Bill Gorden is an expert in product management who has led many successful products. He believes product managers are judged by whether their products win in the market. Gorden emphasizes starting with customer problems, developing a compelling vision and strategy, promoting discovery to create valuable and usable products, managing teams to execute effectively, and fostering a culture of innovation. Some of his past winning products include the Motorola RAZR V3x and Dell Venue tablet.

1. Leading Product Management
Make Products That Win!
Bill Gorden
+1-847-219-9501
billgorden1@gmail.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/billgorden
https://twitter.com/bill_gorden

2. Product manager: Results matter
• Product managers are judged by whether their products “win”
• Product managers cover all the gaps and don’t make excuses
• Product managers have the responsibility, often without
authority

3. When did I start making products?
• Boy Scouts Pinewood Derby
• It wasn’t about the best looking car
• It was the fastest car that won!
• It was about solving the right problem

4. Software engineering
Where did I go from there?

5. • I went to dark side:
– Marketing / Product Management
• This led to solving customer
problems with
products/solutions
• Then to building teams and
businesses
Then……

6. The rest is history
I create winning products, develop and build teams, grow businesses
and lead organizations
• How am I different
– I’ve done this at large companies
– Started new businesses
– Commercialized new technologies
– Started new teams from scratch
– Developed software products
– Developed hardware / software combined
products
– Managed large teams
– Managed small teams
– Managed cross functional teams
– Developed new processes
– Managed software/hardware engineering
– Managed design
– Been out in the field selling products

7. Winning products / Growing businesses

8. What product leaders do:
– Set vision & strategy
– Promote discovery & refinement
– Manage the organization
– Execute
– Create product culture
– Train, mentor & coach

9. Vision
Vision
“It is important that
humanity become an
interplanetary
species.”

10. Vision
A compelling vision paints a picture of the future
(your target) that draws people in.

11. Strategy
“STRATEGY IS ABOUT MAKING CHOICES,
TRADE-OFFS; IT’S ABOUT DELIBERATELY
CHOOSING TO BE DIFFERENT.”
MICHAEL PORTER

12. Strategy
A compelling strategy is the path to achieving
your vision

13. Vision & strategy
A vision should be stable, but strategy should be
iterated as you deliver the sequence of products
on your journey to achieving your vision

14. Vision & strategy
Motorola
Our vision was: leverage the transition to new wireless
standards (3G) to make Motorola the market leader again.
Our strategies were:
– Be the standard that every network must operate with
– Be first to market on every continent
– Leverage new technology first: cameras, streaming video, video calls
– Iterate & optimize fundamentals: Great design, thin, battery life,
performance

15. Vision & strategy
Dell
Our vision was: Help business customers operate efficiently
Our strategies were:
– Start with vertical segments & deliver solutions
 Healthcare
 Banking
 Retail
 Education
 Hospitality
– Get the general business user (mobile execs, sales, service)
– Expand to consumer to reduce costs
– Iterate & optimize fundamentals: Great design, thin, battery life,
performance

16. Promote discovery & refinement
Solve customer problems
We innovate by starting with the
customer and working backwards.
That becomes the touchstone for
how we invent
- Jeff Bezos -

17. Promote discovery & refinement
Solve customer problems
• Talk to your customers
• Listen to your customers
• Watch your customers
• Know their business
• Understand their problems
• Run formal product
discovery
• Make it a team effort
– Engineering
– Design
– Cross functional collaboration
is needed for innovation
• The product you create
must be valuable, usable &
feasible

18. • Create personas
• Design is important
• User experience must be great
• Set up product principles
• Develop a prototype that is your
spec
• Test it on real customers
• Iterate and refine it
• Make it a team effort
– Engineering
– Design
• The product you create must be
valuable, usable & feasible
Promote discovery & refinement
Get the design right
“DESIGN IS NOT JUST
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE
AND FEELS LIKE.
DESIGN IS HOW IT
WORKS.”
- STEVE JOBS

19. Promote discovery & refinement
Iterate & optimize
It’s very important to have
a feedback loop, where
you’re constantly thinking
about what you’ve done
and how you could be
doing it better.
- Elon Musk -

20. Promote discovery & refinement
Iterate & optimize
• Once optimization & iteration are complete, that is your
MVP
• No more trade-offs, just execute
– If it’s a team effort to get this point, you know that the product is
not only valuable and usable, but also feasible!

21. • Direct team
• Cross-functional team
Manage the organization

22. • Common vision, strategy & product definition gets everyone
pulling in the same direction
• Create repeatable processes that continue to be improved
• Open and frequent communication keeps everyone aligned
• As issues arise, keep focus on the common goals
Manage the organization

23. Execution
• Timely execution is vital
• Managing the launch is
critical
• Make sure the KPI’s are
met

24. Launch winning products, make money
(a couple of my products are listed below)
RAZR V3x
- 2005 Global Mobile Award Winner
- Shipped to more than 50 countries
- Many millions sold
Dell Streak
- 2011 CES Innovation Award Winner
- Exceeded business plan by 20%
- Shipped to more than 40 countries
Dell Venue Tablet
- 2015 CES Innovation Award Winner

25. Create a product culture
• Take time out for innovation,
often
• Continuously & rapidly test and
learn
• Collaborate
• Continuously run discovery so
that the execution pipeline
remains full

26. Create a Product Culture
“When somebody has a
breakthrough innovation,
it is rarely one little thing.
Very rarely, it is one little
thing. It’s usually a whole
bunch of things that
collectively amount to a
huge innovation.”
- Elon Musk

27. TRAINING
TEACHING KNOWLEDGE
DEVELOPMENT COACHING
LEARN NEW SKILLS
Train, mentor & coach

28. Train, mentor & coach

29. Train, mentor & coach

30. Train, mentor & coach

31. Enable people to achieve their
potential
• Some of my team members have developed into
great leaders at great companies:
– VP at McAfee
– Engineering leader at Facebook
– Product Management leader at Facebook
– Director at Motorola Solutions
– Sr. Director at Medtronic
– CTO of a Chinese Company
– VP at Danaher
– Android partnership lead at Google

32. “Constantly think about
how you could be doing
things better and keep
questioning yourself.”
- Elon Musk
Always find ways to improve

33. Make Products That Win!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/billgorden
https://twitter.com/bill_gorden
Bill Gorden
+1-847-219-9501
billgorden1@gmail.com