Making the Leap from UX to Product Management

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Carter Gilchrist  Chief Product Ofﬁcer at Unbounce 
@cgilchrist Making the Leap from UX to Product Management

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist or… Carter Gilchrist  Chief Product Ofﬁcer at
Unbounce  @cgilchrist

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Learning to Love Venn Diagrams! Carter Gilchrist 
Chief Product Ofﬁcer at Unbounce  @cgilchrist

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist 1. The key responsibilities of a Product
Manager 2. The differences between the UX role and the PM role 3. The skills you’ll need, and things you’ll stop doing. 4. Where should you start? To make the leap, we need to understand:

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Tech & Engineering UX & Design Business
& Marketing

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Who spends most of their time here?
Tech & Engineering Business & Marketing UX & Design

UX & Design Tech & Engineering Business & Marketing

Tech & Engineering UX & Design Business & Marketing

& Marketing Who spends most of their time here?

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Product Management

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Product Management The intersection between Business, Technology
and User Experience. Typically a PM has come from one of those 3 backgrounds.

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Product Management The intersection between Business, Technology
and User Experience. Typically a PM has come from one of those 3 backgrounds. Responsible for the overall success of the product by understanding the market and guiding the development of a product to serve that market.

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist What is Product Success? ?

& Marketing ?

& Marketing Sellable & Distributable Possible & Feasible Useful & Desirable

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Product Success  Sellable & Distributable Possible &
Feasible Useful & Desirable + + =

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist PM High-level Responsibilities

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist PM High-level Responsibilities • Creating a Product
Strategy

Strategy • Translating strategy into a product roadmap.

Strategy • Translating strategy into a product roadmap. • Composing requirements that support both the business strategy and the needs of the market.

Strategy • Translating strategy into a product roadmap. • Composing requirements that support both the business strategy and the needs of the market. • Prioritization: build the right thing in the right order and at the right time.

Strategy • Translating strategy into a product roadmap. • Composing requirements that support both the business strategy and the needs of the market. • Prioritization: build the right thing in the right order and at the right time. • Communication both internally with the company/teams and externally with the market.

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist In other words…

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist In other words… bullet points

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Product Management Is • Being the heart,
mind, and voice of the user • Facilitating cross-functional teamwork • Making product trade-offs • Meeting an end-goal with ﬁxed time and resources • Leading people along a product journey • Being positive and practical • Making tough calls with little information https://medium.com/managing-digital-products/so-you-want-to-manage-a-product-c664ba7e5138

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Product Management Is Not • Being the
most important voice • Being the only idea-generator • Being a designer • Being a programmer • Managing QA • Optimizing websites • Writing marketing collateral https://medium.com/managing-digital-products/so-you-want-to-manage-a-product-c664ba7e5138

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist 1. The key responsibilities of a PM
2. The differences between the UX role and the PM role 3. The skills you’ll need, and things you’ll stop doing. 4. Where should you start? To make the leap, we need to understand:

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Let’s play a game…

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Let’s play a game… Full credit to
Jeff Lash @ SiriusDecisions

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Job Posting #1 “You must enjoy spending
time in the market to understand (customers’) problems”

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Job Posting #1 “You must enjoy spending
time in the market to understand (customers’) problems” Product Manager (sample from PragmaticMarketing.com)

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Job Posting #2 “Understanding user wants, needs
and expectations ... Working with the Customer Insights department to plan, execute and analyze quantitative and qualitative research ... Deﬁning user requirements”

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Job Posting #2 “Understanding user wants, needs
and expectations ... Working with the Customer Insights department to plan, execute and analyze quantitative and qualitative research ... Deﬁning user requirements” Manager, Usability and Information Architecture (Circuit City)

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Job Posting #3 “Lead researching, understanding and
passionately advocating target customer requirements, deﬁning feature sets, and developing and communicating product requirements.”

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Job Posting #3 “Lead researching, understanding and
passionately advocating target customer requirements, deﬁning feature sets, and developing and communicating product requirements.” Senior Product Manager (Adobe)

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Job Posting #4 “Define product requirements and
plans that meet the strategic goals of the business. Propose and lead appropriate project definition activities. Work with project team members to define discovery methods to be used, including competitive audits, user research, user scenarios, etc.”

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Job Posting #4 “Define product requirements and
plans that meet the strategic goals of the business. Propose and lead appropriate project definition activities. Work with project team members to define discovery methods to be used, including competitive audits, user research, user scenarios, etc.” Information Architect (UX), Site and Marketing (walmart.com)

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Job Posting #5 “Specifying market requirements for
current and future products by conducting market research supported by on-going visits to customers and non-customers.”

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Job Posting #5 “Specifying market requirements for
current and future products by conducting market research supported by on-going visits to customers and non-customers.” Product Manager (sample from PragmaticMarketing.com)

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Job Posting #6 “Gather user and market
insights, analyze product metrics, articulate requirements, and launch new features… Deﬁne global product requirements, including writing scope requests, product requirements documents (PRDs)”

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Job Posting #6 “Gather user and market
insights, analyze product metrics, articulate requirements, and launch new features… Deﬁne global product requirements, including writing scope requests, product requirements documents (PRDs)” Senior Product Manager (eBay)

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Job Posting #7 “Drive research & customer
analysis … run consumer product advisory groups”

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Job Posting #7 “Drive research & customer
analysis … run consumer product advisory groups” Product Manager (Yahoo!)

