What is good product management
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From talk to CTO School in NYC - what is good product management - how engineering can be a good partner to product (and how to structure product leadership) - how to hire
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What is good product management
- 1. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGEMENT For CTO School Meetup Nov 10 2014 Giff Constable www.neo.com
- 2. WHO AM I? 6 startups over the years currently CEO of Neo Innovation co-organizer of Lean Lessons Learned meetup author of Talking to Humans
- 3. I went looking for stories on PM-Engineering collaboration, and got horror stories
- 4. I also discovered some jokes
- 5. Q. what’s the best way to pay a product manager? A. American Express. They love taking credit for things. Source: The Cooper Review
- 6. We know what good engineering looks like. We’ve got a more advanced understanding now as to what good design looks like. But what about product management?
- 7. What is a good product manager? How to be a great partner to them? Appendix: How to hire for them?
- 8. 1. WHAT MAKES A GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER
- 9. Product managers are not “one size fits all”
- 10. Process Creative Vision Engineering Skills Communication & Empathy Business Design Skills Skills Domain Expertise
- 11. “You need to hire PMs for attitude over aptitude” - Satya Patel http://venturegeneratedcontent.com/2014/10/30/what-makes-a-great-product-manager/
- 12. 12 attitude traits of a good product manager
- 13. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER Leads and serves at the same time
- 14. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER Thinks managing people means telling them what to do and how to do it (aka “requirements”)
- 15. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER Has great product ideas, but spends as much time fostering the creativity of the team
- 16. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER Thinks their ideas (or their boss’ ideas) are God’s gift
- 17. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER Can balance a healthy obsession with data and experiment-driven development, along with a healthy respect for vision, risk and intuition
- 18. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER Pegs either end of the spectrum, with total worship or total rejection of metrics
- 19. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER Deeply understands the customer’s needs and behavior through direct contact, not indirect research
- 20. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER Hides behind the sales team, the customer support team, the Gartner Group reports
- 21. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER Understands the power of focus and simplicity
- 22. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER Thinks more features are always better
- 23. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER Is a master at managing everyone’s expectations while making people feel listened to and respected
- 24. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER Forgets that their constituency is people above, below, across and even outside the company
- 25. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER Understands tech debt − they might ask for it, but they will fight to pay it down later
- 26. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER Thinks the engineers just need to work harder because customer-facing features are all that matter
- 27. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER Knows when an outcome is necessary, and efficiently iterates until it is accomplished Knows when a deadline is necessary, and ruthlessly manages scope Knows when a feature output is necessary, and effectively manages timing
- 28. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER Can’t even think about outcomes − can only think about the next feature to ship Promises fixed scope against fixed deadlines Is not pragmatic enough to do what needs being done, or even understand it
- 29. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER Feels responsible for how the product is bought, sold, and marketed
- 30. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER Thinks their job stops once the feature is shipped
- 31. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER Takes the time to deeply understand the production process across all functions
- 32. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER Thinks everything takes a weekend, because they don’t have a clue
- 33. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER Can come from any discipline, but knows their job is to balance across all disciplines now
- 34. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER Can’t stop meddling in the area they know best, and favors it when compromise is needed
- 35. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER SHIPS
- 36. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER BLAMES
- 37. I view these traits as non-negotiable Hire for it and fire for it
- 38. see a detailed skills matrix at careers.neo.com
- 39. 2. HOW TO BE A GREAT PARTNER TO PRODUCT MANAGEMENT?
- 40. Think strategically about the pressures on the business, not just the pressures on engineering
- 41. Be a creative partner fascinated by customer needs and willing to gather direct research on those needs
- 42. Inspire your engineers to be creative partners, not just in engineering problems, but product problems
- 43. Don’t sandbag
- 44. Be willing to accept tech debt, but don’t hesitate to challenge it
- 45. On tech debt: include infrastructure-related KPIs in your heartbeat report on key metrics Early stage: refactor as you can, plan for periodic infrastructure-focused iterations, and don’t be afraid to call an audible Later stage: refactor as you can, and create a rotating team that is dedicated to infrastructure
- 46. Engineering, product and design all need to report into the CEO − create a trio of equal partners
- 47. Create a team working agreement for leadership, not just the cross-functional teams
- 48. PM owns the outcomes and priorities Design owns the user experience, voice and visual identity Engineering owns how something is built But everyone is a creative partner and gets a say
- 49. A product business requires constant compromise because quality is a relative thing Sometimes you will deeply disagree with a decision Build appeals to the CEO, who makes the final call, into your team agreement so that you have a transparent process not politics
- 50. Do retros together to spot problems early
- 51. If you are in the same location, the heads of all three groups should sit together, just as your cross-functional teams should sit together
- 52. Be generous − depending on priorities, product, design and engineering will have different times in the driver’s seat
- 53. If there isn’t mutual respect and trust, someone has to go. Period.
- 54. THANK YOU @giffco giff@neo.com www.neo.com www.giffconstable.com
- 55. APPENDIX: HOW CAN YOU INTERVIEW FOR A GOOD PM?
- 56. 1. Know what you are looking for 2. Do a traditional interview on experiences, goals, values, failures, favorite new product, current reading list, etc 3. PAIR
- 57. Give them a gnarly product problem you are currently working on and see if they can solve it
- 58. Ask them to sketch out a single-screen application and then write every single user story behind that application Example: a single-screen loyalty-program app for an airline
- 59. Give them a startup idea and ask how one could validate if it was a good idea before building it
- 60. Give them an interesting product idea, and ask how one would go about best acquiring customers?
- 61. Give them a problem that has been bugging you, and ask how one could solve it with a new startup?
- 62. Give them a true, complex prioritization debate your team is having and ask them whether outcome, deadline, or output is most important Note: their answer here is less important than their questions
- 63. You know how non-technical friends ask you to interview their CTO candidate? Get a great PM to interview your VP of Product candidate