Stakeholder Management for Product Managers - ProductTank Paris

Jean-­‐Yves  SIMON  16  May  2013                  @jysim0n                h:p://fr.linkedin.com/in/jysim0n    

Stakeholder Management for Product Managers

POP  QUIZ  

The  term  “stakeholder”  refers  to:  

A.  The  people  chasing  vampires  in  Twilight  B.  The  ones  eaOng  steaks  with  their  hands  at  Buffalo  

grill  C.  Those  who  have  the  interest  and  influence  to  

impact  your  product  D.  All  of  the  above  

POP  QUIZ  

The  term  “stakeholder”  refers  to:  

A.  The  people  chasing  vampires  in  Twilight  B.  The  ones  eaOng  steaks  with  their  hands  at  Buffalo  

grill  C.  Those  who  have  the  interest  and  influence  to  

impact  your  product  D.  All  of  the  above  

STAKEHOLDER  DEFINED  

stake·∙hold·∙er      /ˈstākˌhōldər/    A  person  or  group  who  has  an  interest  in  a  project  and  who  can  be  affected  by  the  results  of  it,  i.e.  a  project  in  which  they  have  a  stake.  

The  main  test  of  whether  a  person  is  a  stakeholder  is  whether  or  not  they  have  veto  power,  or  can  otherwise  prevent  your  product  from  launching.  

WHY  IS  STAKEHOLDER  MANAGEMENT  DIFFICULT?  

PoliOcs  ConflicOng  objecOves  ConflicOng  prioriOes  Unshared  vision  

Human  communicaOon  

PRODUCT MANAGER RESPONSIBILITIES

DNA Product Manager  

Stakeholder mgmt HAS to be part of the  

PRODUCT  MANAGER  RESPONSIBILITIES  

⚈  Iden;fy  who  are  the  stakeholders,  ⚈  Establish  trust  and  communicaOon  with  your  

stakeholders  ⚈  Engage  with  stakeholders  conOnuously  ⚈  Adapt  your  speech  to  your  stakeholder  ⚈  Understand  the  consideraOons  and  constraints  of  the  

various  stakeholders  ⚈  Bring  stakeholder’s  knowledge  into  the  Feature  team  ⚈  Share  very  openly  what  you  learned  in  the  discovery  

phases  to  the  stakeholders  

PRODUCT  MANAGER  RESPONSIBILITIES  

If  the  stakeholder  does  not  have  trust  that  you  are  going  to  solve  their  concerns,  then  they  will  

either  escalate  or  they  will  try  to  control.  

IDENTIFY YOUR STAKEHOLDERS

WHO  CAN  STAKEHOLDERS  TYPICALLY  BE?  

Product  Manager  Your  

boss  

The  Execu;ve  team  

CEO/Founder,  leaders  of  

markeOng,  sales,  and  technology  

(CTO),    

Sales  Align  the  product  and  

the  business    

Finance    To  make  sure  the  product  fits  

within  the  financial  parameters  and  model  of  the  

company,    

Legal    To  make  sure  that  what  you  propose  is  

defensible,    

Opera;ons/Support  

To  make  sure  what  you  propose  is  scalable,  deployable  and  

maintainable    

Customers   Partners  

Internal  

External  

Analysts  

ALSO  CONSIDER  THOSE  WHO  HAVE…  

⚈  The  ability  to  impact  your  product  ⚈  The  ability  to  enhance  your  project    ⚈  The  ability  to  slow  down  your  projects  (e.g.,  teams  or  

groups  you  depend  on)  ⚈  The  ability  to  remove  impediments  ⚈  The  ability  to  lead  opinions  ⚈  The  ability  to  facilitate  the  change  resulOng  from  your  

project  ⚈  The  ability  to  provide  “a  voice  of  reason”  

THE  STAKEHOLDER  MAP  

Keep  Informed  Monitor  

Keep  Sa;sfied   Ac;vely  Engage  

Interest  /  Availability  Low   High  

Influ

ence  

Low  

High  

Source:    The  Stakeholder  Management  framework  for  teams,  programs  and  pornolios,    Scaled  Agile,  Inc,  2012  

