Main takeaways: -How to overcome hurdles as a Product Manager -Being an adaptable Product Manager -How to be successful in the midst of difficulty Screen reader support enabled.

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How to Overcome Fear in Product by
Sunrun Sr. Product Manager

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10. Justin Williams
TONIGHT’S SPEAKER

11. ● Overcoming the vexing life of the modern PM
● Organizational hurdles, agile dogma, deranged
stakeholders, an extreme lack of product
mentorship are all too common obstacles
● Strategies for new and mid-level PMs to succeed
when it feels like the deck is stacked against you
Goals of This Talk

12. NPS = Negative 65
My Journey

13. Dr. Fadem purchases questionable man
bag to show enthusiasm for the new
product.
My Journey

14. My Journey

15. My Journey

16. Current State of PM

17. “The average skill
level of a product
manager has
dropped significantly
over the last several
years.”
- Marty Cagan

18. “The move to Agile
and need for POs and
so they send them to
CSPO training and
they learn about 5%
of the job.”
- Marty Cagan

19. Open Letter to Management on the
State of Product Management at
Google

20. “The majority of PM’s I have worked
with over the course of the past 6-7
years have zero training or experience
in product management.”

21. “General Incompetence - The PM’s
that I have had occasion to work with
have demonstrated an inability to do
even the basic tenets of the position.”

22. “No career growth education/training - The PM’s
do not grow as there is no opportunity for them to
learn how to properly do the job, as far as i can tell
it's because even leadership doesn't know how to
do the job properly. No framework exists in any of
the groups i have worked with where the PM’s
learn the proper approaches and outputs to being
successful and working well with the engineers.

23. ● Many PM “Leaders” have
never done product
management.
● It’s difficult to get good at
something… if you can
never see what good looks
like.
● “If you could use your
budget to keep your PM,
would you?” - John Cutler
PM Realities

24. Strategies To
Overcome

25. Find Something
You Care About.1.

26. Find Something You Care About
● Customers
● Problem Space or
Vision
● Company
● Often - not
obvious. Get out
and interview.

30. Talk To
Customers.2.

31. Talk To Customers
Dumbfounded by how many PMs don’t do
this.
● Build empathy & motivation
● Collect amazing stories
● Become an expert
● Look like a badass
● JFDI
● Challenge: Talk to 1 a week.
Woah

33. Don’t Go To
Conferences3.

34. Don’t Go To Conferences
Talks are hit or miss and get
posted online anyway.
Instead:
● SVPG.com workshop
● Get a coach
● Product School

35. Focus on
Outcomes; care
less about what
others think.
3.

36. PM Can Be A Lonely Job
● Cake story

37. Our product goal was ____ and we
achieved it with ____.
Our current goal is ____, our
strategy to achieve it is ____.
That is our focus right now.

38. Get Out!
● Get out of meetings
● Don’t feel the need to answer every
question
● You are not a servant to “the business”
● Challenge: Block 4 hours/day for heads
down work
● 1x monthly drinks or lunch is a great
way to build a relationship and be less
reactionary
● Don’t have a meeting and solution every
issue

39. Be Ruthless With
Your Time.4.

40. Be Ruthless
● Every Product Team Ever: We
want to spend more time with
customers or in discovery
● 50% of your time should be in
Discovery
● Challenge: Spend 5 minutes
recording how you spent your
time each week.
● Challenge: Read 4 hours a week.

41. Avoid Failure
Modes5.

42. Do Your Homework
● Small company: CEO meets with
customers weekly
● PM: hardly ever does
● PM: relegated to “backlog
administrator”
● Challenge: Create a Lean
Canvas for your business and
review it with your manager.

43. Do Your Homework
Failure Modes:
● Escalate every decision to the
CEO or Head of Product
● Call a meeting with stakeholders
everytime a big decision needs
to be made
Don’t Turn into “Order
Takers”

44. Do Your Homework
Recognized expert across the
following:
● Customers
● Business Model
● Competitors
● Industry
● Product Itself
Don’t Turn into “Order
Takers”

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