What is Good Product Management

GOOD PRODUCT MANAGEMENT

For CTO School Meetup Nov 10 2014 Giff Constable www.neo.com

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

I went looking for stories on PM-Engineering collaboration, and got horror stories

I also discovered some jokes

Q. what’s the best way to pay a product manager? A. American Express. They love taking credit for things.

Source: The Cooper Review

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?

What is a good product manager? How to be a great partner to them? Appendix: How to hire for them?

1. WHAT MAKES A GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER

Product managers are not “one size fits all”

Process

Creative Vision

Engineering Skills

Design Skills Business Skills

Communication & Empathy

Domain Expertise

“You need to hire PMs for attitude over aptitude” - Satya Patel

http://venturegeneratedcontent.com/2014/10/30/what-makes-a-great-product-manager/

12 attitude traits of a good product manager

GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER

Leads and serves at the same time

BAD PRODUCT MANAGER

Thinks managing people means telling them what to do and how to do it (aka “requirements”)

GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER

Has great product ideas, but spends as much time fostering the creativity of the team

BAD PRODUCT MANAGER

Thinks their ideas (or their boss’ ideas) are God’s gift

GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER

Can balance a healthy obsession with data and experiment-driven development, along with a healthy respect for vision, risk and intuition

BAD PRODUCT MANAGER

Pegs either end of the spectrum, with total worship or total rejection of metrics

GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER

Deeply understands the customer’s needs and behavior through direct contact, not indirect research

BAD PRODUCT MANAGER

Hides behind the sales team, the customer support team, the Gartner Group reports

GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER

Understands the power of focus and simplicity

BAD PRODUCT MANAGER

Thinks more features are always better

GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER

Is a master at managing everyone’s expectations while making people feel listened to and respected

BAD PRODUCT MANAGER

Forgets that their constituency is people above, below, across and even outside the company

GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER

Understands tech debt − they might ask for it, but they will fight to pay it down later

BAD PRODUCT MANAGER

Thinks the engineers just need to work harder because customer-facing features are all that matter

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

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

GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER

Feels responsible for how the product is bought, sold, and marketed

BAD PRODUCT MANAGER

Thinks their job stops once the feature is shipped

GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER

Takes the time to deeply understand the production process across all functions

BAD PRODUCT MANAGER

Thinks everything takes a weekend, because they don’t have a clue

GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER

Can come from any discipline, but knows their job is to balance across all disciplines now

BAD PRODUCT MANAGER

Can’t stop meddling in the area they know best, and favors it when compromise is needed

GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER

SHIPS

BAD PRODUCT MANAGER

BLAMES

I view these traits as non-negotiable Hire for it and fire for it

careers.neo.com see a detailed skills matrix at

2. HOW TO BE A GREAT PARTNER TO PRODUCT MANAGEMENT?

Think strategically about the pressures on the business, not just the pressures on engineering

Be a creative partner fascinated by customer needs and willing to gather direct research on those needs

Inspire your engineers to be creative partners, not just in engineering problems, but product problems

Don’t sandbag

Be willing to accept tech debt, but don’t hesitate to challenge it

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

Engineering, product and design all need to report into the CEO − create a trio of equal partners

Create a team working agreement for leadership, not just the cross-functional teams

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

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

Do retros together to spot problems early

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

Be generous − depending on priorities, product, design and engineering will have different times in the driver’s seat

If there isn’t mutual respect and trust, someone has to go. Period.

THANK YOU

@giffco giff@neo.com www.neo.com www.giffconstable.com

APPENDIX: HOW CAN YOU INTERVIEW FOR A GOOD PM?

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

Give them a gnarly product problem you are currently working on and see if they can solve it

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

Give them a startup idea and ask how one could validate if it was a good idea before building it

Give them an interesting product idea, and ask how one would go about best acquiring customers?

Give them a problem that has been bugging you, and ask how one could solve it with a new startup?

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

You know how non-technical friends ask you to interview their CTO candidate? Get a great PM to interview your VP of Product candidate