tells the story of who should use the product and why - Articulating the core use case is the hardest part of building a new product
- 29. A good product manager advocates for users every step of the way: - By understanding the challenges/issues of target users - By understanding how the product can deliver the value target users are looking for - By continuously listening to feedback (usability tests, meetings, tweets, etc.)
- 30. THE “DO’S” FOR PRODUCT MANAGERS - Coordinate key decisions based on team members’ input - Negotiate disagreements and maintain progress - Develop consensus from team factions, (disagree but commit)
- 31. THE “DON’TS” FOR PRODUCT MANAGERS - Don’t try to build what you think is right - Don’t expect that the team will execute orders blindly - Don’t forget where credit is always due
- 32. As a product goes to market, you should be game-planning the next iteration: - Plan for improvement (with entire team) - Additional testing - Brainstorming solutions based on data and feedback YOUR JOB IS NEVER DONE
- 33. There is no right product... but there is a right way to be a Product Manager. Effective Product Managers simply help their team move forward. THE PRODUCT IS NEVER FINISHED
- 34. No product will ever quite be right for everyone; it’s an ongoing process of continued development and iteration to make it better.