EXAMPLE  PRODUCT  INFLUENCERS  

Product  Managers,    Voice  of  Customers  

C-­‐Level,  VP  

Professional  Services  Support  

Product  MarkeOng,  MarkeOng  

Channel  &  Strategic  Alliances  

AcquisiOons  

Vision,  BoD  

APIs,  bug  fixes,  back-­‐office,  provisioning  tools  

PrioriOze  tools  and  performance  

Integrate  partner  soluOons  

Customer  feedback,  compeOtors  ideas  

Surveys,  trade  shows,  analysts,  compeOtors  

Planorm  Engineering  &  Deliverability  

Integrate    

ENGAGING WITH YOUR STAKEHOLDERS

SOME TECHNIQUES  

⚈  Review  the  product  strategy  ⚈  Update  since  the  last  product  council  (what  have  we  

done  since  then)  ⚈  What  are  we  currently  working  on?  ⚈  What  is  ahead  of  us?  ⚈  Review  product  roadmap  ⚈  PresentaOon  of  any  conflicOng    

prioriOes  ⚈  Final  decision  on  prioriOzaOon  ⚈  Review  Product  Scorecard  

1.  ORGANIZE  A  PRODUCT  COUNCIL  

Quarterly  MeeOngs,  can  be  monthly  Chaired  by  Head  of  Product  

2.  LEVERAGE  INNOVATION  GAMES©  

Use  InnovaOon  games  in  Workshops,  product  councils,  steering  commi:ees.  Makes  it  fun  and  engaging  and  ensures  there  is  a  deliverable  at  the  end  of  the  session.  

INNOVATION  GAMES©:  PRUNE  THE  PRODUCT  TREE  +  MOVIE  POSTER  

PRUNE  THE  PRODUCT  TREE  For  Roadmap  definiOon  

(STORY  of  CEO  showing  it  to  investors)  

THE  MOVIE  POSTER  For  priorizing  features  

INNOVATION  GAME©:    BUY  A  FEATURE  

⚈  Buy  a  feature  ➩ 24  cards  (features)    ➩ Each  feature  has  a  price  from  15  to  130  credits  ➩ Each  parOcipant  is  given  100  credits  

⚈  ObjecOve  ➩ Define  Minimum  Viable  Product  ➩ Roadmap  prioriOzaOon  

INNOVATION  GAME©:  THE  SAIL  BOAT  

⚈  Speed  boat  ➩ Reach  the  

island  ➩ Anchors  slow  

you  down  ➩ Wind  helps  

you  go  faster  ⚈  ObjecOve  ➩  Engage  a  team  

to  reach  a  target  

➩  IdenOfy  impediments  that  can  slow  the  team  down  

INNIVATION  GAME:  STAKEHOLDER  ANALYSIS  

Objec;ve:  Be  in  the  shoes  of  your  Stakeholders.  Describes  the  degree  to  which  a  stakeholder  will  be  affected  by  the  project.  

INNOVATION  GAME©:  CONTEXT  MAP  +  WHOLE  PRODUCT  

Objec;ve:  Define  a  Minimum  Viable  Product  (Story  of  parOcipaOon  of  the  CEO)  

3.  AVOID  PRODUCT  MANAGER'S  OPINION  VS.  STAKEHOLDER'S  OPINION  

•  Know  your  customers  and  give  real  use  cases,  that’ll  change  the  conversaOon  

•  Move  the  discussion  from  opinions  to  data  and  facts  

Data beats opinion - Google “  

4.  LEARN  TO  SAY  NO:  LEAVE  THE  FIREFIGHTING  TO  PROFESSIONALS  

•  The  PM  job  is  to  be  strategic,  not  be  in  Sales  or  Product  support  

•  For  Ome  management,  PMs  have  to  choose  their  ba:le  

5.  CREATE  &  PUBLISH  A  ROADMAP  

•  Agile  does  not  prevent  you  from  creaOng  a  Roadmap  

•  Publish  your  Roadmap  internally  •  Review  your  Roadmap  to  stakeholder  at  least  quarterly  

•  Create  a  public  and  shareable  “themed”  Roadmap  to  remove  the  recurrent  quesOons  from  your  daily  job  

6.  ROADMAP  TRADE  OFFS  

•  You  can’t  do  everything,  you  have  to  prioriOze,  even  CEO  “shower  Ideas”  

•  Every  new  feature  request  pushes  a  Roadmap  feature  out.  LIFO  

7.  MEASURE  YOUR  PROGRESS  AND  SUCCESS  

Measure  and  Report  to  Stakeholders  your:  •  Key  Performance  Indicators  •  Product  adopOon  &  Usage  metrics  •  ROI  •  Your  Scorecard  

“What  gets  measured  gets  done”  

Priority   Objec;ve   Indicator   Target   Status  beginning  of  

quarter  

Status  now   Achieved?  

