7 August 2019 SVMPA talk on career ladders for product managers

1. What Do Product Leaders Do?
(and How Can I Become One?)
Rich Mironov
SVPMA / Palo Alto
7 August 2019

2. • Software product manager since 1988
• Product leader since 1998
• 7 full-time roles (Director, VP, CEO)
• 8 interim VP Product (“smokejumper”) roles
• Writer, mentor, organizational thinker
• Founded Product Camp
About Rich
@SVPMA @RichMironov
THEARTOFPRODUCTMANAGEMENTRichMironov
THE ART OF
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
L E S S O N S F R O M A S I L I C O N VA L L E Y I N N O VAT O R
Rich Mironov
CEO, Mironov Consulting
“Rich is a thought leader among technology practitioners.
He balances practical experience with systematic insights
into how products are built and what makes start-ups
successful.This book captures the wisdom he has
accumulated, along with considerable scar tissue.”
Henry Chesbrough, author of Open Innovation and
professor at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business
The Art of Product Management takes us inside the head of a product
management thought leader. With color and humor, Rich Mironov gives
us a taste of Silicon Valley’s tireless pursuit of great technology and its
creation of new products. He provides strategic advice about start-ups
and big organizations, how to think like a customer, and what things
should cost—while reminding us to love our products and our teams.
The Art of Product Management brings together the best insights from
more than seven years of Product Bytes.
“This book is for everyone who needs to understand how customers think and companies
work. Don’t plan your next product until you’ve read these real-life lessons.”
Steve Westly, CEO of The Westly Group and former California State Controller
“The Art of Product Management is a true resource for product management and market-
ing problem solving.This book should be on every product professional’s desk.”
David Taber, CEO of SalesLogistix
“Like a master filmmaker, Rich sheds a soft light on the sometimes harsh realities of prod-
uct management, bringing a rare moment of entertainment to those of us solving hard
problems for our customers.”
Luke Hohmann, CEO of Enthiosys
“I’ve trained thousands of product management professionals over the last 12 years at
Pragmatic Marketing and have recommended Product Bytes to seminar attendees since
it began in 2002. Each article hits a product management pain point and gives specific
tips or tools to solve it”
Steve Johnson,VP, Pragmatic Marketing and
author of The Strategic Role of Product Management
“In my 15 years working with technology companies, Rich is the ONLY product guy I’ve ever
found who truly understands the processes, people, and politics behind creating products.
This book should be required reading for every product manager in Silicon Valley!”
Andrea Corney, President,Acorn Consulting
“Any aspiring or experienced product manager can use Rich’s collection as an illuminat-
ing set of career mile-markers.”
Steven Haines, President of Sequent Learning Networks and
author of The Product Manager’s Desk Reference
Mironov Consulting
San Francisco, CA 94102
www.mironov.com
US $21.95
2160647814399
ISBN 978-1-4392-1606-4
90000 >

3. • What are product leaders? What do we do?
• “Should I want that?”
• Product leadership career funnel
• Ways to signal interest internally, externally
Agenda
@SVPMA @RichMironov

4. • Managing a team of product managers
…might also include designers, developers
• Group Product Manager, Director of
Products, VP Product Mgmt, CPO
What’s a Product Leader?
@SVPMA @RichMironov

5. 1. Designing/building/nurturing a product team
2. Driving product strategy, processes, tooling
3. Growing cross-functional collaboration and trust
4. Working with C-level execs on strategy, goal, alignment
Create conditions that let product managers succeed
Four Key Responsibilities for Product Leaders
@SVPMA @RichMironov

6. Need a strong point of view and a plan:
• How many product managers we need
• Organizational structures that align PMs to
development teams, products, segments or
markets
• Hiring strategy: mix of experienced PMs,
enthusiastic newbies, SMEs?
• Coaching/mentoring/training plan
[1] Designing/Building/Nurturing a
Product Team
@SVPMA @RichMironov

7. • Biggest waste is building the wrong thing
à Every product manager spends time directly
with real users/buyers outside sales cycle
• Biggest frustration is shifting priorities, executive
interrupts
à Every team needs (exactly) one product
manager, one backlog, political clout to say NO
• “Proxies” undermine context, skip validation,
reduce motivation
First Principles for Product Teams
@SVPMA @RichMironov

