Clarity for Product People

Transcript

1. CLARITY for Product People Arne Kittler
2. Clarity is a crucial success factor for product people. We can only be successful together with others. Effective collaboration requires clarity, especially in times of change. Clarity is work—and it's never "finished.“ We, as product people, can increase clarity!
3. AI needs clarity even more than humans do.
4. We all want clarity—where's the problem? Time pressure: Clarity requires effort upfront. Misconception: We confuse clarity with certainty Fear: Clarity can be frightening. Harmony: We are afraid to disturb collegial harmony.
5. For succesful collaboration we need clarity on four layers Directional Clarity Situational Clarity Clear Communication Role Clarity
6. We need Directional Clarity …so everyone can independently work towards a common goal.
7. You need more Directional Clarity if… … everything is important … you lack arguments for saying no … too much is in progress, for too long … everybody‘s exhausted, but nothing really moves
8. Vision Strategy Objectives Opportunity Opportunity Opportunity Principles * https://www.thedecisionstack.com/ Opportunity Opportunity how? how? how? how? why? why? why? why? 1. Create a Coherent Direction Decision Stack as a mental model
9. 1. Create a Coherent Direction Decision Stack as a mental model Vision Strategy Objectives Opportunity Opportunity Opportunity Principles * https://www.thedecisionstack.com/ NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!
10. 2. Be clear about your initiative …even if there‘s no coherent overall direction! What key insight is behind your initiative? What is your core hypothesis, and how will you test it? How will you measure success, and what is your level of ambition?
11. 3. Reference for Context Use any chance to connect what‘s happening to direction „Because our priority for this quarter is….“ „This is a great example for what we mean by ….“
12. We need Situational Clarity …so that things keep moving forward
13. You need more Situational Clarity if… … you experience late surprises when working with other teams … decisions take very long … conflicts are not resolved
14. 1. Don‘t assume – ask & clarify!
15. 2. Speed Up Decisions with Principles Long term guardrails for day-to-day decision making Be specific about your trade-offs: X over Y statements Don‘t state the obvious! 3-6 principles + explanation what they mean in your context
16. 3. Escalate Gracefully Agree to disagree Joint escalation Be clear about what‘s unclear Take responsibility
17. Ambiguity on one layer compromises all others Directional Clarity Situational Clarity Clear Communication Role Clarity
18. We need Role Clarity …so it‘s clear what we expect from each other.
19. You need more Role Clarity if… … you often need to do stuff that‘s not your job … you are disappointed by your colleague‘s work …it‘s not clear who‘s making which decision
20. Three contexts to clarify your role PM HoP PM PM 1. Organization
21. 1. Understand your competency profile What‘s expected of your role in your org – foundation for development dialogue * example
22. Three contexts to clarify your role PM 2. Cross-functional team Dev UX QA
23. 2. Make role expectations explicit Clear framing: Focus on the role, not the person What traits would the perfect <Role> have? What must <ROLE> know to work well with you? What can YOU do to help <ROLE> do a great job?
24. Three contexts to clarify your role PM 3. Temporary cross-team initiative … … … … …
25. 3. Clarify who‘s driving an initiative DACI decision model Driver Aligns with the Approver on goals and decision criteria, seeks input from Contributors, and makes the decisions Approver Sets decision criteria, approves or rejects decisions by the Driver Contributors Add valuable information, including experts, implementers, and those significantly impacted Informed Updated about decisions by the Driver but do not contribute
26. We need Clear Communication …so we enable others to collaborate well
27. You need Clearer Communication if… …newbies are lost with your internal lingo …there are many misunderstandings …your commercial colleagues ask you to join client calls
28. It's your responsibility to make yourself understood. Make it as easy as possible for your counterpart to understand you so that they can act and speak effectively! 1. Make yourself understood …even you have to repeat yourself
29. 2. Be a translator! What‘s in for them? Use their terminology & mental models Nobody cares about our product lingo!
30. 3. Provide context and framing …especially in async, remote collaboration Make sense beyond the immediate moment Make work-in-progress & decision state explicit Clear framing: How do you expect your feedback to be used?
31. 1. Make yourself understood 2. Be a translator 3. Provide clear context & framing Clear Communication Directional Clarity 1. Coherent direction & context 2. Be clear about your Initiative 3. Reference for context 1. Don‘t assume – ask & clarify 2. Speed up decisions with principles 3. Escalate gracefully Situational Clarity 1. Understand your competency profile 2. Make role expectations explicit 3. Clarify who‘s driving an Initiative Role Clarity In an AI-powered world your clarity doesn't just guide people — it instructs machines. The clearer you are, the better both will perform.
32. CLARITY is your job!! arnekittler.de Make it your Superpower!
33. bit.ly/arne_clarity Arne Kittler Contextual Product Leadership