Key Takeaways: - Communicate the vision - Leadership is key to your success - Keys to growing your high performing team

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5. Regis McGarry
T O N I G H T ’ S S P E A K E R

6. Skill #1
Communicate the Vision

7. Where do you find Vision?
• Leave the ivory tower and discover
the your customers world (real one)
• View your product through your
customer’s eyes
• Lead the discovery process
– What problem are you solving?
– What need are you satisfying?

8. What is Vision?
• Vision is:
– what you want to accomplish
– why you want to get there
– where you want to go
• Vision is your compass
• Vision is long term
• Vision can change

9. Who needs Vision?
• Troops on the ground
• Peers and companion departments
• Why not the Executives?
• Why not your customers?

10. Outcomes of an effectively
communicated vision
• Spread the seeds
• water often
• always be prepared to give an answer...
• The fruits of your labor
– Alignment
– Consensus
– Collaboration toward the common goal
– Focus
– Results

11. Feedback
• What does vision do for you personally?
• Did I make my case?
• Does this sound actionable?
• What did I miss?

12. Skill #2
Be a Leader, not a manager

13. Leadership vs Management
• Management and Leadership are different
• Management is more about now
– Short term solutions
– Controlling risk
– Processes and systems
• Leadership is more about the future
– Long term vision
– Inspire and build others
– Building relationships and trust

14. Leadership over Management
• The Product Manager IS a leadership role
• Most important skill you will need to be successful is how to lead a team
• What are the actionable parts to lead your product team?
– communicate the vision
– create a roadmap
– execute the plan (don’t be afraid to delegate)
– build trust in your team
– learn along the way
– inspire others

15. Learn the lessons of the past...
• Those who cannot remember the past
are doomed to repeat it
– George Santayana (1863-1952)

16. Learn the lessons of the past...
• Conway’s Law. Melvin Conway.
1967
– Organizations build systems that
are copies of their
communication structures

17. Learn the lessons of the past...
• Brooks’s Law. Fred Brooks. Mythical man-month. 1975
– Adding people to a late project just makes the project later

18. Learn the lessons of the past...
• Tyranny of the Urgent. Charles Hummel. 1984
– The contest for your time. The Urgent vs. the Important

19. Agile Manifesto - 2001
Leadership qualities
Relationships
Results
Transparency
Learn, Listen, Flexibility

20. Feedback
• Who has experienced leadership?
• Does it feel different than management?
• Does this resonate?
• Does this sound actionable?
• What did I miss?

21. Skill #3
Build the product team
Here’s how

22. Teamwork tactics
• From the book “Developmental sequences in small groups”

23. Teamwork tactics
• From the book “The 5 dysfunctions of a
team”

24. Teamwork tactics
• From the book “The Agile Culture: Leading
through Trust and Ownership”

25. Teamwork tactics
• RASCI model - Create a structure for your team to operate in

26. Wrap it all up
• Understand what it takes to build and maintain a high
performing team
• Focus on the customer
• Roles and responsibilities really matter!
• Relationships matter
• Be results oriented - ban the status meeting

27. Wrap it all up
• Serve your team like you serve your Customers
– Expose your team to the Customer’s pain
– Think and act cross functionally
– Bring problems, not solutions
– Celebrate your successes

28. Final thoughts
– Vision is critical to product success
– Leadership is the engine that propels you
– Teamwork is your fortress

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