Slides Ari Tiktin recently used in his discussion w/ mentees of The Product Mentor. The Product Mentor is a program designed to pair Product Mentors and Mentees from around the World, across all industries, from start-up to enterprise, guided by the fundamental goals…Better Decisions. Better Products. Better Product People. Throughout the program, each mentor leads a conversation in an area of their expertise that is live streamed and available to both mentee and the broader product community. http://TheProductMentor.com

1. Achieving Team Buy-In
Ari Tiktin
July 15, 2015

2. ‘Team Buy-In’ is kind of vague

3. Product managers must be…
✔ Strategic
✔ Tactical
✔ Business-minded
✔ Communicators
✔ Experts ✔ Analytical
✔ Innovative
✔ And much more…

4. Credit: Janna Bastow, Mind The Product

5. To get a group of people (peers, colleagues,
stakeholders or otherwise) to agree to a
common vision, goal or philosophy
What does it mean to achieve
‘team buy-in’?

6. Why is this important to me?
Your immediate team
• Your boss(es)
• Technology
• UX/UI
• Direct report(s)
• Project management
• Quality assurance
Your colleagues
• Sales
• Finance
• Marketing
• Social
• Vendors/Partners
• Production (editorial,
content, etc)
• Other stakeholders
As a product manager, you work with

8. 1 Past experience
Establish credibility
2 Demonstrate expertise
3 Methodology
4 Integrity
5 Professionalism
6 Get ‘wins’ under your belt

9. Create clarity
Corporate
Objectives
What directives has corporate provided? How will you support
them?
Problem What specific problem are you trying to solve? How? Why?
Audience Who is your customer? Prioritized personas?
Product What’s the vision, goals, principles?
Success How do you define success? KPI’s?
Milestones Roadmap, target dates, specific milestones?

10. Communicate
Be
transparent
Work with
influencers
Manage up &
across

11. Make data driven decisions
Be objective • Be careful of personal preferences
• Gut decisions have a time and place
Be quantitative • Analytics
• Empirical data
• A/B testing
Be qualitative • Surveys
• Customer/Stakeholder interviews
• Customer care feedback
• Product reviews

12. 1 Let them make decisions
Empower the team
2 Encourage conversation and feedback
3 Shield the team

13. Manage the nay-sayers
Discuss 1 on 1
What’s in it
for them
Build base of
supporters

14. Recognize & reward
Affirmations Opportunities
Let them win
sometimes

15. WITH TEAM BUY-IN
Teamwork Defined KPI’s
Focused teams Clarity
Results Common understanding
WITHOUT TEAM BUY-IN
Ambiguity Distractions
Clashes Frustration
Delays Lack of support

16. 1 Establish credibility
To reiterate
2 Create clarity
3 Communicate
4 Make data driven decisions
5 Empower the team
6 Manage the nay-sayers
7 Recognize & reward