1   Increase  product  line  revenue  by  50%  

Revenue  (in  €)   5M€   2M€   2.5M€  

2   Increase  Customer  saOsfacOon  

#  of  reference  customers  

3   4   5  

3   End  Of  Life  Product  X   Product  availability  

DD/MM/YY  

On-­‐track   Delayed  

4   Ensure  product  compeOOveness  and  

quality  

#  of  beta  customers  

30   0   10  

5   Reduce  applicaOon  on-­‐boarding  Ome  

Time  spent  on  setup  

48h   5d   2h  

EXAMPLE  PRODUCT  SCORECARD  

                         •  Product  Manager:  XXXX  •  Scrum  Master:  XXXX  •  UX:  XXXX  •  QA:  XXXX  

•  Developer:  XXXX  •  Developer:  XXXX  •  Developer:  XXXX  •  Developer:  XXXX  

Product  Team:    N  persons  full-­‐Ome  

done   in-­‐progress   not  done  Legend  

8.  PLANT  SEEDS  TO  INFUSE  YOUR  IDEAS  

“Work  with  stakeholders  unOl  they  know  the  story  so  well  they  are  constantly  telling  and  retelling  it  themselves.”  

-­‐  Dane  Howard,  eBay  

9.  USE  IDEATION  TOOLS  

•  Allow  stakeholders  add  and  vote  for  Ideas    

•  Tools:  Salesforce  Ideas,  get  SaOsfacOon,  UserVoice  

•  Publish  the  Idea  lifecycle  to  ensure  anyone  can  contribute  and  it’s  not  another  blackhole  

10.  ORGANIZE  YOUR  STAKEHOLDERS  REQUIREMENT  “HARVESTING”  

INTERNAL  STAKEHOLDERS  MARKET  

Product  Opportunity  Backlog  

Feedback  from?   How?   Frequency?  

Customers/Users   • On-­‐site  visit  • Conf  call/Webex  • Customer  reference  program  

10  visits  per  quarter  per  Product  Manager    

• Salesforce  Ideas   ConOnuous  

Prospects/Buyers  

• Sales  support  • Trade  shows  

Ad  hoc  

Partners  &  ISVs   • Sales  support  • Trade  shows    

Ad  hoc  

Analysts   • On-­‐site  visits  • Conf  call/Webex  

Ad  hoc  

CompeOtors   • Webinars,  web,  trade  shows,  win/loss  analisys  

ConOnuous  Quarterly  compeOtor  cards  

Feedback  from?   How?   Frequency?  

C-­‐level/VPs   •  Informal,  Product  council  

Min.  monthly,  can  be  quarterly  

Product    MarkeOng    

• MeeOng,  on-­‐site  or  remote  

Monthly  

MarkeOng  Com   • PR  opportuniOes  

Ad  hoc  

Sales   • Sales  support  • Trade  shows  

Ad  hoc  

Pre-­‐sales   • Product  Update  WebEx  •  Informal  emails  

Monthly  

Client  services   • Client  visits  •  Informal  emails  

Weekly  

Professional  Services  

• Conf  call/Webex  

Monthly  

Support   • WebEx  MeeOng   Monthly  

SUCCESSFUL  STAKEHOLDER  ENGAGEMENT  

⚈  Success  =  your  stakeholders  respect  you  and  your  contribuOon  

⚈  Your  Stakeholders  trusts:  ➩ You  understand  their  concerns  and  will  ensure  soluOons  work  well  for  them  too  ➩ You  will  keep  them  informed  of  important  decisions  or  changes  ➩ They  give  you  the  room  to  come  up  with  the  best  soluOons  possible  

QUESTIONS?  

HAPPY?  UNHAPPY?  IDEAS?  

RESOURCES  USED  

•  Stakeholder  Management,  Marty  Cagan,  2013  •  Some  PracOcal  Tools  For  Stakeholder    •  The  Stakeholder  Management  Framework,  Drew  Jemilo,  2012  

•  Management,  Esther  Ham,  2011  •  Managing  Stakeholders  expectaOons  via  Product  Council,  Gopal  Shenoy,  2010  

•  h:p://innovaOongames.com    •  h:p://www.gogamestorm.com