Main takeaways:
-How to overcome hurdles as a Product Manager
-Being an adaptable Product Manager
-How to be successful in the midst of difficulty
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11. ● Overcoming the vexing life of the modern PM
● Organizational hurdles, agile dogma, deranged
stakeholders, an extreme lack of product
mentorship are all too common obstacles
● Strategies for new and mid-level PMs to succeed
when it feels like the deck is stacked against you
Goals of This Talk
17. “The average skill
level of a product
manager has
dropped significantly
over the last several
years.”
- Marty Cagan
18. “The move to Agile
and need for POs and
so they send them to
CSPO training and
they learn about 5%
of the job.”
- Marty Cagan
19. Open Letter to Management on the
State of Product Management at
Google
20. “The majority of PM’s I have worked
with over the course of the past 6-7
years have zero training or experience
in product management.”
21. “General Incompetence - The PM’s
that I have had occasion to work with
have demonstrated an inability to do
even the basic tenets of the position.”
22. “No career growth education/training - The PM’s
do not grow as there is no opportunity for them to
learn how to properly do the job, as far as i can tell
it's because even leadership doesn't know how to
do the job properly. No framework exists in any of
the groups i have worked with where the PM’s
learn the proper approaches and outputs to being
successful and working well with the engineers.
23. ● Many PM “Leaders” have
never done product
management.
● It’s difficult to get good at
something… if you can
never see what good looks
like.
● “If you could use your
budget to keep your PM,
would you?” - John Cutler
PM Realities
31. Talk To Customers
Dumbfounded by how many PMs don’t do
this.
● Build empathy & motivation
● Collect amazing stories
● Become an expert
● Look like a badass
● JFDI
● Challenge: Talk to 1 a week.
Woah
37. Our product goal was ____ and we
achieved it with ____.
Our current goal is ____, our
strategy to achieve it is ____.
That is our focus right now.
38. Get Out!
● Get out of meetings
● Don’t feel the need to answer every
question
● You are not a servant to “the business”
● Challenge: Block 4 hours/day for heads
down work
● 1x monthly drinks or lunch is a great
way to build a relationship and be less
reactionary
● Don’t have a meeting and solution every
issue
40. Be Ruthless
● Every Product Team Ever: We
want to spend more time with
customers or in discovery
● 50% of your time should be in
Discovery
● Challenge: Spend 5 minutes
recording how you spent your
time each week.
● Challenge: Read 4 hours a week.
42. Do Your Homework
● Small company: CEO meets with
customers weekly
● PM: hardly ever does
● PM: relegated to “backlog
administrator”
● Challenge: Create a Lean
Canvas for your business and
review it with your manager.
43. Do Your Homework
Failure Modes:
● Escalate every decision to the
CEO or Head of Product
● Call a meeting with stakeholders
everytime a big decision needs
to be made
Don’t Turn into “Order
Takers”
44. Do Your Homework
Recognized expert across the
following:
● Customers
● Business Model
● Competitors
● Industry
● Product Itself
Don’t Turn into “Order
Takers”
45. www.productschool.com
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