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Job Posting #8 “Understanding target audiences’ needs,
tasks, and goals”

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Job Posting #8 “Understanding target audiences’ needs,
tasks, and goals” User Experience Lead (Avenue A / Razorﬁsh)

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Job Posting #9 “You will be responsible
for understanding the client interaction with the product and their work-ﬂow. You will bring this understanding to the table and work closely with Sales, Marketing, Product Management and end users to help enhance the usability of our application.”

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Job Posting #9 “You will be responsible
for understanding the client interaction with the product and their work-ﬂow. You will bring this understanding to the table and work closely with Sales, Marketing, Product Management and end users to help enhance the usability of our application.” Product Manager – Usability (Gridstone Research)

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Job Posting #10 “Work directly with customers
to understand their goals”

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Job Posting #10 “Work directly with customers
to understand their goals” Project Manager (Endeca)

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist There is clearly a lot of overlap!

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist User Experience = will they use it? 
Product managers = will they buy it?

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Ultimately, Product managers are responsible for what
problems the product should solve; UX (and Engineering) are responsible for how the product solves them.

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist HOW WHAT Product Management Engineering UX Like
this:

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist The most common conﬂict between user experience
and product management roles comes into play when discussing what the product should do and how it should do that.

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist HOW WHAT Product Management Engineering UX Grey
Area = Conﬂict

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist A lot more of this stuff Tech
& Engineering UX & Design Business & Marketing

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist • Market Sizing. How many potential customers
exist in the world who would buy your product or service?  • Pricing. What is the perceived value of your product or service? What is someone willing to pay? Establish a model.  • Sales Enablement. Create collateral for a sales or marketing team to effectively sell your product over the competitor’s. A few skills…

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist • Competitive Analysis. What are your distinct
competencies compared to the competition? What sets you apart?  • Buy, Build or Partner. When there are gaps in your solution, when do you buy, build or partner to complete your offering.  • Buyer Personas. Deﬁne the archetypical buyers involved in the purchasing of your product or service. A few more…

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist • Project Management. Many times you will
operate as the Product Owner in an agile development team.  • Launch Planning. Internal communication when new features are ready, plus identifying positioning and segments for marketing opportunities. And of course…

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Look at all these skillz! Pragmatic Marketing
Framework http://pragmaticmarketing.com/about-us/framework

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist • You won’t get your hands dirty
in the pixels. No more photoshop! Most detail work delegated to others.  • You will get comfortable with the idea of “good enough” and will learn to say “no.” You’re held accountable for decisions, not recommendations. Sometimes those aren’t “best” for the user.  • You won’t be the go-to expert for any one aspect of the product. You’ll lead other experts towards a shared goal. After the leap…

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist 3 Things You Can Do Tomorrow

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist 1. Hug your Product Manager! It’s a
hard job, and often doesn’t get the recognition it deserves! Start working more closely and productively with your PM. Ask them about their goals and to tell you about your market size. They’ll be happy to share.

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist 2. Start a side project that generates
revenue Sell a product. Use AdSense on a blog for ad revenue. Whatever. Give yourself an opportunity to understand how your design decisions impact the revenue of a business. Be an entrepreneur. Learn to do true customer development. Analyze Data. Excellent Customer Interview Script http://customerdevlabs.com/2013/11/05/how-i-interview-customers/

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist My accidental side project: GoodBadJokes.com

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist 3. Be curious about business KPIs If
you work for a product company, start asking for your KPIs. MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue). Average Customer Lifetime. ARPU, Churn, etc. and start doing the math to connect the design work you are doing back to those KPIs.

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist 4. Read! Watch! Learn! What, exactly, is
a Product Manager  http://www.mindtheproduct.com/2011/10/what-exactly-is-a-product-manager/ A Product Manager’s Job  https://medium.com/@joshelman/a-product-managers-job-63c09a43d0ec  Transitioning from User Experience to Product Management (Part 1/2) http://boxesandarrows.com/transitioning-from-user-experience-to-product-management/  http://boxesandarrows.com/transitioning-from-user-experience-to-product-management-2/ Product Management Is Not User Experience https://www.siriusdecisions.com/Blog/2014/Apr/Product-Management-Is-Not-User-Experience.aspx So You Want to Manage a Product? https://medium.com/managing-digital-products/so-you-want-to-manage-a-product-c664ba7e5138  Putting people together to create new products http://www.cooper.com/journal/2001/10/putting_people_together_to_cre Good Product Manager Resources http://www.goodproductmanager.com/resources/

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Whatever you do, don’t stop talking to
your customers…

@cgilchrist Carter Gilchrist Thank you! Questions? Jokes? Carter Gilchrist  Chief
Product Ofﬁcer at Unbounce  @cgilchrist

Making the Leap from UX to Product Management

Making the Leap from UX to Product Management

More Decks by Carter Gilchrist

Other Decks in Design

Featured

Transcript