Slides from Ken Sandy ! Thank you again for this talk

1. Think like a Product Manager
/Productschool @ProdSchool /ProductmanagementSF

2. Ken Sandy
- Product Consultant & Executive
coach
- Industry Fellow at the Center for
Entrepreneurship and
Technology at UC Berkeley
- Previously VP, Product at
Lynda.com
www.productschool.com
Think like a Product Manager

3. THINK LIKE A
PRODUCT MANAGER
Product School San Francisco
May 25th, 2016
Ken Sandy
Instructor, SCET, UC Berkeley
© Ken Sandy Consulting

4. To start…
1. Take out your phone
2. Pick your second favorite application
3. Turn to a neighbor (next, in-front or behind you)
4. Take in turns to tell your neighbor the
following (be creative)
Convince them they should be using the application themselves
Identify a business or user metric you’d be curious to measure
Imagine what more you wish the app could do for you
Critique something you don’t like about the existing app
© Ken Sandy Consulting

5. The Four PM Mindsets
Critique Imagine
Focus & Strengthen
Broaden & Investigate
© Ken Sandy Consulting

6. Explorer Mindset Drives Innovation
EXPLORER
Expand the
solution space
with some
creative thinking
© Ken Sandy Consulting

7. Explorer Mindset Behaviors
ü Define and communicate a VISION
ü Canvas for UNSOLVED PROBLEMS
and POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS
ü BRAINSTORM with friends and
colleagues
ü BORROW from any relevant
products in market
ü PROTOTYPE multiple ideas
The Dreamer
© Ken Sandy Consulting

8. Analyst Mindset Drives Understanding
ANALYST
Understand your
customer
behavior and
unmet needs
© Ken Sandy Consulting

9. Analyst Mindset Behaviors
The Detectiveü Set clear KPI’S for your product
ü Constantly observe and interview
CUSTOMERS (qualitative)
ü MEASURE how your product
performs (quantitative)
ü Develop NEW HYPOTHESES and
EXPLORE data to look for trends
ü Track COMPETITORS and other
industry players to gain perspective
© Ken Sandy Consulting

10. Challenger Mindset Identifies Risks
CHALLENGER
Make good ideas
stronger – kill the
bad ideas
© Ken Sandy Consulting

11. Challenger Mindset Behaviors
The Nay-sayerü Define your ASSUMPTIONS, conduct
a RISK ASSESSMENT, and model
WORSE-CASE SCENARIOS
ü LISTEN to the party-pooper – ask
“why-not”
ü Test EARLY, test OFTEN
ü COMMUNICATE negative outcomes
and concerns internally
ü FOCUS, PRIORITIZE, CUT
© Ken Sandy Consulting

12. Evangelist Mindset Builds Momentum
EVANGELIST
Motivate a team
and build
support
© Ken Sandy Consulting

13. Evangelist Mindset Behaviors
The Cheer-leaderü Build relationships with INTERNAL
and EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS
ü PITCH – hone and practice your
message and selling points (30sec)
ü Provide CONTEXT and ACCESS TO
CUSTOMERS for your team
ü LOSE OWNERSHIP to others
ü Listen for DISSENTING VOICES –
incorporate feedback and address
gaps
© Ken Sandy Consulting

14. The Four PM Mindsets
ANALYST EXPLORER
CHALLENGER EVANGELIST
Critique Imagine
Focus & Strengthen
Broaden & Investigate
© Ken Sandy Consulting

15. Exercise
1. Take out a piece of paper
2. Draw the four quadrants
3. Check-mark your strength – your “go-to”
• Write down one behavior or skill you think you do well
4. Circle which one your team members or manager is most
strong
• Write down one behavior or skill you might utilize more to
balance their tendencies
5. Put a cross in the area where you’d like to personally
develop more
• Write down one behavior or skill you want to practice more
© Ken Sandy Consulting

