1.
How to be a good
(Product) Manager
Ugo Bataillard - 2019-02-28

2.
Who am i?

3.
Ugo Bataillard
● French citizen
● Software engineer by training
● 10 years in Japan
● Have only worked in Japan
● 4 companies (FR, JP, US, JP)
● Researcher ->
Technical Manager ->
Product Manager ->
CTO/CPO @ Shippio

4.
Research cycle
Ideation Planning/partnership Prototyping Funding
60 projects300 projects3,700 researchers
1 year

5.
Projects
Turbo button
“Boost your data speed only
when you need it”
Tap’n’go
“Get a movie in less than 5s”

6.
Shameless plug

7.
We send containers

8.
And smaller packages

9.
By plane

10.
By ship

11.
And trucks!

12.
All over the world

13.
We are only orchestrating

14.
We don’t own any planes or ships

15.
It’s actually harder than Japan post
@+ +
=

16.
SaaS to the rescue!

17.
Integrates!

18.
Can we start now?

19.
What?
Why?
How?
My Experience

20.
Have a well defined framework

21.
Why have a well defined framework?
● Less overhead of micro management
● Communication standardized and timeboxed
● Progress/Failure easily observable
● Easier onboarding of new recruits
● Commit time for process improvement

22.
How to have a well defined framework?
● Be knowledgeable on the standards
○ SCRUM
○ Kanban
○ Waterfall
● They never fit
● Make your own!

23.
My experience
● Certified SCRUM Master and PO
● With small teams start with the minimum
○ Backlog, Sprint Planning, Demo and
RETROSPECTIVE
● Introduce new elements when needed
● Borrowed Kanban capacity
● Use retrospective like questions for one on one

24.
Understand your team

25.
Why understand your team?
● Optimize your team performance
● Find the right motivators
● Anticipate problems
● Adapt roadmap
● Hire better

26.
How to understand your team?
● Be involved in the life of the team
● Participate in conversations
● Prove area of expertise
● Always be observing

27.
My experience
● People clusters happen easily
● Projected image is as important as reality
● Bilingual meetings are hard

28.
Know your people

29.
Why know your people?
● Optimize role for happiness and efficiency
● Solve problems better and faster
● Help them grow
● Minimize churn

30.
How to know your people?
● Poll information don’t wait for push
● “Hey, how are you doing?”, “How is that thing going?”
● Structured one on ones
○ Plan for long term
○ Look at the past
○ Adjust short term to progress toward long term
● Be genuinely interested in people

31.
My experience
● Saved many hours of people being stuck by poking them
● Solved a lot of intra team problems
● Helped people by knowing issues outside of work
● Discovered desire of several members to be more
involved in conception process
● People enjoy one on ones

32.
Be a leader

33.
Why be a leader?
● Inspiration is the best fuel
● You can ask more from them
● Less time arguing
● Your team will have your back when you need it

34.
● “Extreme ownership”: any failure of the team is your
failure
● Protect your team from stakeholders
● Have their back when they need it
● Be honest even when it hurts
How be a leader?

35.
My experience
● Owning your team failures may seem scary, but it is
actually rewarding
● Framework helps protecting team members from
stakeholders but is not enough
● Respect comes more easily if you show you can get your
hands dirty
● Giving really bad reviews in a constructive way is hard

36.
Empower your people

37.
Why empower people?
● I’m lazy
● Makes people feel good
● Cheaper to have leaders you groomed than to hire them
● Already integrated the framework

38.
How to empower people?
● Prepare them for it
● Have a framework
● Clearly communicate it to the team
● Trust your people
● Let them fail
● No need for titles

39.
My experience
● Organization authority: SCRUM Master
● Technical authority: senior developer
● Tech marketing
● GV Design sprint
● Team members can become PO of an epic

40.
Thank you