Product managers work with tech makers to solve business problems. If there is no PM role in the company, then different teams and individuals can use PM tricks to approximate the function. This deck reviews high level tricks for each phase of product development. It also explores the special case of prioritization, a PM function that is not easily owned by other teams.
6. Q: But what if there arenât
any PMs?
A: Find ways to get PM work
done without specifically
assigning the role.
7. Teams who can share PM work
1. Founders
2. Engineering
3. Design
4. Marketing
5. Individual feature requestors
8. 1/2. Identify a Problem/Solution
â With data
â With user feedback (know your users!)
â Based on company strategy
â Based on copying other people
â NB - This is the easy part! Everybody has
ideas about problems for tech to solve.
9. PM tricks for Problem/Solution
â Idea backlogs
â User surveys
â User research
â Brainstorming
â Get tech makers involved!?
10. 3. Define Success
â What is the KPI?
â Whatâs your guess on how it can move?
â Whatâs the ROI if it moves in that way?
11. PM tricks for Defining Success
â Know your metrics!
â Understand how product can drive metrics
â Dashboards - push, pull, public
â NB - Orchestrating data culture probably
needs to be someoneâs job.
12. 4. Define the Solution
â What does it do?
â What does it look like?
â What does it say?
â How do users find it?
â How do users master it?
â What systems does it connect to?
13. PM tricks for Defining the Solution
â Google Docs (make content public)
â Specs
â Spec wikis (archive)
â User stories
â Wireframes
â Story trackers (Pivotal, JIRA etc.)
â Developer input!
14. 5. Develop the Solution
â Final graphics
â Front end
â Back end
â Instrumentation
â NB - This is the HOW of product development.
The tech makers should drive it.
15. PM tricks for Developing the Solution
â SCRUM
â Interface reviews
â Spec adjustments
â User Acceptance Testing
â Formal QA
â On call support
â Shameless hustling
â Chocolate
16. 6. Launch the Solution
â On site promotion
â Email promotion
â Social promotion
â Paid promotion
â PR
â User education
â Stakeholder education
17. PM tricks for Launching the Solution
â Stakeholder updates
â User training
â Test launches
â Beta periods
19. PM tricks for Assessing Performance
â Solid, reliable data
â Microsoft Excel
â Smart analysis
â Meetings
â Slides
â NB - If you did your job right up til now, this
part should be easy.
20. What do PMs do?
1. Identify problems or opportunities
2. Brainstorm solutions
3. Define success
====Prioritization=====
4. Define solutions in detail
5. Develop the solution (driver = engineering + design)
6. Launch the solution (driver = marketing)
7. Assess performance
21. Prioritization is Unique
â In theory, individual projects can be PMâd by anyone, or
by a group of people sharing the load.
â But prioritization is about choosing between lots of
projects that arenât easy to compare and that touch very
different parts of the business.
â So if you donât have a PM to run prioritization, you need
someone with authority and a global view to do it.
â Or you could just hire a PM :-)