Spoke at Product London about why Jay-Z is a great product person and what we as product managers can learn from him!

1. WHY JAY-Z WOULD MAKE
A GREAT
PRODUCT MANAGER?
Marc Abraham
Head of Product - Engagement at ASOS &
Global ProductTank Coordinator at Mind the Product

3. WHY JAY-Z?

4. THE JAY-Z YOU DON’T KNOW

5. THE JAY-Z YOU DO KNOW

6. What makes Jay-Z a great Product Manager?
★ Jay-Z’s traits that make him a great PM
What would Jay-Z do?
★ Putting Jay-Z’s PM skills to the test
How you can be more like Jay-Z?
★ Key takeaways from Jay-Z’s approach
WHY JAY-Z WOULD MAKE A GREAT PM?

7. 1. CUSTOMER CENTRIC

8. 2. CURIOUS

9. 3. TRY AND LEARN
“I’m not afraid of dying, I’m afraid of not trying.”

10. 4. CREATIVE

11. 5. PROBLEM SOLVER

12. 6. ENTREPRENEURIAL

13. 7. COMMUNICATOR
“Look, I apologize, often womanize
Took for my child to be born, to see through a
woman’s eyes
Took for these natural twins to believe in miracles
Took me too long for this song, I don’t deserve you”

14. 8. COLLABORATOR

15. 9. DECISION MAKER

16. 10. RISK TAKER

17. WHAT MAKES A GREAT PRODUCT MANAGER?
★ Customer centric
★ Curious
★ Try and learn
★ Creative
★ Problem solver
★ Entrepreneurial
★ Communicator
★ Decision maker
★ Risk taker

18. When you need to improve an existing product?
★ Test Jay-Z’s customer centricity
When there’s plenty of ‘unknowns’
★ Test Jay-Z’s curiosity
When you’re starting from scratch?
★ Test Jay-Z’s ability to try and learn and be creative
WHAT WOULD JAY-Z DO?

19. IMPROVE AN EXISTING PRODUCT

24. JAY-Z WOULD LISTEN
CC: Ash Maurya

25. AND LEARN FROM CINDY ALVAREZ

26. WHEN THERE’S PLENTY OF UNKNOWNS

27. JAY-Z WOULD EXPLORE & UNDERSTAND
CC: Alex Osterwalder / Strategyzer

28. AND LEARN FROM ALEX OSTERWALDER

29. START FROM SCRATCH

31. JAY-Z WOULD START SMALL

32. CC: Peter Merholz

33. AND LEARN FROM JEFF & JOSH

34. When things aren’t going to plan?
★ Test Jay-Z’s problem solving ability
When it’s down to you to lead?
★ Test Jay-Z’s entrepreneurialism
When you have a tricky stakeholder chat?
★ Test Jay-Z’s ability to communicate
WHAT WOULD JAY-Z DO?

35. THINGS AREN’T GOING TO PLAN

36. JAY-Z WOULD PAUSE, LISTEN AND GO AGAIN
“You plannin’ to bang, I’m plannin’ to bang too
You sayin’ my name, inter — —-[messes up]
HOLD ON [pauses]
You plannin’ to bang, I’m plannin’ to bang too
You sayin’ my name, entertain your crew
I ain’t playin’ no games ———“

37. Don’t be afraid to mess up:
★ Listen
★ Observe
★ Adapt
★ Improvise
★ Correct
★ Try
★ Discover
And again, again and again!

38. AND LEARN FROM FRANK J. BARRETT

39. IT’S DOWN TO YOU
“I’m not a businessman. I’m a business, man.”

40. JAY-Z WOULD STICK HIS NECK OUT

41. AND LEARN FROM STEPHEN R. COVEY

42. TRICKY STAKEHOLDER CHAT

43. JAY-Z WOULD LISTEN AND PAUSE
Listen for reasoning (inner thinking):
★ What’s going through Ye’s mind?
Listen for reactions (emotions):
★ How does Ye respond?
Listen for guiding principles:
★ What’s the underlying belief or philosophy that drives Ye?

44. AND LEARN FROM WALKER & GIBSON

45. When you need to influence lots of others?
★ Test Jay-Z’s collaboration skills
When a difficult decision is required?
★ Test Jay-Z’s decision making ability
When you need to take some serious risks?
★ Test Jay-Z’s approach to risk taking
WHAT WOULD JAY-Z DO?

46. INFLUENCING LOTS OF OTHERS

47. JAY-Z WOULD FOCUS ON CURRENCIES
CC: Allan R. Cohen and David L. Bradford

48. AND LEARN FROM COHEN & BRADFORD

49. DIFFICULT DECISION REQUIRED

50. JAY-Z WOULD ASSESS THINGS
Exactly what problem will this shoe solve:
★ People’s need for trendy footwear
How big is the opportunity?
★ It’s a $1bn industry and we could grab 20% market share
What alternatives are out there?
★ We could go with Nike and Adidas, or go it alone!

51. Reach:
★ At least 1m customers in the US alone
Impact:
★ If the shoe is successful, I can then branch out
Confidence:
★ Reebok know what they’re doing!
Effort:
★ Low effort to design and manufacture my first shoe

52. AND LEARN FROM MARTY CAGAN

53. AND LEARN FROM DONALD REINERTSEN

54. TAKING SERIOUS RISKS

55. JAY-Z WOULD FOCUS ON ‘UNKNOWNS’
What’s my riskiest assumption and why?
★ People will pay for my streaming service
What’s my biggest unknown?
★ Can I put a meaningful catalogue together to stream?
What’s my next biggest unknown?
★ Can I get streaming rights for multiple regions?

56. CC: Dave Gray, https://gamestorming.com/pre-mortem/ and Gary Klein, HBR

57. AND LEARN FROM ASH MAURYA

58. WHAT WOULD JAY-Z DO?
★ Listen to customers
★ Explore and understand
★ Try and learn
★ Start small
★ Listen and pause
★ Focus on currencies
★ Assess things
★ Focus on ‘unknowns’

59. Improvise, top off the dome:
★ Listen, pause and build on what you’ve heard
★ Start with a sketch, improvise as you go
Take the plunge, go where others don’t go:
★ You can memorise key lines beforehand
★ Start small, measure, learn and act
Acknowledge the mess and go again:
★ Be honest about messing up
★ Pause to regroup, learn and try again
HOW YOU CAN BE MORE LIKE JAY-Z!

60. … AND FINALLY
“You learn more in failure than from success.”
“Don’t ever go with the flow. Be the flow.”

61. THANK YOU!
★ marc@mindtheproduct.com
★ @maa1 (Twitter & Medium)
★ marcabraham.com