LET’S TALK ABOUT PRODUCT MANAGERS
Josh Elman

PRODUCTS I’VE
WORKED ON

WHAT EXACTLY DOES A PRODUCT
MANAGER DO?*

*Can you explain it to
your parents? Photo: Brian Brooks/Flickr

WHAT DOESN’T A PRODUCT MANAGER
DO? - Write code (Engineering) - Create mock-ups (Design) - Sign deals (Business Development) - Plan PR (Communications)

Product Manager Define the Market
& Customer Launch timing, Sales & Marketing Collateral Product Evangelist & Champion Define the requirements & roadmap Competitors, Products & Capabilities Define the problem & value proposition Internal/External stakeholder Communication

More simply... UX Tech Business
Image: http://www.mindtheproduct.com/2011/10/what-exactly-is-a-product-manager

You are here UX Tech
Business More simply... Image: http://www.mindtheproduct.com/2011/10/what-exactly-is-a-product-manager

Definition: A Product Manager helps
their team (and company) ship the right product to their users. PRODUCT MANAGER

HELP YOUR TEAM Photo: Jon
Candy/Flickr

Your team is anyone working
directly on the product (or an area of the product). - Designers, engineers, QA, documentation, marketing - Assigned colleagues from team members from adjunct teams including business development, support, legal WHO’S ON THE TEAM?

YOUR ROLE ON THE TEAM
You are not a “CEO of the product.” You are a team leader. - SET THE CADENCE - BRAINSTORM EFFECTIVELY - MANAGE PRODUCT OPERATIONS

SET THE CADENCE - Build the
roadmap with brainstorm meetings (quarterly) - Articulate the roadmap clearly and consistently - Hold regular product operations meetings (weekly) - “Act Solid” (more on this shortly) - Take and share clear meeting notes

BRAINSTORM EFFECTIVELY - Everyone pitches ideas
to drive biggest impact (No ideas are bad!) - Q&A where people pitch or describe ideas - Everyone votes for their top 3 - Discussion of why and how people voted - Re-vote - You now have top-3 roadmap plan. More or less.

MANAGE PRODUCT OPERATIONS - Share
company news relevant for team - Gut check for features getting launched ASAP - Learnings and analysis of recent features - Roadmap check-in on new development - 1-2 key topics for brainstorm/discussion or guest speaker

AH, THE LIFE OF A
GLORIFIED NOTE TAKER Some people think the job of product manager is glorious. Photo: OwlPacino/Flickr

In reality the most important
thing you do is document decisions. Follow-up notes usually take longer than actual meetings. Involve people from extended team to get feedback, share plans. Photo: OwlPacino/Flickr

ACT SOLID Support Ops Legal
International Design Analytics Communications Trust/Safety

THE COMPANY FOCUS IS YOUR
FOCUS Understand and communicate the company’s overall goals and objectives.

Remind the team of the
founders’ vision. Attach incentives to company goals. Bonus Hiring Tip: When interviewing product managers, look for how often candidates refer to the bigger vision of the company.

HELP YOUR TEAM SHIP Photo:
NCDOTcommunications/Flickr

SHIPPING > PERFECTION Helping your
team only matters if you can ship the product to users - Providing clear criteria for launch readiness - Make the difficult tradeoffs - Prioritize ruthlessly

Great product managers understand the
very tricky balance between getting it right and getting it out the door.

HELP YOUR TEAM SHIP THE
RIGHT PRODUCT Photo: Alan/Flickr

Start with your team’s most
creative solutions. Improve your ideas with: - Feedback from testers and active users - Criticism from non-users - Input from founders and leaders - Ideas from anywhere you can get them BELIEVE BUT LISTEN

MEASURE RESULTS Have a theory
of the impact you want to have. Identify metrics to demonstrate that impact. Generate data: what works and what doesn’t. Keep an eye out for unexpected learnings.

TO USERS HELP YOUR TEAM
SHIP THE RIGHT PRODUCT Photo: Josue Goge/Flickr

ADVOCATE FOR THE USER A
Core Use Case tells the story of who should use the product and why - Articulating the core use case is the hardest part of building a new product

A good product manager advocates
for users every step of the way: - By understanding the challenges/issues of target users - By understanding how the product can deliver the value target users are looking for - By continuously listening to feedback (usability tests, meetings, tweets, etc.)

THE “DO’S” FOR PRODUCT MANAGERS
- Coordinate key decisions based on team members’ input - Negotiate disagreements and maintain progress - Develop consensus from team factions, (disagree but commit)

THE “DON’TS” FOR PRODUCT MANAGERS
- Don’t try to build what you think is right - Don’t expect that the team will execute orders blindly - Don’t forget where credit is always due

As a product goes to
market, you should be game-planning the next iteration: - Plan for improvement (with entire team) - Additional testing - Brainstorming solutions based on data and feedback YOUR JOB IS NEVER DONE

There is no right product...
but there is a right way to be a Product Manager. Effective Product Managers simply help their team move forward. THE PRODUCT IS NEVER FINISHED

No product will ever quite
be right for everyone; it’s an ongoing process of continued development and iteration to make it better.