Product managers sit in the middle of business, user experience and technology. Each area has different needs in order to reach their goals, and feels that their asks should be considered the most important. As a result, product managers are often put in a difficult situation of balancing the needs of many stakeholders, all while moving their product forward for their customers. This talk covers important points of stakeholder management.

1. Stakeholder Management for
Product People Emily Tate
@thedailyem
Stuck in the Middle

2. @thedailyem
Product Management
=
People Management

3. @thedailyem
People Management
=
HARD

4. ©2011 Martin Eriksson @thedailyem

5. Who are your
stakeholders?
@thedailyem

6. @thedailyem
Leadership
Sales Team
Marketing Team
Development Team
UX Team
Legal, Security & Regulatory
Anyone with an interest

7. Each Stakeholder Frames the
World Through Their Own Bias
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8. They Often Have
Conflicting Views

9. It’s Our Job to Find the Balance

10. 1. Identify Your Stakeholders
@thedailyem
But recognize they’re not all equal

11. Transparency - don’t hide information
Don’t try to win every argument up front
Back your decisions with data, and ask the same of others
Goals for
Monitor
Keep informed
Keep satisfied
Manage
Closely
Stakeholder Onion

12. 1. Interview Your Stakeholders
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13. @thedailyem
Who: 5-10 key stakeholders
When: At the beginning of any large effort,
or when you sense misalignment
How long: 30-45 minutes
Stakeholder Interviews

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• Tell me what you know about this project
• What are your goals for this project?
• What are your biggest fears about this
project?
• How would you like to be kept updated?
• What problems are you the right person to
solve?
Stakeholder Interviews

15. Synthesize notes
from interviews and
craft communication
strategies
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16. 3. Communicate Regularly
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17. Core Team High-Touch Low-Touch
•Goals Alignment
•Contributor/user of
tracking tools
•Daily standup
•Weekly retros
•Regular ad hoc
conversations
•Goals Alignment
•Access to tracking tools
•Weekly update meeting
•Weekly update email
•Frequent ad hoc
conversations
• Goals Alignment
• Weekly update email
• Weekly email
• Ad hoc conversations
when they have
questions
Sample Communication Plan

18. Common Mistakes

19. Lack of Transparency

20. What is Actually Happening:
Week 1: ✅
Week 2: ✅
Week 3: ✅
Week 4: ✅
Week 5: ✅
Week 6: ✅
Week 1: ✅
Week 2: ⚠
Week 3: ⁉
Week 4: 😱
Week 5: 🤯
Week 6: 🔥🧟
My Scorecard Shows:

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Transparency
Builds Trust

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Own the good, the
bad, and the ugly.

24. Falling Prey to the HiPPO
@thedailyem

25. @thedailyem
Fight the “Swoop and Poop”
• Communicate early and often
• Data-driven decisions
• Own your product
• Return to goals

26. You Don’t Have to Win Every
Battle the First Time

27. Not Having Alignment
on Goals
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Every project needs
clear, prioritized goals

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Who: Core team, key stakeholders,
naysayers
When: At the beginning of any large effort,
or when you sense misalignment
How long: 1-2 hours
Goals Alignment Workshop

30. @thedailyem
• Everyone generates goals of the project on
sticky notes on their own (silently)
• Business goals, Product goals, Team goals
• Each person reads their goals out loud,
ENDING with the HiPPO
• Identify themes and dot vote importance
• Prioritize goals (especially conflicting)
Goals Alignment Workshop

31. @thedailyem
• List out things this effort will not accomplish
• Good things for the future, but not a part of
this project
• Things that could be tempting distractions
for the team
• You might pull some of the generated goals
into this category
Anti-Goals and Distractions

32. @thedailyem
• Prioritized list of goals for the team
• Revisited by the team every few weeks to
ensure we’re headed in the right direction
• Can be altered if the team decides a goal is no
longer relevant, but needs buy-in
• Use with stakeholders to re-focus
conversations
Goals Workshop Output

33. @thedailyem
Product Management
is a Team Sport

34. @thedailyem
You Need Your Stakeholders
on Your Side

35. @thedailyem
Strong stakeholder management
can be the difference between a
good product manager and a
great one.

36. Emily Tate
US General Manager,
Mind the Product
Twitter: @thedailyem
LinkedIn: /thedailyem

37. http://bit.ly/PM102Dallas