2. © 2022 Thoughtworks | Confidential
By Thoughtworks
Product Management
A tasting menu of skills & tips
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The menu
● Why product managers (pm)?
● PM Definition
● The essential skills platter
● The extended degustation
● PM relationships
● Specialist vs generalist
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Source: Product School Future of Product Management Report 2022
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Source:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ProductManagement/comments/mrid2r/fixed/?utm_source=share&u
tm_medium=web2x&context=3
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A product manager is typically
a generalist but complex role
that creates a vision, leads
teams and continuously
delivers value to their target
customers.
Product managers also “run”
their product so are heavily
involved in operations,
support, education, risk,
governance and marketing.
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Create
Lead
Run
Deliver
Typically a
Product
Owner
Definition
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Roadmapping
Selling your
vision
Continuous
Discovery
Risk
Management
Stakeholder
Management
Vision and
Goals
Go to Market
Create & Define Deliver Launch
Mentoring Building Trust
Conflict
Management
Team
Empowerment
Storytelling
Lead Run
Core Skills (Both POs and PMs)
Extended Skills (Typically PMs)
Inspire & Influence
Business
Continuity
Discover
A suggested menu
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Vision and Goals
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Goals allow you to
measure success
incrementally be it
financial, social, virality,
opinions, ratings or
meeting an obligation.
A product vision can be a
statement, a mission, a
deck or even media - but
it is an explainer as to why
the product exists, it’s
purpose and how it will
be successful.
What is a product
vision?
How do you create?
What are product
goals?
It can be as simple as a
sentence, a story, an
elevator pitch or a
diagram - it’s a tool to help
you influence and
persuade others of WHY
your product should exist
and create desire.
How do you create?
Goals should tie back to
your business strategy &
brand drivers. They
should be SMART but
also relatable and
inspirational.
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Roadmaps always have
fans and detractors.
Include your most reliant
(and perhaps vocal)
stakeholders early to
understand their needs
and how to negotiate
down the track.
Can be Now, Next, Later;
Horizons; Annually,
Quarterly etc.
Presented as a document,
a wall, a Trello board
(Xero) or even a tree (Up
Bank).
Roadmap approaches Features vs slices
Brace for (and embrace)
feedback
Good roadmaps focus on
delivering goals via slices
to encourage iterative
delivery with feedback
loops and checkpoints for
each slice rather than “fat
feature” delivery.
Sync journey mapping
Focus efforts into a future
state journey for your
product, then cross-check
with your goals, then
break down the scope into
appropriate themes /
audiences.
Roadmapping
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Roadmapping
https://up.com.au/tree/
https://trello.com/b/cHoNWLSe/xero-platform-roadmap-for-developers
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Roadmapping
Source: https://whynotpartnering.com/what-does-a-thriving-organisation-look-like/
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Roadmapping
Journey phase
Journey step
Wireframe
Epics
Features
Product Themes
Prioritised Features
Storymapping
CX Goal
Metrics
Journey map
Roadmap
Release bundle
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Source: https://www.arcstudiopro.com/blog/three-act-structure-in-screenwriting
Storytelling
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Source: https://nofilmschool.com/Three-act-structure
Storytelling
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Talk about your product
as a film, give it spatial
presence, conflict and
resolution
Treat your product as a
character - strengths,
weaknesses,
motivations & goals
Structure your
roadmap presentations
as either a film trailer or
the full film -
understand the
purpose of each
Build action and
vulnerability
throughout your
presentation to build
suspense and
anticipation
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Storytelling
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Selling your vision
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That’s nice but user
needs, testing and data
inform my decisions.
Do you have evidence?
Could you share a report
or user interview please?
It is important to
workshop, collaborate and
consult with as many
people as possible.
This is not just for
divergent thinking but also
to win people over early.
Engage, engage,
engage
Love your influencees
Have a plan for the
Hippos
Know how they absorb
content, how fast and how
they respond.
Pre-empt what they may
expect, their potential
questions and prepare
(not necessarily keeping
them happy).
Have a plan for the
Veruca Salts
Bring it back to the
innovation triangle.
Embrace your inner film
editor “it was a nice idea
but we cut it for pacing / it
didn’t fit the tone of the
product.”
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Source:
https://www.bishophouse.com/disc/effectively-manage-diverse-styles
-within-team/
Selling your vision
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Discovery
Hypotheses
Test
and
learn
Prioritise
Minimum
Viable
Product
Test
Design
Build
Refine
Market
opportunity
Improvement
opportunity
Customer
need
Feedback
Delivery at speed
Product definition
Product discovery
What's the smallest,
valuable thing we can
build to test with users?
Sufficient detail for
technical solution and
user and business needs
User research, tech
spikes, prototypes,
mockups
How do we think
this idea will make
things better?