16. The Four PM Mindsets
ANALYST EXPLORER
CHALLENGER EVANGELIST
© Ken Sandy Consulting

17. Pitfalls
1. Losing Objectivity: through confirmation bias, inflexibility,
defensiveness, or too much personal investment
2. Halo Effect: falling in love too quickly with your own ideas
3. Hypothesis in Hindsight: rewriting history to fit current data
4. Reactiveness: paying too much attention to competitor moves
5. No Re-evaluation: failure to revisit your assumptions
6. Group-think: listening to conjecture over gathering independent data
7. Eagerness: optimizing given short-term goals or to please
stakeholders, deciding on one path too quickly
8. Drinking the Cool-aid: mistaking your pitch for objective analysis
9. Sugar-coating: avoidance of delivering bad news, often in concern
that they’ll shoot the messenger
10. Lacking Persistence: even in the face of challenge and doubt, keep
on believing
© Ken Sandy Consulting

18. Developing Product Best Practices
Example – 1981 Kodak report on the
future of digital
• The quality of prints from electronic
images will not be generally acceptable to
consumers as replacement for prints
based on the science of photography.
• The consumer’s desire to handle, display,
and distribute prints cannot be replaced
by electronic display devices.
• Electronic systems (camera and viewing
input device for TV) will not be low
enough in price to have widespread
appeal.
© Ken Sandy Consulting

19. Questions?
kenjsandy@gmail.com
© Ken Sandy Consulting

20. Upcoming Courses
www.productschool.com
www.productschool.com
jake@productschool.com
APPLY AT
SAN FRANCISCO
Weekdays: July 5th
Weekends: July 9th
MOUNTAIN VIEW
Weekdays: August 16th
Weekends: June 18th

21. Josh Merill, Head of Product @ eShares
on June 1st
UPCOMING WORKSHOP
www.productschool.com
RSVP ON EVENTBRITE

22. Developing Product Best Practices
Appendix

23. What makes a great Product Manager?
CUSTOMER FOCUSED
RESULTS ORIENTEDINSPIRES & MOTIVATESEXCELLENT COMMUNICATOR
PROBLEM SOLVER
BUSINESS SAVY RESILIENT
ANALYTIC & DATA DRIVEN
STRATEGIC AND TACTICALHIGHLY COLLABORATIVE
TECHNICALLY SAVY
TAKES OWNERSHIP
© Ken Sandy Consulting

24. Prioritizing Development
• Will this incrementally improve a key driver
for the business – cost, revenue per user,
conversion?
• Will this improve usability?
• Will this improve engagement & customer
satisfaction?
Improving existing capabilities is driven through
EXPERIMENTATION and ITERATION
• Will this delight customers with new value or
desirability?
• Will this generate sustainable, new
revenues?
• Will this help us scale?
• Is this helping us to realize our vision?
Adding new capabilities is encapsulated in a
BACKLOG or ROADMAP
© Ken Sandy Consulting

25. The Product Manager’s Worry List
TOTAL PRODUCT SUCCESS: You are the mini-CEO or GM of your product
1. Is this valuable to customers? Who is adopting it and why? Is adoption rate sufficient? (Desirability)
2. Is my churn rate too high to sustain & grow this business? Do I know why users stop using my
product? (Retention)
3. Can I make this easier to use or adopt? Where are they dropping out? (Usability)
4. Are costs of getting new customers in line with the value we can derive out of them in the future?
(Cost of acquisition)
5. Is the product worth money – now or in the future? How much and why? (ARPU)
6. Who in my organization is charged with selling, marketing and distributing this? Do they have
everything they need? Do they know how to sell it? Do they feel accountable? (Discoverability)
7. Am I making the appropriate investment in ongoing Development and other internal resources
commensurate with a viable business? Would they be better deployed elsewhere? (ROI)
8. What risks have I underestimated? What is my mitigation plan? (Risk Profile)
9. Does the organization and team support this? Have I evangelized enough? (Alignment)
10. Are we learning and responding fast enough – with tests that either succeed or fail? Does my team
plan-build-ship-measure on a frequent basis? (Sense of Urgency)
What does the data REALLY say? What does my heart REALLY say?
© Ken Sandy Consulting