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February 6, 2015 By Siobhan

5 ways for a Product Manager to make a positive impact when working with other leaders

Product Mentor
Product Manager
Product Management
Work with a Product Mentor

One of the more difficult challenges for any Product Manager is “managing up” or “managing across” the organization. The ability to demonstrate the soft skills required to effectively communicate and work with multiple people in the organization is often an underestimted part of the product manager’s role. This is not about becoming the bosses best friend, it is about stepping through the sometimes subtle political minefield that exists in most organizations.

Few of us receive specific training or work with a product mentor on what is a very important part of what we do. We don’t often discuss the negative impact of this aspect of our role  with others for fear of showing weakness. The training to deal with political interactions is often “on the job”, with many of us bearing the battle scars.

So what are my top 5 approaches for getting results when working with other leaders (although like all of you I’m still learning!)

As a Product Manager, build a relationship of trust with your key stakeholders

Difficulties in establishing a strong relationship with other stakeholders can stem from a lack of trust and a lack of understanding of the other person’s role. People can sometimes have a tendency to retreat to their trenches and adopt a stance based primarily on mistrust.

Making an effort to understand the value that each group in the organization brings is crucial. We may think we know it all and that we are clearly adding the most value but in reality we are all part of a bigger team. All stakeholders have the potential to add value – no person is an island, you need other people as much as they need you. In your communication with others show how you can support them in their role and how they can support you. Great companies are built with great people who develop strong relationships.

Understand your counterpart’s objectives and their management style

Conflict can often occur when as a Product Manager you don’t understand or care about your peer’s objectives. Although we may be working to different team KPIs at the end of the day there must be some common ground – do we not all aspire to create successful companies?

Rather than going head-to-head with someone over a position they have taken, try and understand their motives and objectives. If you are new to the role, try and speak to others in the organization to understand the different “management styles” that exist in the organization. Put yourself in the other person’s shoes first – it can help to avoid conflict if you know what motivates the other person and what they are trying to achieve.

Take advice from others – work with a product mentor

Product management is a multi-faceted role – it requires good communication, a strong focus on commercial aspects of business development, an ability to multi-task, the capacity to lead and above all the capability to deliver order from chaos. Often the product manager is a solitary figure with no direct reports but they communicate with and require support from many people in the organization.

I found huge benefits in working with a product mentor in my early days of product management and today I find it hugely satisfying to mentor product managers in their role.  Product Management can be a lonely place but it is an immensely rewarding role if approached in the right way. Take advice from as many other people as you can, especially those who have faced similar challenges to you. If you have a product manager in your team, ensure they are receiving the right supports from inside and outside the organization.

We are all on a journey of continuous learning – reach out to others who have made mistakes, learned from those mistakes and who can guide you in your approach.

Adopt processes that support better communication and interactions

Misunderstandings are more likely to occur when there is no formal process in place to guide how people work together. In the absence of a process for communication things can fall between the cracks and one side can blame the other.

Your product strategy and product roadmap are a great way to communicate your vision for the product. Ensure that each are communicated in a way that is relevant and understandable to the stakeholder you are engaging with.

Even if you don’t report to the CEO as a Product Manager and you do not have a seat on the leadership team ensure you have a forum for engaging with this team in relation to product and corporate strategy – this is essential. As a strategic Product Manager, reporting through someone else to the leadership team is never ideal.

When engaging with other stakeholders involved in executing on the product strategy, use a tool like the RACI model to outline who is responsible, accountable, consulted or informed. Product Management may be accountable for the success of the product but they cannot be responsible for everything that goes in to making products successful.

Keeping lines of communication open to all groups in your organisation and establishing forums of communication can be hugely beneficial.

As a Product Manager, understand your leadership team’s strategic objectives

It is important for product management to have a “voice” at the leadership table – they support alignment, guide decision-making and ensure everyone is moving in the same direction. As much as possible they reflect the CEO’s corporate strategy in their product strategy. I love OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) – particularly when they are outcome focused. Ensuring that your product strategy and your product roadmap are aligned with the strategic OKRs of the business is crucial. OKRs are a great way to achieve leadership alignment on strategy and to cascade strategic objectives right through the business.

