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How to Successfully Parachute into an Existing Product
/Productschool @ProdSchool /ProductmanagementNY
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How to land on your feet as a product manager
March 30, 2016
Paul Hurwitz
Health Tech Product Director
Parachuting into an Existing Product
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About Paul Hurwitz
• 15+ Years in technology roles
• 10 Years in Product roles
• Finance/Accounting, Life Sciences & Health Tech products
• Have parachuted 3 times into existing products.
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About Paul Hurwitz
• Have parachuted 3 times into existing products.
– Centage Corporation (Financial/Accounting)
– Medidata Solutions (Life Sciences/Pharma)
– ActiveHealth Management (Population Health Management)
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In the first 2 weeks – 5 Steps
• First impressions are very important
• Learn how product managers are perceived
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1) Meet with Key Stakeholders
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Business Stakeholders
• CEO (depends on size of company)
• Marketing director
• Adjacent product managers
• Sales director
• Account Management
Technical Stakeholders
• VP Engineering / Development Lead
• QA Lead
• Customer Support Lead
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Discussions with Stakeholders
What is the problem that we are trying to
solve?
• Face to Face (if possible)
• Listen! Don’t talk too much.
• Take notes
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2) Find (or Create) the backlog
•What’s already been promised?
• Any golf course deals?
• Don’t make any commitments until you know the full scope
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3) Book Calls with Customers
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4) Learn Your Product
•You only have a few days to experience your
product as a naïve user
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5) Introduce yourself to the Development
team (gently)
•“Be a mensch instead of an MBA” – Rich
Mironov
•Position yourself as their champion
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First 30 - 60 Days – Another 5 steps
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1) At least 5-10 Calls with Customers
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2) Create a Product Strategy
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3) Get intimate with your financials
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4) Prepare the business for a roadmap
reset
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5) Get a few quick wins
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Conclusion
"A great product manager has the brain of an engineer, the heart of
a designer, and the speech of a diplomat.“
-Deep Nishar, former SVP for products and user experience at
Before you parachute in, have a plan to engage with people and
issues. Remember that titles don’t matter, but driving collaboration
and product success do.
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Contact Info
•www.phurwitz.com
• http://lnkdin.me/phurwitz
• http://twitter.com/phurwitzma
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