Ten Tips For New Product Managers

Presented by Jeff Lash jeff@jefflash.com www.jefflash.com www.goodproductmanager.com

Four types of new Product Managers

Your relationship to the organization New New Type of product Existing New product, new organization Tenured New product, same organization

Existing product, new organization

Existing product, same organization

Ten Tips
1. Spend time with customers 2. Ask dumb questions 3. Let go of your past 4. Surround yourself with experts 5. Gather data 6. Focus 7. Concentrate on what, not how 8. Communicate, communicate, communicate 9. Sell your product internally 10.Do whatever it takes

Spend time with customers

The single most important thing a product manager can do is to understand the market
Customer: Uploaded to flickr by David Kozlowski flickr.com/photos/traveller2020/539548225/

The best way to understand the market is to spend time with customers

Spend time with customers: To Do

Spend more time with customers than with colleagues

Set goals for customer visits

Establish a regular schedule for customer interactions Bring colleagues along with you Bring back information to share

Ask dumb questions

Dumb questions are really more about when they get asked than about what you are asking New product managers have the luxury of asking nave questions

Ask as many questions as possible as soon as possible Who to ask? Customers, colleagues, stakeholders, superiors, partners, competitors

sign - ? question mark: Uploaded to flickr by Leo Reynolds flickr.com/photos/lwr/12364944/

Ask dumb questions: To Do

Develop a list of initial questions

Generate additional questions each time one is answered Make note of interesting answers for future reference Ask the same question to different people and compare answers

Let go of your past

141 Thursday - letting go: Uploaded to flickr by roujo flickr.com/photos/tekmagika/474086212/

What were you in your past life? Whatever it was, youre a product manager now
There is a natural instinct for product managers to gravitate towards the function of the business from which they came resist it

Let go of your past: To Do

Audit the time you are spending on each area of the product Have an open conversation with colleagues in your former role
Discuss experiences and establish boundaries

Think hard before overruling decisions Review regularly to discuss progress

Surround yourself with experts

Product managers can not and should not do it all alone

Your success depends on others

Do not try to be an expert in everything Leverage the expertise of others in certain areas Look for formal and informal advisors Experts do not just have to be within your organization

Surround yourself with experts: To Do

Identify areas important to products success

Identify internal experts in targeted areas

Enlist experts as Trusted Advisors Utilize advisors for decision-making, planning, support and overcoming obstacles

Gather data
In a truly consumer-driven company, decisions are based on data so the person with the best data wins. Scott Cook; Founder, Intuit Lots of different types of data
Internal data External data Market data Product data
Data: Uploaded to flickr by kokeshi flickr.com/photos/kokeshi/119345900/

Gather data: To Do
Gather existing market research and industry data primary and secondary

Identify information gaps and develop plans to fill them

Gather existing product performance data Identify missing and desired information and leverage colleagues to obtain
If desired data is not available, quantify the value of it in order to obtain support for projects to gather it

Ten Tips
1. Spend time with customers 2. Ask dumb questions 3. Let go of your past 4. Surround yourself with experts 5. Gather data 6. Focus 7. Concentrate on what, not how 8. Communicate, communicate, communicate 9. Sell your product internally 10.Do whatever it takes

Focus
It will be overwhelming You will not know where to start

It is better to do one thing well than to do a lot of things poorly

irony; Uploaded to flickr by mrpattersonsir flickr.com/photos/mrpattersonsir/30325860/

Focus: To Do
Make a list of all of the internal and external priorities

Determine timelines, relative levels of effort, and resources required Pick a few quick wins and focus initial effort
During that time, develop longer-term focus Get agreement on focus, communicate, and reiterate it

Concentrate on what, not how

It will be tempting to control how things get done with your product Resist the temptation

Product managers should define what needs to happen

and others should define how those things happen

Concentrate on what, not how: To Do

Clarify roles and responsibilities with team members
Engineering Design Marketing

Get regular feedback on whether you and others are keeping with the agreed-upon responsibilities

Communicate, communicate
Do not underestimate the importance of communication in all forms
Informal, formal, written, verbal, unspoken, method, timeliness, frequency, tone
Calling_all_Flickrs; Uploaded to flickr by carf flickr.com/photos/beija-flor/5011611/

Communication

Source: Seven Traits of Successful Product Managers; Michael Shrivathsan

michael.hightechproductmanagement.com/2006/12/seven_traits_of_successful_pro.html

Communication
Manager Sales Product Manager Marketing

Engineering

Communication
Executives

Other PMs
Finance Legal

Manager Sales Product Manager Marketing Customer Service

Project Management

Engineering

Design

Communication
Executives Customers Sales Product Manager Marketing Customer Service

Other PMs
Finance Legal

Manager

Partners
Investors

Project Management

Industry Analysts

Engineering

Design

Communicate, communicate: To Do
Audit current communications (if any) Get feedback from stakeholders on preferred communications channels and frequency Develop communications plan; type and frequency
Email newsletter Intranet site State of the Product presentations

Set reminders about communications and stick to schedule!

Sell your product internally

Be the champion for your product

Sell your product to executives, team members, other departments

Will help gain resources, funding, support for issues and new initiatives

Sell your product internally: To Do

Regularly communicate good news
Dont go overboard Dont ignore or try to dismiss bad news

Make sure your communication plans include all the necessary audiences

Get others to help sell your product

Explicit enlistment Find good supporters and keep them happy

Do whatever it takes
Be willing to do whatever it takes.

I know of many cases where the product manager needed to help out with deliverables for customer support, sales training, technical writing, QA, engineering, and marketing. You may need to just do it.
Source: Thriving in Large Companies; Silicon Valley Product Group
www.svproduct.com/blog/files/thriving_in_large_companies.html

Do whatever it takes: To Do
Learn about as many areas of your product as possible
The more you know, the more you can help

Help out at the right time

Dont start too early, but dont wait too long

Dont complain about having to help out

But make sure to discuss it later if there are skill or resource issues that need to be addressed

Bonus tip #11

Learn from other product managers

There are plenty of great (and often free!) resources available

Books, blogs, newsletters, webinars, conferences, training, professional associations, local groups, mailing lists, social networking sites

Resources
How To Be A Good Product Manager
2) Ask dumb questions
www.goodproductmanager.com/2007/02/09/ask-dumb-questions/

3) Let go of your past

www.goodproductmanager.com/2007/01/30/let-go-of-your-past/

4) Surround yourself with experts

www.goodproductmanager.com/2007/02/22/dont-do-it-all-or-do-it-all-yourself/

7) Take responsibility for what, not how

www.goodproductmanager.com/2007/02/14/take-responsibility-for-what-not-how/

10) Do whatever it takes

www.goodproductmanager.com/2007/04/04/help-out-in-areas-outside-of-productmanagement/

More topics at www.goodproductmanager.com

Resources
Brainmates: So Youre a New Product Manager
Part 1: www.brainmates.com.au/?p=165 Part 2: www.brainmates.com.au/?p=153 Part 3: www.brainmates.com.au/?p=159 Part 4: www.brainmates.com.au/?p=166 Part 5: www.brainmates.com.au/?p=169 Part 6: www.brainmates.com.au/?p=172

On Product Management: How to be a Great Product Manager

onproductmanagement.wordpress.com/2007/08/14/how-tobe-a-great-product-manager-boxed-set-with-bonus-features/

Resources
Lots of other great Product Management blogs
www.goodproductmanager.com/resources/

These slides are available online

www.jefflash.com/work/

Interested in getting your feedback

jeff@jefflash.com