Sometimes the leadership team may disagree with or do things that undermine the product manager’s strategy. Dealing with this situation can be a political minefield but use the product strategy or product roadmap as the mechanism to bring everyone back into alignment where possible.

In summary:

Managing up is such an important part of what we do and sometimes our passion for “doing the right thing” can override our ability to recognize that sometimes there are people more senior than us, who (for the best of reasons) may not agree with our vision. Product Management must tread a fine line between giving good counsel and dictating strategy. We have to ensure that we can see the bigger picture and that we recognize that there are often many contributory factors to good decision-making. As long as we enable our leadership teams to make informed decisions, with the right data, then we are doing our job. It’s important to realize though that we may not always agree with every decision that is made.

Although product managers may feel like they have no authority they do have the ability to lead and guide good decision-making and that is where they can add true value. Remember, don’t bring problems to the leadership team without some well thought out potential solutions.

 


Filed Under: Leadership, Management Strategy, Mentoring, Product Management, Product Manager, Product Mentor, Product Strategy, Product Strategy, Strategic Marketing Tagged With: Alignment, CEO, Leadership, Leadership Development, Product Management, Product Manager, Product Strategy, Strategy

November 21, 2014 By Siobhan

5 Steps to Deeper Customer Insight

Market Insight
Product Manager
Product Strategy
Capturing Market Insight for Product Strategy

Why your Product Strategy needs to be based on deep market insight

As a Product Manager does market insight simply involve letting your existing customers dictate what they would like to see in the product? Sometimes, more influential customers (those with a strong contribution to overall revenue) can drive product strategy.  However, because one large company asks for something does not mean that there are lots of customers with this same need.  Individual customers generally have little concern for the needs of other customers.

It is easy to lose sight of market demand if you are too focused on your own product. If your product strategy requires that you deliver a broad-based market-driven offering then focusing on individual customer demands may not help you to achieve this. It is more likely to drive you down a services route.

Customers can provide lots of useful insights related to their use of the  product and what they would like to see in our product. However, there are steps you can follow to proactively capture deeper customer insight, enabling you to focus on the broader market.

5 Step Insight2Value Process – As a Product Manager:
  • Step 1: Capture Insights – Research and articulate data on your current business context, future market opportunities, buyer behaviours and competitive landscape
  • Step 2: Focus – Apply a methodology to help you to identify and prioritise key market opportunities that will drive revenue and enable you to clearly articulate your service/product/solution offering for these markets
  • Step 3: Position – Create a positioning statement that enables you to differentiate in a competitive landscape
  • Step 4: Validate – Apply Voice of the Customer (VoTC) techniques to enable you to validate your market hypothesis through qualitative and quantitative research
  • Step 5: Communicate – Create a compelling message that can be used in a targeted marketing campaign. Supporting you to create a Marketing Plan that will drive engagement with your target markets
High Performing Strategic Marketing

My approach is consultative and collaborate. Therefore, I strongly believe in approaches that help your business to align the disciplines of product management, engineering, sales and marketing. I have the foundations and understanding of how products are designed and engineered. I know the importance of an aligned approach across the organisation.

For those of you in the Technology Sector, everything I do will help you to create relevant business requirements (Business Epics) for the product or solution development backlog – aligning product management/strategic marketing and solution development (engineering).

Remember: “The customer rarely buys what the company thinks it is selling him. Companies need to take a customer-first perspective to succeed…”

Peter Druker, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Checkout the Insights2Value approach to support your business to drive insights that will add real value.

Filed Under: Marketing, Product Management Tagged With: Customer, Insight, Market, Product Manager, Strategy, Value Proposition

September 25, 2014 By Siobhan

September 2014 – Scala CEO – Create High Value Companies through Great Products

Brochure CoverDelighted to be working with great companies as part of the Irish Software Skillnet’s  Scala CEO programme. This programme is targeted exclusively at the CEOs/Founders of Irish technology companies and focuses on product management driven approaches to help these companies to scale and grow.