8. Stable, complete
dev team
Users
(custs)
Prod
Mgr
Value/Functional Area
Frequent, in-depth, non-sales learning
conversations
A Product Structure I Like
Prod
Line Dir
Stable, complete
dev team
Users
(custs)
Prod
Mgr
Value/Functional Area
Frequent, in-depth, non-sales learning
conversations
Stable, complete
dev team
Users
(custs)
Prod
Mgr
Value/Functional Area
Frequent, in-depth, non-sales learning
conversations
Stable, complete
dev team
Users
(custs)
Prod
Mgr
Value/Functional Area
Frequent, in-depth, non-sales learning
conversations
Dev &
Design
Dirs

9. Requirements
A Product Structure I Don’t Like
Stable,
complete dev
team
Team
rotates
Prod
Mgr
Users
(custs)
Stable,
complete dev
team
Prod
Owner
Mkt
Mgr
Users
(custs)
Stable,
complete dev
team
Prod
Mgr
Prod
Mgr
Users
(custs)

10. “The Business”
A Product Structure I Hate
CIO
Project team
from pool
BA
Project team
from pool
Tech
PM
Project team
from pool
Prod
Owner
Tech Reqmts
Delivery Dates
BU
Exec
Mkt
Mgr
CAB
Prod
Dir
Sales
Mktg
Prod
Mgr
Users
(custs)
“IT”

11. • Champion long-term customer value,
especially in OKRs/KPIs
• Portfolio-level strategy
• Coherent product set, common
audience, resource allocation
• Shared tools and processes
• Backlogs, validation/research,
roadmaps, business cases,
stories/epics/problem descriptions…
[2] Driving Strategy, Tooling, Outcomes
@SVPMA @RichMironov

12. • Design of teams / task forces
• Cross-functional trust,
psychological safety
• Outcome focus: goal alignment
with customers and company
• Context sharing, research
insights, data-informed decisions
[3] Growing Cross-Functional Collaboration
@SVPMA @RichMironov

13. • More for VPs than Directors
• Push for business coherence,
ruthless C-level prioritization
• Relentless focus on end customer
value and company-wide success
• Product leader has smallest staff,
most objectivity
• Peer coaching: executive
behaviors, culture, organization
[4] Working With (Other) C-Level Execs
@SVPMA @RichMironov

14. • Positives
• More scope, money, visibility, seat at bigger table
• Mentoring, organizational design, people challenges
• Concerns
• Less product management work
• Focus on personalities, processes, “politics”
• Alternative: “distinguished” product roles?
“Should I Want That?”
@SVPMA @RichMironov

15. • Product manager/product leader ratio about 10:1
• Typically long tenure
• At 75+ person companies
• Bias toward internal hires and current titles
• At some companies, misguided tendency to put
non-product execs in product leadership roles
à Slow movement upward
Leadership Career Funnel Is Narrow
@SVPMA @RichMironov

16. 1. Internal lateral transfer: already a product leader
2. Outside lateral hire (already a Group/Director/VP)
+ Done this job before; informal references
- No role uniformity; new organization; “best practices”
3. Internal promotion from Senior Product Manager
+ Knows company, people, culture, products. SME
- No leader experience; manage ex-peers
4. Outside hire into first-time product leader role
- High risk
Rich’s Hiring Hierarchy (Biases)
@SVPMA @RichMironov

17. • Non-threatening talk with your current manager
• “I’m interested in what you do. I might want a
position like yours someday. Feedback for me on
skills, opportunities, challenges? Advice?”
• Demonstrate product leader skills
• Volunteer for cross-functional task force
• Mentor junior folks
• Lobby for someone else’s product
• Speak at user conferences
Signal Interest Internally
@SVPMA @RichMironov

18. • (Humbly) network with product leaders and peers
• Personal contacts and friendlies >> applying online
• Target opportunities that minimize perceived gaps
• External speaking, writing, mentoring
FYI, recruiters focus on specific
immediate openings (not on you)
Create Interest Externally
@SVPMA @RichMironov
Will lead
product
teams for
food and
options

19. • Think hard about what you want, why you want it
• Product leaders focus on product teams and
portfolios, not individual products
• Be champion for long-term customer value,
aligned goals, engaged employees
• Create conditions for product managers to
succeed
Product Leadership Takeaways
@SVPMA @RichMironov

20. Rich Mironov
Mironov Consulting
San Francisco, CA, USA
www.mironov.com
+1-650-315-7394
rich@mironov.com
@richmironov