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Continuous discovery
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Source: https://www.jpattonassociates.com/dual-track-development/
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Selling continuous discovery
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Build a culture (and
calendar) using CD
rituals to review the past,
celebrate wins, learn from
failures and lead into the
future. It creates routine
and enhances motivation
& creativity.
The biggest challenge
with CD for PMs is that
many organisations run in
annual funding cycles,
hence why most
deliveries always end up
with the same fixed
sliders.
Challenge funding
cycles
Systemise thin slices
Big room planning
Continuous discovery
meetups
Use your CD rituals to
reaffirm bets, distill
outcomes into thin slice
deliveries to validate your
bets early supported by
rich outcomes.
Speed and quality
Emphasising validated
ideas that have been
tested and delivered at
speed, will uplift
sponsor confidence and
set your team for more
autonomy.
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Source / Credit: Stakeholder mapping / Inception Deck
Stakeholder management
Manage
Closely
Keep
Satisfied
Monitor
Keep
Informed
Low Influence
High Influence
Supporter
Detractor
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Source / Credit: Stakeholder mapping / Inception Deck
Stakeholder management
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Go to market
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Your release = new job.
Have bandwidth to build
feature onboarding
mechanisms such as
overlays, “what’s new”.
Understand user entry
points.
Detach your deployment
from your release.
Enable beta / VIP releases
for your most cherished
(and perhaps skeptical)
stakeholders.
Run always-on pilots.
Toggle dat feature Go on tour Focus on onboarding UX
Host Q&As and take the
opportunity to explain the
“Why” of the release,
share design/testing and
finesse your storytelling.
Acknowledge learning
styles
Remember that there is a
subset of users who don’t
like change so ensure you
have a change plan
backed with good release
comms and content for
support team.
INTERNAL EXTERNAL
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Team empowerment
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Continuous discovery
operationalises idea
generation.
Having regular cycles of
testing will uplift
stakeholder management
& influencing skills.
Ensure your team are
aware of your company’s
risk appetite.
Ensure your product
owners know what
“jurisdiction” they have
when it comes to risk.
Risk appetite Commercial context
Create safe
environments
Ensure they have a strong
grasp on viability - often
the hardest lens for
product owners.
Provide context into
financial levers to assist
product storytelling.
Encourage failure
Encourage your team to
be bold and not be afraid
to stay within the box.
The answer can be wrong
but show your working.
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Mentoring
Source: https://releasingstrengths.com/cascade/cascade-help/enhanced-team-grid/
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Building Trust
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Taking these stakeholders
through a risk matrix to
demonstrate you’ve
prepared (perhaps
over-prepared) for any
potential hiccups along
the way.
Crafting strong outcomes
anchored towards your
sponsors, delivered via
thin slices to demonstrate
ROI quickly.
Bringing your experiments
/ interviews / usability
testing to prove that there
is a need in the market.
Adopting continuous
discovery culminating in
feature toggled releases
They can then see
incremental value
delivered in a controlled
manner.
If money conscious If skeptical on vision If risk adverse
If concerned on
execution
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Conflict management
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Work on your
self-awareness and know
what triggers you in a
confrontational situation.
Plan for it if dealing with
conflict in real time isn’t
your thing.
Understand their rationale
and initiate empathy.
Understand their desired
outcome is.
Self-assess your
negotiation threshold and
address the conflict.
If you’re facilitating a
workshop, read the room
and “DISC them”.
Monitor body language.
If things are heated, use
your parking lot.
Always know the
“unhappy path” of people
and incorporate (perhaps
keeping it to yourself!) into
your mapping.
Conflict with people Diffusing conflict
Know how you deal &
react
Incorporate into
stakeholder mapping
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Risk management
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Meet with your team often
to review.
Ensure your team know to
resolve or escalate.
Don’t keep sponsors in the
dark.
An inherent risk is
something that could
happen. A residual risk is
the “left over” risk even
when you’ve put in place
mitigations.
Spend the time in
discovery / inception
phases to plot out high
risks.
A risk mindset can often
appease many
stakeholders.
Involve risk, legal and
security early.
Viability is often the
hardest circle so tackle it
early!
