Slides Andrew Hsu recently used in his discussion w/ mentees of The Product Mentor.
Synopsis: Roadmaps are altered by user feedback, new strategies and changing client needs. Help your team adapt and keep clients aligned with these documents, meetings, and conversations.
The Product Mentor is a program designed to pair Product Mentors and Mentees from around the World, across all industries, from start-up to enterprise, guided by the fundamental goals…Better Decisions. Better Products. Better Product People.
Throughout the program, each mentor leads a conversation in an area of their expertise that is live streamed and available to both mentee and the broader product community.
http://TheProductMentor.com
4. a story about...
Users reporting the site is down
before we know.
Spend time with what’s difficult
5. Client - “The site is down.”
Spend time with what’s difficultSpend time with what’s difficult
6. Client - “The site is down.”
Me: “Client’s saying the site is down,
what’s going on?”
Spend time with what’s difficultSpend time with what’s difficult
7. Client - “The site is down.”
Me: “Client’s saying the site is down,
what’s going on?”
Engineering: <silence>
Spend time with what’s difficultSpend time with what’s difficult
8. Client - “The site is down.”
Me: “Client’s saying the site is down,
what’s going on?”
Engineering: <silence>
Me: “Marco?”
Spend time with what’s difficultSpend time with what’s difficult
9. Client - “The site is down.”
Me: “Client’s saying the site is down,
what’s going on?”
Engineering: <silence>
Me: “Marco?”
Engineering: “We’re looking into it.”
Spend time with what’s difficultSpend time with what’s difficult
10. Problem is fixed.
Service restored.
Spend time with what’s difficultSpend time with what’s difficult
11. Spend time with what’s difficultSpend time with what’s difficult
Client replies are sent.
I hope we retro properly and it doesn’t happen again.
12. Me: “How can we not know the site’s
down before someone else?”
Engineering: “It’s complicated.”
Spend time with what’s difficultSpend time with what’s difficult
13. 1 month later
Spend time with what’s difficultSpend time with what’s difficult
14. Client - “The site is down.”
Spend time with what’s difficultSpend time with what’s difficult
15. Me: ugh.
Client - “The site is down.”
Spend time with what’s difficultSpend time with what’s difficult
17. Spending the time required.
Spend time with what’s difficultSpend time with what’s difficult
18. Don’t just hope it was fixed.
Spend time with what’s difficultSpend time with what’s difficult
19. ● “What broke?”
● “How did it break?”
● “How are the broken pieces interconnected?”
Spend time with what’s difficultSpend time with what’s difficult
20. ● “Access completely revoked when one item fails.”
● “The front end sends false alarms.”
● “The back end alert is not interpretable.”
Spend time with what’s difficultSpend time with what’s difficult
21. Definitive next steps defined and put into our work queue.
Spend time with what’s difficultSpend time with what’s difficult
22. How to notice, where you need to spend time...
● People you regularly shy away from speaking with
● Persistent problems that aren’t improving
● Any problem without definitive next steps
● “That’s so weird”
● Where you feel a sense of urgency and your team does
not match that
Spend time with what’s difficult
26. You’re upset
The team is upset.
Answer your own first questionsAnswer your own first questions
27. “What are YOU doing?”
“Why does the strategy keep shifting?”
“How can we ship if everything keeps changing?”
Answer your own first questionsAnswer your own first questions
28. Answering the first questions.
Answer your own first questionsAnswer your own first questions
29. “What are YOU doing?”
They’re trying to make the company successful.
“Why does the strategy keep shifting?”
They’ve learned something new, seen something new, noticed
that what was planned is not working.
“How can we ship if everything keeps changing?”
We need to prime the team to adapt more quickly because the
market keeps shifting.
Answer your own first questionsAnswer your own first questions
30. Shape your new convo.
Answer your own first questionsAnswer your own first questions
31. “The strategy has shifted a lot lately which is causing the team and I
anxiety. I’m guessing this is due to: the old plan not working, you
found something better, you learned something new.
To help us adapt better, what did you learn? What changed? etc...
<conversation>
To keep us moving, I believe (1) This is the new impact goal (2) I
will convey new goals for the team as X, Y, and Z (3) Can we start
regular Friday sync ups so I can update the team on Mondays.
WDYT?
Answer your own first questionsAnswer your own first questions
32. Application
● Write down your first questions / reactions
● Answer them on your own
Use your answers to:
● Present your understanding of the current situation
● Present a potential solution
● Ask stakeholders what’s changed and what they think
Answer your own first questionsAnswer your own first questions
44. Me: “I’m stressed….”
Engineering: “Why?
Me: “I know we’re not going to deliver”
Engineering: “I understand what you’re
saying, but I don’t know how to fix it.”
Find a translator
45. Engineering: “There’s nothing in JIRA
and no obvious problems for us to act
on.”
Me: “What do you mean you don’t
know…”
Engineering: “I understand what you’re
saying, but I don’t know how to fix it.”
Find a translator
46. Immediate: Fill JIRA sooner with bugs and tickets so people
can act upon the issues.
New problem: Find a way to convey standard % of sprint
that’s taken by QA, bug fixing, and “urgent requests.”
Find a translator
47. How to know you likely need a translator
● How do they not get this?
● I can’t seem to get my point across
● I can’t explain what I see to people
● You’ve been struggling to change things for months,
and things are not changing
Find a translator
50. “I feel like I’m being micro-managed”
“You are being micro-managed.”
Keep pulling to understand customer impact
51. “I always hit my deadlines.”
“You always hit YOUR deadlines.”
Keep pulling to understand customer impact
52. We always need to be asking questions and helping each
other hit the client deadlines and client impact.
Keep pulling to understand customer impact
53. “If you don’t want to be pushed, you need to pull.”
Keep pulling to understand customer impact
54. How to know when you need to pull
● Lack of clarity on how client will be delivered
● Lack of clarity on when client delivery is
● Not confident we can deliver
● Any time you are blocked
● When you see holes in your logic
● Lack of consensus with all stakeholders for client launch
Keep pulling to understand customer impact
62. Tell stories about what the expected stakeholder
experience is.
Teach in story
63. “On Wednesday, our Agent (George Clooney), will be
presenting to 150 people at Universal Studios.
After he presents, he will direct them all to register. They will
go to their emails while in this meeting and look for the
registration link.
We need to make sure the client has the email and George
doesn’t have a terrible time”
Who is on point for this?
Teach in story
64. How to know when to tell stories
● Anything that has a client impact
● Features
● Releases
● Timelines
Teach in story
68. How to notice you’re not optimistic
● I’m bored
● “I have to do this”
● “I should do this”
● Not being excited about going to work
Be positive
69. How to be more optimistic
● Ask yourself “how have I already achieved what I’m
seeking to do.”
● Ask yourself: “what’s the story I would tell someone
about what went well last week.”
● Go visit your clients and help them
● Work with people who work with clients
● Work with someone optimistic
Be positive
70. Recap
1. Spend time with what’s difficult
2. Answer your own first questions
3. Find a translator
4. Keep pulling to understand customer impact
5. Teach in story
6. Be positive