Through this programme participating companies are learning how the application of a product management discipline across their organization can help them to:

  • Create scalable and repeatable revenues through products that customers value
  • Ensure future revenue growth through the continued progression of innovative ideas
  • Ensure the organization is focused and moving in the same direction
  • Ensure that the organization works to a clear business model that meets corporate strategic objectives
  • Prioritize the finite set of resources available and deliver the right projects

The programme incorporates a corporate capability assessment, two day workshop for the CEOs and two separate 1/2 day mentoring sessions with each individual company.

IntegratedThinking are delighted to be delivering this programme for ISA Software Skillnets and we are very much enjoying the interactions with the participating companies to date.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Leadership, Management Strategy, Product Management Tagged With: CEO, Corporate, Product Manager, Scala CEO, Strategy

May 15, 2014 By Siobhan

Mentor and Support Companies Establishing a Product-Oriented Discipline

The Challenge

Many companies over the last few years have made the bold move to establish a product management discipline in their organization. They understand that to be successful they need to:

  • Create scalable and repeatable products or services that customers love
  • Continue to generate and prioritize innovative ideas
  • Ensure the organization is marching not only in the “right direction” but in the “same direction”
  • Work to a clearly defined business model that meets corporate strategic objectives
  • Prioritize and resource many projects, with a finite set of resources, whilst achieving maximum ROI

This requires someone to hold it all together and keep the company focused. As Steve Jobs said “You need a very product-oriented culture… lots of companies have great engineers and smart people. …there needs to be some gravitational force that pulls it all together.”

Initially, when the company is small, the CEO or CTO will fulfill this role – but as the company begins to scale it is important that the CEO looks for support. Adding a product manager to the team is the right next step… but what exactly does this product manager do and how will they integrate with the existing team? Often there are a myriad of political obstacles that need to be addressed as people’s roles change and the organization settles into a new way of thinking.

The Product Management Dilemma

The new product manager has a myriad of functions that they “could do” – the question is what functions “should they do” that align best with the organization’s structure, vision and strategic objectives? Although there are many organizations that provide great frameworks to help product managers understand all aspects of their role, quite frankly the breadth and depth of areas to be covered would give any new product manager palpitations! You would need to be superhuman to address everything effectively! So, how do you decide which aspects of the framework make sense for your new product manager? How do you ensure that your new or existing product manager has the right level of domain expertise, can perform key aspects of the product management discipline, can communicate effectively and can earn the respect of engineering?

Addressing the Challenge with In-House Mentoring

Applying a product management discipline does not need to be an overwhelming challenge for a company.  I think it is best to start with a “lean” approach to product management – don’t overwhelm yourself and your new recruit from day one.

For many new and established product managers they exist in a state of constant bewilderment and despair as the enormity of the role becomes apparent to them. They often have a very unclear definition of the role, unachievable expectations are set by senior leadership or often no expectations are set at all (which is even worse), there is no clear prioritization of projects and they have to juggle the demands of a sales and engineering team who expect their undivided attention 24/7. This situation can become a cycle of despair where the product manager becomes increasingly disillusioned and the leadership team begin to dismiss the product manager as ineffectual.

Things do not have to be this way – understanding who does what in your organization and clearly defining the role and Org-Structure 2boundaries for each group is a first step. Then, applying a structure and discipline to product management that aligns with the stage your company is at is crucial. Helping the product manager to apply methodologies in areas such as portfolio management, value proposition creation, requirements management, agile development, customer validation, ideation, ROI analysis, sales management and leadership alignment will undoubtedly help alleviate the pressure.

As someone who has performed the role of product manager and ultimately managed both a portfolio of products and a team of product managers I understand more than most how to make this demanding role effective. I learned quickly that applying structure and discipline ensured myself and my team could work effectively.  We can all read books or attend courses that will give a good grounding in the product management discipline but the application of this discipline and the understanding of what works in reality comes with experience.

Don’t wait until either you or your product managers have reached the point of despair – seek the support and help of those who have done this before, who have been at the coalface and who understand the demands of the role.

 “Start-up success is not a consequence of good genes or being in the right place at the right time. Success can be engineered by following the right process, which means it can be learned, which means it can be taught.”  Eric Ries, The Lean Startup

Contact: Siobhan Maughan, IntegratedThinking (www.integratedthinking.ie)

Approved consultant with Enterprise Ireland – funding available.

