Forewords: I saved this for my future-self as a PM. Now, I posted this for everyone who is working with or interested in Product Management.
Part 1: Something I copied from the web
One morning, after dealing with a bunch of meetings, I decided to take a ‘writing routine’ break. I opened Stories and found the below notes with a weird title ‘My Reading List’. Since when did I use Medium to save my reading list? I can’t find the original source but decided to share this note here.
An effective product team feels like a family. What can a product manager do to make your development team love you?
First, PARTNER. they need a PM who can partner with stakeholders, customers, and other product owners.
Second, PRIORITY. “If we take the top thing from the backlog, it is the most important thing for the customers.” There is only one top thing, one-second thing, and one-third thing. No two stories should have the same priority. PM should be the source of clarity.
Third, CONTEXT. an effective PM shares the WHO — WHAT — WHY, not the How. NASA PMs started a requirement with the how, so they spent millions of dollars to invent a ‘space pen’. What they needed was something to write in space, and the Russian sent pencils to space.
Forth, a good PM shares the BIG PICTURE. Having a roadmap allows us to match the same direction. That big picture is the connecting point so that they can match.
Fifth, a good PM blocks out NOISE. There is a torrent of noise and distraction. An effective PM deals with requests from business owners, complaints from customers, demands from peer groups, pressure from executives and select what their teams need to pay attention to.
Part 2: Here is my version — only THREE for now
An effective product team feels like a basketball team. You know that someone is going to have your back and you can play to your strength. What can a product manager do to make your development team value you?
First, an effective PM provides CLARITY of thought. In the space of machine learning, we usually need to deal with very ambiguous problems. An effective PM doesn’t need to have the answer for everything, but he or she needs to have the skill to decide if this problem worth solving then breakdown a vague problem into solvable pieces and engage the right resources (team member consultation, research, etc.) to answer those questions. Apple highlighted this skill to all employees by a leadership attribute called ‘Cut through the ambiguity.’ Amazon trains all PMs to have clarity of thought by implementing silent meetings where good document and critical thinking are more important than any sales talk.
Second, effective PMs need to COMMUNICATE well. Written or oral communication are both important. In the remote work settings, PMs cannot rely on face-to-face communication or whiteboard brainstorming to engage their product team. They need to both write down their thoughts succinctly and able to deliver their message effectively. Furthermore, they need to excite and engage all levels of the organization. You should see a PM transition seamlessly from a meeting with the CEO or Board to a bug bash with developers. One misconception about PM is that they need to be “salesy” to communicate well. I find effective PMs quite opposite. They get to the points, present hard truth, and provide compelling reasoning to support their coherent narrative.
Third, effective PMs make a CHOICE for themselves and for their teams. Every task in a product team is a decision and prioritization. I’m not talking about making a choice during road mapping or functional planning (although it’s also an important skillset). I’m talking about asking ‘Why does this problem matter?’ ‘Is this customer segment still the best area to invest in our team’s resources?’ ‘Why investing in this industry now and not later?’ These strategic questions are something PMs should spend a lot of time on. Junior PMs might spend most of their time executing a product roadmap (including creating a roadmap, prioritizing features, working with TPM and Release manager to align resources). The more experience the PM is, the more time they should shift towards a more fundamental question for their product team. In the end, if you don’t answer these questions, nobody will. To make a good choice, you need to be able to filter noise from true feedback and keep update your big picture with new insights.
