Product Management - Dispelling the myths and getting it right!

Sanchan Sahai Saxena

Presented at the “Speaker Series” for UCLA Anderson MBA Students

Myth # 1

Product managers facilitate things (likemeetings etc.) and do stuff that nobody elsewants to do.

Credit – Bug Bash

Have you heard this before?

Myth #1

Oh yeah, let’s ask our PM to set upand facilitate a meeting with theother team to get this resolved asap.He knows the right folks in the teamand can get the conversation going.

Have you heard this before?

Myth #1

Oh yeah, let’s ask our PM to set upand facilitate a meeting with theother team to get this resolved asap.He knows the right folks in the teamand can get the conversation going.

We got a request to provide documentation for our APIs. Let’s ask our PM to write it up and not randomize our developers.

Have you heard this before?

Myth #1

Oh yeah, let’s ask our PM to set upand facilitate a meeting with theother team to get this resolved asap.He knows the right folks in the teamand can get the conversation going.

We got a request to provide documentation for our APIs. Let’s ask our PM to write it up and not randomize our developers.

There are too many customer support requests coming in. Let’s have our PMs be the first point of contact so they can triage them before it gets to our developers.

So what do Product Managers really do?

Product Managers…

Myth #1Discover and launch the right product to the right customers at the right time.

Product Managers…

Myth #1Discover and launch the right product to the right customers at the right time.

Product Managers…

Myth #1Discover and launch the right product to the right customers at the right time.

Product Managers…

Myth #1Discover and launch the right product to the right customers at the right time.

Product Managers…

Myth #1

…act as the CEO of the product and are always willing to do whatever it takes tomake the product and the team successful.

Product Managers…

Myth #1

…act as the CEO of the product and are always willing to do whatever it takes tomake the product and the team successful.

Sometimes, that might include: Organizing meetings Circulating notes Organizing launch or morale events Testing their product Etc.

Product Manager Activities…

Myth #1

Credit – Pragmatic Marketing Framework

Reality # 1

Product Managers have real responsibilitiesbut are willing to do whatever it takes to makethe product successful.

Myth # 2

Product Manager is a cool job. All they do iscome up with crazy ideas and then askdevelopers to code them.

How many of you think this is how PMs work and come up with ideas?

So how do PMs decide what to build?

So how do PMs decide what to build?

There is no magic formula for this, but here are a few guidelines…

Understand customers

Research and identify the right target customers for the right products.

vs

Understand customers

Deeply understand target customer personas, their problems, their motivations, frustrations and desires.

Research and identify the right target customers for the right products.

vs

Understand customers

Deeply understand target customer personas, their problems, their motivations, frustrations and desires.

Act as a customer advocate and represent the customer’s voice through the product development process

Research and identify the right target customers for the right products.

vs

Balance Opinion, Data, Customer Voice

Opinion DataListening to

Customer

Balance Opinion, Data, Customer Voice

Successful PMs value opinions

Opinion DataListening to

Customer

Balance Opinion, Data, Customer Voice

Successful PMs value opinions

but

understand that building products based on opinions is light shooting in the dark and hoping that you hit the bull’s eye.

Opinion DataListening to

Customer

Balance Opinion, Data, Customer Voice

Successful PMs are data informed, not data lead.

Opinion DataListening to

Customer

Balance Opinion, Data, Customer Voice

Successful PMs are data informed, not data lead.

PMs understand that blindly following data will lead to finding a local maxima, resulting in a narrow focus and potentially missing the global maxima.

Opinion DataListening to

Customer

Balance Opinion, Data, Customer Voice

PMs listen to their customers, but know when not to.

Opinion DataListening to

Customer

Balance Opinion, Data, Customer Voice

PMs listen to their customers, but know when not to.

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.- Henry Ford

Opinion DataListening to

Customer

Know your competition

Myth #1Understand the capabilities, market dynamics, and limitations of their competitors. Know where the competitors can go easily and can't go at all.

Know your competition

Myth #1Understand the capabilities, market dynamics, and limitations of their competitors. Know where the competitors can go easily and can't go at all.

Great PMs use their competition’s product with potential customers to understand what not to build.

Iterative and Experimental approach

Understand that their vision is a collection of hypothesis.

Iterative and Experimental approach

Understand that their vision is a collection of hypothesis.

Your Vision

Hypo-thesis1

Hypo-thesis2

Hypo-thesisN

Iterative and Experimental approach

Validating critical hypotheses early on in the product lifecycle through experimentation

Understand that a vision is a collection of hypothesis.

Your Vision

Hypo-thesis1

Hypo-thesis2

Hypo-thesisN

Iterative and Experimental approach

Validating critical hypotheses early on in the product lifecycle through experimentation

Understand that iteratively launching products early on and often is better than waiting until everything is right the first time

Understand that a vision is a collection of hypothesis.

Your Vision

Hypo-thesis1

Hypo-thesis2

Hypo-thesisN

Reality # 2

Product Managers bring a deep understanding ofthe customer, the market and the competition tothe decision making process.

Myth # 3

PM is a highly leveraged position. Having agreat PM is the difference between asuccessful product vs a failed product.

Great PMs…

Myth #1Understand that successful products are a result of a great team work and not one individual.

Decision making and accountability per discipline

Myth #1

Credit – Jeff Lash

Program/Project ManagersEnsuring things get done right

Great PMs…

Myth #1Understand that they manage products and not teams.

Great PMs…

Myth #1Understand that they manage products and not teams.

Understand that to be successful, they need to lead and influence a team.

Influence without direct authority

Myth #1

Credit – Cooper Journal

Influence without direct authority

Myth #1

Credit – Cooper Journal

PMs lead (not manage) different disciplines.

Influencing without authority requires leadership skills (beyond the scope of this presentation)

Reality # 3

PMs lead teams and manage products. Theyclearly understand where their role adds valueand where they need the complementaryskills of others to be successful.

Thank You!