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An engineer's guide to working with product managers Adam Wiggins April 2013

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What do product people do?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV7u1VBhWCE

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Bob's approach to product management

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Customer Product manager Engineer

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Customer Product manager Engineer

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Customer Product manager Engineer

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Now, real product management

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Customer problems Product manager

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Customer problems Engineering Product manager Prototypes, ideas, technology needs

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Customer problems Engineering Usage analysis Watching the competition Support needs Sales needs S Product manager Prototypes, ideas, technology needs

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Customer problems Engineering Usage analysis Watching the competition Support needs Sales needs S Product manager Synthesis & judgement Prototypes, ideas, technology needs

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Customer problems Engineering Usage analysis Watching the competition Support needs Sales needs S Product manager Synthesis & judgement Requirements Prototypes, ideas, technology needs

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Why have product specialists?

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To build something people will use and love.

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How?

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● customer-centric ● understanding the problem ● putting the solution into customer terms

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Product Engineering

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Product ● problems ● customers ● build the right thing ● solutions ● technology ● build it right Engineering

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Aspects of product work

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● customer validation ● prioritization ● internal communication ● external communication ● analysis & synthesis

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How can a product manager help you?

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● defining the problem ● determining what's important ● non-technical decision-making ● unblocking you ● usage analysis ● notifying users of changes ● coordination across teams ● coordination with 3rd parties

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What to expect from a good product manager

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● evidence ● customer perspective ● context ("why" to match the "what") ● fast decision-making ● internal marketing & buy-in ● tracking & documentation

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What does a product manager expect from you, the engineer?

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● building stuff ● frequent status reports ● tight feedback loops ● reporting on technical blockers ● new possibilities with the technology

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What makes something a product?

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● validated with customers ● docs & announcements ● pricing ● interfaces (CLI, web, API, mobile) ● workflows ● naming ● code ownership ● scalability & capacity planning ● deploy process

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● validated with customers ● docs & announcements ● pricing ● interfaces (CLI, web, API, mobile) ● workflows ● naming ● code ownership ● scalability & capacity planning ● deploy process Product Design Engineering

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Insist on a product owner for your project! fin.