PRODUCTHEAD is a regular newsletter of product management goodness,
curated by Jock Busuttil.
paranoid product manager #
every PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to
tl;dr
The only thing you can truly control in life is yourself
Securing buy-in is meaningless if you let people go back on their agreement without challenge
hello
This week I had the pleasure of joining lots of like-minded product people for a relaxed chat over dinner. My usual party trick is to gesture too emphatically and send glasses flying, so I was relieved that I managed to avoid embarrassing myself this time. It was a lovely opportunity to reconnect with people I haven’t seen for years, listen to their stories and benefit from their views on topics I’m currently wrestling with.
On that note, I’m reaching the point where I believe I have a structure for the book. To recap briefly, I want to help product people coach themselves to navigate their various working relationships more adeptly. Sure, stakeholder management is a part of it (though I’m beginning to dislike that label because it dehumanises), but there’s much more to it than that. The success of almost everything we do as product people relies on our interactions with other people.
It’s clear that context is a broad and important factor affecting how successfully we work with others. At the moment, I think it splits down into three main areas of focus:
What’s going on with us #
This is the complex interaction of our personal context, our personality, predispositions and how we’re feeling on any given day. For added fun, we’re not always fully aware of ourselves. If you’ve ever had a nagging feeling you can’t put your finger on, you’ll know what I mean.
What’s going on with the other person #
Essentially the same complex picture as for us, except with the added challenge that we’re only ever seeing a small part of it. Because most of us present a work persona, whether by choice or necessity, we’re often seeing a filtered view of what a person is really like. We can never truly know what other people are thinking and feeling, and what matters to them and why, although we can make educated guesses.
How the working environment modifies things #
This one’s the real kicker, I think. The approaches that work fine in a functional culture often blow up in your face in a dysfunctional organisation. Other factors will mean you need to play things differently, such as the size, stage, financial stability, prevailing culture and disciplinary bias of the organisation (sales, marketing/brand, tech, product etc.) — the list can go on and on.
Given all this, it seems like a minor miracle we manage to muddle through with others at all. My hope is that I can prompt you to become more attuned to these three areas of focus. In turn this will place you in a better position to decide how you’re going to work more easily with people.
For you this week #
In the first article, Kate Leto explores a concept I’m sure you’re familiar with: spheres of influence. I’ve certainly spent too much time worrying about things I have little direct control over, and have temporarily forgotten the things I can control. As is the case with Kate, I’ve found the model useful to discuss with many of the people I coach who, for one reason or another, feel disempowered or lacking in confidence.
Next, Roman Pichler applies structure to the process of securing buy-in with stakeholders. He asks you to consider the impact of a decision, what corresponding level of buy-in you need for it, and how you go about making the decision. When things are messy and a bit chaotic, structuring the conversation can certainly help to de-escalate the emotions and provides a valuable forensic trail should backtracking occur later on.
Speak to you soon,
Jock
what to think about this week
What can you really influence? Find out by taking a look at your Sphere of Influence
In a recent coaching session, a director of product was telling me about the re-org that her organisation was going through. Again. Not surprisingly, it was distracting her and her team from the work at hand, making any progress on teaming and actually building a product come to a standstill. Plus, all of the uncertainty was building high levels of anxiety and stress for her and her entire organisation.
She came to the session feeling overwhelmed and unsure of what her next step should be. Was she doing everything she could to help her teams? What was she missing?
Control, influence and concern
[Kate Leto]
Maximising stakeholder buy-in to product strategy and product roadmap
The most amazing product strategy and product roadmap are ineffective if the stakeholders don’t support them. Without their buy-in, you’ll struggle to execute the strategy and find it hard to deliver the roadmap. But it doesn’t have to be this way. This article shares my tips to help you secure strong stakeholder buy-in to strategic product decisions, align people, and achieve product success together.
Orchestrating alignment with others
[Roman Pichler / Pichler Consulting]
recent posts
What to expect from your face-to-face product manager interview
Your product manager interview is as much about you getting to know your interviewers as it is the other way around. Here’s what you can expect along with my tips for standing out from the crowd.
Go a bit meta and challenge the premise of the exercise
[I Manage Products]
Moving up to a CPO or VP Product role
Stepping up to a Chief Product Officer (CPO) or VP Product role doesn’t so much change what you do. Rather it amplifies everything. This guide lets you know what to expect.
Liberating and terrifying in equal measure
[I Manage Products]
I want to update my pricing strategy. Where do I start?
“My product currently has one tier of per-seat pricing for all customers. I want to change my pricing strategy to cater differently for SMEs and enterprise customers. Where do I start?”
A few pricing concepts to consider + further reading
[I Manage Products]
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Helping people build better products, more successfully, since 2012.
PRODUCTHEAD is a newsletter for product people of all varieties, and is lovingly crafted from a sudden drop in state-sponsored childcare.