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t
Outline
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t
Outline
2. Owning the why
1. Understanding what to do
3. Deciding what to build
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t
Outline
2. Owning the why
1. Understanding what to do
3. Deciding what to build
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t
Outline
2. Owning the why
1. Understanding what to do
3. Deciding what to build
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Where should I
start from?
1. UNDERSTANDING WHAT TO DO
$_ whoami
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1. Tactical
2.Operational
3.Strategical
Types of
Work Done
By a Product Manager
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1. Tactical
2.Operational
3.Strategical
Types of
Work Done
By a Product Manager
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1. Tactical
2.Operational
3.Strategical
Types of
Work Done
By a Product Manager
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1. Tactical
2.Operational
3.Strategical
Types of
Work Done
- Remember it as “TOS”.
TIP:
By a Product Manager
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Tactical
Strategical
Tactical
Types of work done
Operational
Short-term activities like:
- Scoping work
- Crunching data to decide what to build next
- Work with developers and designers
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Operational
Connecting strategy and tactical work:
- Roadmaps
- Aligning teams
Strategical
Tactical
Operational
Types of work done
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Strategical
- Positioning the product and the company.
- Planning long-term.
Strategical
Tactical
Operational
Types of work done
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Easy?
Types of
Work Done
By a Product Manager
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The Waiter
The most common
type of PM
CEO requests
Sales requests
Marketing requests
Customer requests
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How these types of
work map to my
current position?
The PM
Career Path
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Associate PM
50% Strategic - 50% Operational
The Career Path
PM
Senior PM
Director of product
Manage people
VP of product
CPO Chair in directive board
Product line
First level of people management
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Is everyone on the
same page?
2. OWNING THE WHY
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• You main job is to explore, define and
communicate why you should build it.
Owning the why
• You main job is not to tell your team
what to build.
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How can I own “the why”?
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Focusing on the
problem instead of
the solution
OWNING THE WHY
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• Our brains love to think in terms of solutions.
Focusing on
the problems
• When someone is talking about the problem
using solutions, your job is to get to the root
of the problem.
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Focusing on the problems
Problem exploration
User research
Understanding the context
around a problem to form a
better solution to solve it
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Focusing on the problems
Solution exploration
Problem exploration
User research User testing
Understanding the context
around a problem to form a
better solution to solve it
• MVP = learn
• Showing a prototype
• Running experiments
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Solution exploration
Problem exploration
User research User testing
Understanding the context
around a problem to form a
better solution to solve it
• MVP = learn
• Showing a prototype
• Running experiments
WARNING
Focusing on the problems
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Solution exploration
Problem exploration
User research User testing
Understanding the context
around a problem to form a
better solution to solve it
• MVP = learn
• Showing a prototype
• Running experiments
JUST GUESSING
Focusing on the problems
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Solution iteration without problem exploration
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Communicating
the why
OWNING THE WHY
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Communicating the why
There is not better way to
understand the problem that
to see the user frustration it
with your own eyes
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Communicating the why
Invite the rest of your team
to your sessions and calls
with customers
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When you put yourself in your users’s shoes
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Use templates to keep
the why in the front line
Communicating the why
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Notion’s Product Spec Template
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Notion’s Sprint Template
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Once we understand the why, we
need to connect it with the what
Communicating the why
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Why + What
=
Shared understanding
Communicating the why
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Story
Communicating the why
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Story
Communicating the why
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Story
Communicating the why
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We agree!
Story
Communicating the why
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Shared documents
is not
shared understanding
Communicating the why
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There is no perfect way
of writing stories
Communicating the why
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Using
Story mapping
Communicating the why
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Story mapping consists of ordering user
stories along two independent dimensions:
activities and implementation
Communicating the why
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Image from manifest.co.uk
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Try story mapping with your team when
designing a complex feature or flow
Communicating the why
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Are we using our time
the best as we can?
3. DECIDING WHAT TO BUILD
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• There are frameworks we can use to
decide what to build: benefits mapping,
Kano model, etc.
Deciding what
to build
• We need to be aware of doing
only components optimization.
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Deciding what to build
Features
Strategy
A strategy is on top of features,
it’s focused on goals and vision
Feat. 1 Feat. 2 Feat. 3 Feat. N
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Deciding what to build
Features
Strategy
A strategy is on top of features,
it’s focused on goals and vision
Feat. 1 Feat. 2 Feat. 3 Feat. N
Feat. X
Nice to have
Feat. Y
Just a small thing ®
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Deciding what to build
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Image from the article “The Product Kata” by Melissa Perri
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Deciding what to build
Image from the article “The Product Kata” by Melissa Perri
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Book Recommendations
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Escaping The Build Trap
MELISSA PERRI
How effective product management creates real value
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Inspired
MARTY CAGAN
How to create tech products customers love
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Make Time
JAKE KNAPP & JOHN ZERATSKY
How to focus on what matter every day