Filed Under: Leadership, Product Management, Uncategorized Tagged With: Alignment, Leadership, Mentor, Product Manager

May 15, 2014 By Siobhan

Articulating your Value Proposition – Not Just for Startups

The Challenge

As someone who has helped startups with their business plans I understand that to capture the interest of the investor community it is hugely important to articulate a compelling product strategy and value proposition. Clearly representing the problem or need you address for your target market, listening to your target customers and understanding how you will drive revenue growth is essential to ensure you get the kick-start of investment you need to scale your business.

Strategy is based on a differentiated customer value proposition. Satisfying customers is the source of sustainable value creation.” 

Robert Kaplan and David Norton (Strategy Maps)

Business plans typically only get shared with a targeted group – generally the CEO and potential investors. The continued articulation of the value proposition within the company, especially as the number of new employees grows, can be ad-hoc at best.

A company that has captured initial investment through a clearly defined business plan will move quickly to focus on the execution of this plan – hiring engineers, marketers and sales personnel. As time progresses and they learn more about their target market they may change their initial corporate strategy and re-evaluate their initial hypotheses of what the customer needs. Somewhere along the line their value proposition changes but often this is not captured or re-communicated clearly to everyone in the organization.

Once the company begins to execute the business plan different dynamics will occur across the organization. The background and focus of the engineering team will mean that they will generally position the product strategy from a technical standpoint, often failing to understand or demonstrate the “business value” of what they are creating. Marketing will battle to understand the technical complexities of the product and will fail to create compelling positioning material. Sales will struggle without a clear view of the target market, the value the company brings or the product’s unique selling points. Without a defined value proposition the company will struggle to position the product strategy and potential opportunities will be missed.

Articulating a compelling value proposition as part of your product strategy allows you to:

  • Create an aligned and collaborative organization that shares a common understanding of how the business will create value
  • Ensure the organization remains focused on corporate strategic objectives
  • Maximize ROI for corporate resources and ensure all resources are delivering effectively
  • Support decision making for all employees
  • Enable Sales and Marketing to clearly position the products and solutions to the target market and thereby drive revenue growth
The Solution

Whether you are a startup or SME you should take the time to ensure that your Value Proposition is clearly articulated inside your business so that everyone can clearly represent it outside your business.

Product engineering, sales and marketing teams are often too busy delivering current project objectives to focus on the company’s value proposition and ensure that everyone is aligned around a common message.

Undertaking this exercise takes time and focus from the Product Manager or Strategic Marketer.

IntegratedThinking can help through a short-term engagement that will provide tools and methodologies to support your teams to:

  • Understand the market segment you are addressing
  • Review and define the value proposition for each of your target customer segments
  • Articulate this value proposition to the wider team with clarity
  • Validate this value proposition with your target market
  • Support the marketing team to articulate this value proposition through corporate messaging

“Working with Siobhan enabled us to really understand the market we are addressing and the problems and needs of our customers – we learned to recognize the huge benefits that can be achieved from an “outside in” approach to product management. As a result, we have strengthened our value proposition”

Bill Walsh, CEO Aspire
The Approach

The initial consultation is free, helping your to articulate your requirements. I will then provide a project proposal for review and approval that will articulate what needs to be done, how long it will take and how much it will cost.  In a busy environment, where the time of your key resources is precious, you need someone who has done this before and can drive the project to completion.

Please feel free to give me a call or contact me via email and I will be happy to discuss this further.

Contact: email siobhan@integratedthinking.ie for more details

I have over 30 years of commercial experience with over
15 of these in strategy development with SMEs from across
multiple sectors.
I have experience of marketing, sales and product strategy
and use the many transferrable skills that I developed in the
technology sector to work with SMEs from across multiple
industry sectors. I focus specifically on key elements of
strategic marketing and product & service strategy.

Since the establishment of my consultancy business in October 2013 I have been providing in-house mentoring to scaling companies.


Filed Under: Innovation, Product Management Tagged With: Business Analyst, CEO, Customer, Innovation, Strategy, Value Proposition

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