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. whats 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.

Weve 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
Communication
& Empathy

Creative
Vision

Domain
Expertise

Engineering
Skills

Business
Skills

Design Skills

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 Gods

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 customers 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 everyones 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

Cant 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

dont 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

Cant 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

see a detailed skills matrix at

careers.neo.com

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

Dont sandbag

Be willing to accept tech debt, but dont 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 dont 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 drivers seat

If there isnt 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