Product management vs. product leadership

Product leadershipvs.product management

Anthony Broad-Crawford@broadcrawford

i've launched 11 products throughout my career

i've been a founding member of two global companies

i've helped build 8 patent receiving technologies

cto, ceo, cpo

within3, startupbus, & giveforward

currently CTO @ fooda

i sit at the intersection of user experience, product management, and engineering

i've made a lot of mistakes along the way

i read a lot of the bull$&!t online

i read a lot of the bull$&!t in the books

i listened to a lot of the bull$&!t on twitter

it all said the same thing ..."you are the ceo of your product"

all it had me do was whine about how i never had any control, like a "ceo does"

all i did was blame other parts of the organizations

all it did was make me a $h!@#y product manager

so here's the dirty little secret

i was failing at the "real" job of product management

it wasn't the phrases fault, I just misunderstood it

i see a lot of "up and coming" product managers also misunderstanding this phrase

ultimately, managing a product is about managing the people

it's not about being the ceo of your product

that's how a product manager thinks

a product leader thinks about the people internally and externally to the company

a product leader understands they are just as important as the actual product "ideas" themself

some advice

making everyone happy makes no one happy

making no one happy makes no one happy

data tells the best story

talk through that story in narritive form

people have ideas, listen to them and incorporate them

if someone wants to change priority, ask them why, there's usually a good reason

if sales can't sell your product as is, that's a potential signal the product has a gap

if account management can't manage the account that's a potential signal the product has a gap

don't confuse strategy with tactics

have kpi's for your strategys & tactics

parting thoughts

you are not the ceo of your product

but you are responsible for making your product successful

so hold yourself accountable like a ceo, and lead the company in building a great product

Anthony Broad-Crawford@broadcrawford

anthony@anthonybroadcrawford.com