Ten Tips For New Product Managers

Ten Tips For New Product Managers Presented by Jeff Lash [email_address] www.jefflash.com www.goodproductmanager.com

Four types of “new” Product Managers Your relationship to the organization Existing New Existing product, same organization Existing product, new organization New product, same organization New product, new organization Type of product Tenured New

Ten Tips
Spend time with customers
Ask “dumb” questions
Let go of your past
Surround yourself with experts
Gather data
Focus
Concentrate on what, not how
Communicate, communicate, communicate
Sell your product internally
Do whatever it takes

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

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

“ Dumb” questions are really more about when they get asked than about what you are asking
New product managers have the luxury of asking naïve 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
What were you in your “past” life? Whatever it was, you’re 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
141 Thursday - letting go : Uploaded to flickr by roujo flickr.com/photos/tekmagika/474086212/

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

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 product’s 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
Let go of your past
Gather data
Focus
Communicate, communicate, communicate
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

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 Product Manager Engineering Sales Marketing Manager

Communication Product Manager Engineering Design Finance Legal Project Management Sales Marketing Manager Executives Other PMs Customer Service

Communication Product Manager Engineering Design Finance Legal Project Management Sales Marketing Customers Investors Industry Analysts Manager Executives Other PMs Customer Service Partners

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!

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
Don’t go overboard
Don’t 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
Don’t start too early, but don’t wait too long
Don’t 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-product-management/
More topics at www.goodproductmanager.com

Resources
Brainmates: So You’re a New Product Manager…
Part 1: www.brainmates.com.au/?p=165
On Product Management: How to be a Great Product Manager
onproductmanagement.wordpress.com/2007/08/14/how-to-be-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
[email_address]

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Ten Tips For New Product Managers

by Jeff Lash on Jul 10, 2008

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Ten Tips For New Product Managers — Presentation Transcript