Know the lingo Risk registers Create a ritual Your risk buddies
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Risk Inherent Risk Mitigating Controls / Actions Residual Risk
Future
Outlook
Benefits: Lack of business sponsorship and
unclear project value & sustainability results in
low adoption of solution by users, hence
inefficiencies Critical
The following controls are implemented and operating:
- A
- B
The following activities are currently being introduced to further manage the risk:
- A
- B
Severe ⇧
Scope & Quality: Inadequate management of
stakeholder expectations due to unclear and
unrealistic requirements
Severe Moderate ⬄
Resources: Resource limitations such as skillset
shortage, insufficient SMEs, key person, org
changes, failure of external suppliers
Severe Moderate ⬄
Cost & Quality: Disengaged project team due to
change/project fatigue, poor culture & morale Severe Severe ⇧
Cost & Scope: Changing environment and failure
to meet requirements & commitments (changes in
legislation, regulation, market conditions; new
products, solutions, competitors, technology;
change in business strategy)
Severe Moderate ⇧
Time & Cost: Failure to recognise and manage
dependencies due to complexity/size and lack of
communication/consultation
Severe Severe ⬄
Business Readiness / Change Management:
Implementation failure due to insufficient
business and stakeholder readiness to absorb
and sustain changes (e.g. lack of training and
awareness of impacts)
Moderate Moderate ⇧
Delivered Risk: Delivered project changes
increases the business risk profile i.e. resulting in
material incidents & production issues
Severe Moderate ⇩
Risk management
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Business continuity
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Work with content to craft
holding statements.
Pre-arrange zoom calls /
Slack.
Commit to regular updates
(be careful externally).
One of the hardest roles
for a PM is managing an
incident. As high quality as
your software is, there is
always a risk of something
going wrong, be it a partial
or complete outage.
Create a social contract
with your development
team to have roles and
responsibilities set for an
outage.
Always do a dry run.
This is the ultimately
endurance test as a PM,
your role is to keep calm
and to keep your team
calm
Monitor your team for
stress and fatigue.
An error has occurred.. Technical Communication Leadership
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PM/PO blend
Generalist / Specialist Balance
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Specialist
Senior
Specialist
Consultant
Business
Analyst
Manager
Executive
Manager
Product
Lead
● Collaboration
● Requirements and
documentation
● Briefing delivery
teams
● Stakeholder
management
● Roadmapping
● Delivery
● Storytelling
● Run activities
● Risk
management
● Incident
Management
● Prioritisation
● Roadmap
pitching
● Product vision
● Building
relationships
● Leading POs
● Coaching
● Complex
decision
making
● Incident
management
● Continuous
discovery
● Go to market
● Strategic
roadmapping
● Influencing
● Program level
Continuous
discovery
● Complex
executive
stakeholder
management
● Continuous
discovery
● Blend of BA,
PO and lead
activities
● Product design
frameworks
● Agile coaching
● Building trust
● Continuous
discovery
● Stakeholder
management
● Risk
management
● Conflict
management
Product owner
Product Manager
Sponsor
Technical Specialist
PM/PO blend
Specialist
Generalist / Specialist
Hybrid
Generalist
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PM relationships
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Context and empowerment
are key to your delivery
team so relay the vision,
goals but give them wriggle
room and feel supported to
spike / experiment with
solution design. Aim to
schedule hackathons and
“fun dev days” as it assists
energy levels and morale for
the harder times.
Whilst this relationship is
explore via “empowerment”
the simplest tip is to lead by
example. If you can’t
regulate emotion or set
expectations, you will find
your product owners
emanating your behaviours.
Just like parenting, set a
good example.
Product owners Your technical peer Delivery team
Set a solid relationship with
your peer in technology -
typically an engineering
lead, platform manager or
tribe lead. Include them in
discovery, discuss team
performance and make them
a pivotal part of your team.
Aligning with this role will
deliver you a strong payoff.
Your boss
The key relationships you have
and what to do
Know your boss well when it
comes to DISC style and
their leadership style.
Assess their level of
autonomy with you, the level
of detail they desire and
when they want to be
engaged for escalations. Be
mindful of micro-managers
and set boundaries early.
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Roadmapping
Continuous
Discovery
Risk
Management
Stakeholder
Management
Vision and
goals
Go to Market
Mentoring Building Trust
Conflict
Management
Team
Empowerment
Storytelling
Business
Continuity
Further reading
● https://www.prod
uctmanifesto.co
m/
● Start with Why -
Simon Sinek
● Product Plan
ebook
● Product
roadmaps
re-launched
● https://www.strat
egyzer.com/book
s/value-propositi
on-design
● Blog - aligning to
film techniques
● Blog - what can
digital leaders
learn from
Hollywood?
● Book: Continuous
discovery habits
● Blog - product
led growth
mindset
● DISC test (free)
● DISC test (paid
but worth it)
● Product Plan Blog
- managing
stakeholders
● Blog - app
onboarding
● Storytelling /
releases with
UpBank eg
● Blog - team
empowerment
● Blog - How to
mentor product
owners
● Book -
Leadership 2.0
● Strengths Finder
2.0
● Blog - Building
trust /
psychology lens
● Learn about your
conflict style /
take test
● HBR book -
dealing with
difficult people
● Government
resource on
business
continuity
Selling the
vision
● Blog - aligning to
film techniques
● Blog - what can
digital leaders
learn from
Hollywood?
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Go forth!
Simon Clarke
Product Manager
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