There's a big gap between product managers and product leaders. In this talk I discuss the difference between the two and offer advice based on my ten + years of managing product managers, how to make the transition.

1. Product leadership
vs.
product management

2. Anthony Broad-Crawford
@broadcrawford

3. i've launched 11 products
throughout my career

4. i've been a founding
member of two global
companies

5. i've helped build 8 patent
receiving technologies

6. cto, ceo, cpo

7. within3, startupbus, &
giveforward

8. currently CTO @ fooda

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

10. i've made a lot of
mistakes along the way

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

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

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

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

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

16. all i did was blame other
parts of the organizations

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

18. so here's the dirty little
secret

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

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

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

22. ultimately, managing a
product is about
managing the people

23. it's not about being the
ceo of your product

24. that's how a product
manager thinks

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

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

27. some advice

28. making everyone happy
makes no one happy

29. making no one happy
makes no one happy

30. data tells the best story

31. talk through that story in
narritive form

32. people have ideas, listen
to them and incorporate
them

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

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

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

36. don't confuse strategy
with tactics

37. have kpi's for your
strategys & tactics

38. parting thoughts

39. you are not the ceo of
your product

40. but you are responsible
for making your product
successful

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

42. Anthony Broad-Crawford
@broadcrawford

43. anthony@anthonybroadcrawford.com