Saving Yourself From Product Management Hell - Product Anonymous July 2020

COPYRIGHT © 2012–2020 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL
SAVING YOURSELF FROM
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT HELL
PRODUCT ANONYMOUS, MELBOURNE – JULY 2020
@JOCKBU
JOCK BUSUTTIL
PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED

ABOUT JOCK
Freelance head of product
Product management coach and trainer
Author of The Practitioner’s Guide To
Product Management
@JOCKBU
jockbusuttil.com/#book

“Hell is truth seen
too late.”
Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes

Are you in hell?
Recognising the symptoms
@JOCKBU

I’m not allowed to talk
to customers
@JOCKBU

I’m too busy dealing
with emergencies to
plan ahead
@JOCKBU

Screw research.
Let’s build!
@JOCKBU

But we’ve got OKRs
… 100s of them
@JOCKBU

Flip-flopping between
Very Important Goals
@JOCKBU

I can’t get buy-in for my
product strategy
@JOCKBU

Every board member
has their own
interpretation of
corporate strategy
@JOCKBU

Why are you in hell?
Likely causes
@JOCKBU

No clear corporate
strategy or goals
@JOCKBU

A lack of alignment
@JOCKBU

Actual corporate
strategy is different
from stated mission
@JOCKBU

Wrong strategy
(for now)
@JOCKBU

Wrong measures of
success
@JOCKBU

Scared of user research
@JOCKBU

Getting the hell out of hell
Doing something about it
@JOCKBU

What does a clear
corporate strategy look
like?
@JOCKBU

THE SECRET TESLA MOTORS MASTER PLAN
AUGUST 2, 2006
@JOCKBU
Build sports car
Use that money to build an affordable car
Use that money to build an even more
affordable car
While doing above, also provide zero
emission electric power generation options
Source: https://www.tesla.com/blog/secret-tesla-motors-master-plan-just-between-you-and-me

MASTER PLAN, PART DEUX
JULY 20, 2016
@JOCKBU
Create stunning solar roofs with seamlessly integrated battery
storage
Expand the electric vehicle product line to address all major
segments
Develop a self-driving capability that is 10X safer than manual
via massive fleet learning
Enable your car to make money for you when you aren’t using it
Source: https://www.tesla.com/blog/master-plan-part-deux

What can you do when
corporate strategy is
absent?
@JOCKBU

Call out the Board’s
lack of alignment with
each other*
@JOCKBU
*I take no responsibility for any career-ending choices you may make

Influence corporate
strategy with product
strategy
@JOCKBU

Create your own
product strategy before
someone does it for you
@JOCKBU

FORMING YOUR
PRODUCT STRATEGY
@JOCKBU

“Knowledge is
power.”
Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes

Start real user research
(and keep on with it)
@JOCKBU

BEHAVIOURAL
what people do
ATTITUDINAL
what people say
Scripted (oftenlab-based) use of product
Combination/ hybridDe-contextualised / not using product
Natural use of product
QUALITATIVE
direct
QUANTITATIVE
indirect
Unmoderated Usability Studies
Diary / Camera Studies
Customer Feedback
Intercept Surveys
True Intent Studies
Clickstream Analysis
A/B Testing
Interviews
Focus Groups
Email Surveys
Usability Lab Studies Moderated Remote Usability Studies
Unmoderated Remote Panel Studies
Usability Benchmarking (in lab)
Participatory Design
Eye Tracking
Concept Testing
Desirability Studies
Card Sorting
Ethnographic Field Studies
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/which-ux-research-methods/
© 2014 Christian Rohrer

PRODUCT TIME HORIZONS
@JOCKBU
Product vision ≈ 10 years
Product strategy ≈ 3 years
Annual plan ≈ 1 year
Product roadmap ≈ 6-12 months
OKRs ≈ 3 months
Release plan ≈ 1-2 months
YOUR MILEAGE
MAY VARY
Credit: C. Todd Lombardo w/ amends Jock Busuttil

Figure out your
product’s human
outcome
– the product vision
@JOCKBU

COPYRIGHT © 2012–2020 PRODUCT PEOPLE LIMITED ● PRODUCTPEO.PL @JOCKBU
NO VISION EVERYONE ALIGNED TO A
SHARED PRODUCT VISION

SO WHAT?
@JOCKBU

no one should be
seriously injured or killed
in a new Volvo car
VOLVO CARS
PRODUCT VISION
@JOCKBU

Identify the key ideas
that will get you there
- the product strategy
@JOCKBU

Adjust as needed to
align with corporate
strategy(if there is one)
@JOCKBU

Decide what type of
product strategy you
need right now
@JOCKBU

Product-market fit?
FIND PRODUCT-
MARKET FIT
Product discovery
and validation
(feature experiments)
Customer discovery
and validation
(biz model experiments)
Solve more of the
current user
problem space
(ongoing user research)
INCREASE VALUE
Incremental feature
updates to existing
product
(feature experiments)
Attract more users to
existing product
(growth experiments)
GROW USER BASE
Convert more non-
paying users on
existing product
(conversion experiments)
Remove operational
bottlenecks
(internal research)
ACCELERATE AND
SCALE
Reduce time /
effort / cost of
business-as-usual
(efficiency experiments)
Enter new markets
with existing or new
products or both
EXPAND / DIVERSIFY
Find product-market
fit
YESNOT YET
Based on: Product Work Beyond Product-MarketFit, Fareed Mosavat & Casey Winters, Reforge

Devise and run
experiments to
test your ideas
@JOCKBU
Photo: Jock Busuttil

Keep the ideas that
look like they’ll work
Discard the ones that
don’t
@JOCKBU

RESEARCH
Maximise rate of learning
DEVELOPMENT
Drive efficiency / quality
1. Branch into
broad & fast
exploration
3. Constellate
your results 4. Build
2. Extend /
prune
TIME@thegoodtomchi

Understand the key
concerns / motivations
of each board member
@JOCKBU

Get the Board to agree
on your product strategy
@JOCKBU

RECAP
@JOCKBU

Lack of direction
↓
No alignment
↓
Absent corporate strategy
@JOCKBU

Research your users’ needs
↓
Craft a compelling product vision & strategy
↓
Align your own team and execute
↓
Influence corporate strategy (hopefully)
@JOCKBU

THANKS!
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT SERVICES
WWW: productpeo.pl
BLOG: imanageproducts.com
@jockbu jockbusuttil.com/#book

QUESTIONS?
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT SERVICES
WWW: productpeo.pl
BLOG: imanageproducts.com
@jockbu jockbusuttil.com/#book

Saving Yourself From Product Management Hell - Product Anonymous July 2020

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