AIPMM Webcast: Art Of War For The Product Manager

AIPMM Webinar Series

http://www.aipmm.com

© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com

Founded 1998
Largest Product Management professional group
Provides professional development and
certification
• Certified Product Manager
• Certified Product Marketing Manager
• Agile Certified Product Manager

• Certified Innovation Leader


Today’s Speakers
Moderator:
Cindy F. Solomon, CPM, CPMM
Founder, Global Product Management Talk
Startup Product http://startupproduct.com
@cindyfsolomon @ProdMgmtTalk @startupproduct

Presenter:
Laura Lee Rose, Business Process & Efficiency Coach
site: http://www.LauraLeeRose.com
blog: http://LauraLeeRose.com/blog
twitter: @laura_lee_rose


Stay on To Win!
•Keep your Chat box open!
•Post your Questions in the
Questions box during the IT Professional
session for Laura to answer Development
during the Q&A at the end! Toolkit

Participants who ask questions
will be entered into the
drawing. Winner will be
announced at the end of the
session!


FEATURED PRESENTATION


About Laura
• 25 Years in Software Development Industry
– Developer/programmer
– Tester
– Customer Advocate
– Product/Project Manager
– 5 patents
• 1 Process patents
• 4 Product/feature patents
• Business and Efficiency Coach
– One-on-one and Group coaching
– Seminars
– Author


Administration
• Additional meeting opportunities
– LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info
• More information:
– www.LauraLeeRose.com
• Author
– TimePeace: Making peace with time
– Purchase via: Amazon.com
• IT Professional Development Toolkit
– Release in May

Art of War for Product Managers
• Laying Plans
• Waging War
• Attack by Stratagem
• Disposition of Military Strength
• Use of Energy
• Weakness and Strength
• Maneuvering
• Variation of Tactics
• On the March
• Terrain
• The Nine Varieties of Ground
• Attack by Fire
• Employment of Secret Agents

Free e-book version of Art of War
http://www.manybooks.net/titles/tzusun132132.html


Art of War for Product Managers
• Laying Plans
• Waging War
• Attack by Stratagem
• Disposition of Military Strength
• Use of Energy
• Weakness and Strength
• Maneuvering
• Variation of Tactics
• On the March
• Terrain
• The Nine Varieties of Ground
• Attack by Fire
• Employment of Secret Agents


Laying plans
• What defines a “good project manager”?
• What does this mean to you?
• What are your success criteria?

• If you don’t have criteria and metrics that
defines a “good project manager”, how do you
know you are succeeding?

Product Manager Mission Statement?

What is your individual product/project manager mission
statement?


Product Manager Mission Statement?
• Never compromise with honesty
• Be aware of your affect on others
• Remember the people involved
• Be sincere yet decisive
• Open to the counsel of others
• Defect those who are absent
• Plan tomorrow’s work today
• Hustle while you wait
• Maintain a positive attitude
• Keep a sense of humor
• Give others the benefit of the doubt
• Do not be the source of the chaos
• Facilitate the success of others
• Concentrate all ability and effort on the shared goals at hand
• Buffer, protect the people doing the heavy lifting on the project
• Take @AIPMM
© AIPMM 2013 ownership and accountability on your commitments www.aipmm.com

Laying plans
• What’s in the Product Manager’s tool kit?
• What’s the most critical tool?


Laying Plans
• Thoroughly Assess Conditions
• Compare Attributes
• Look for Strategic Turns


Thoroughly Assess Conditions
• The foundation of good product/project
management
– Meaningful metrics
• Subjective and objective assessment
• Underlying causes -> next steps
– Searches for new and better ways to attract, retain
and satisfy team mates, sponsors and clients
• Reduce time to market


Thoroughly Assess Conditions
• Beyond the obvious
– Analysis of how to increase satisfaction
• Client? Team? Stakeholders?
– Use of customer or sponsor interaction to
• Improve current requirement requests
• Focus on the right important things
• Improve product management service
• Create new tools or process
• Expand into new market use


Compare Attributes
• Competitive strengths and weaknesses
– Collaboration versus competition
– Observe and incorporate other practices
– Recognize each team member’s motivation
– Champion of change
• Focus on common/shared goal
• Influence effective use of tools
• Adoption of “innovation”
– In personal as well as tools
• Facilitate the “now”
– Not how you think something should be
– Tweak what’s going on “NOW”.


Look for Strategic Turns
• Strategies beyond conventional rules
– People are the project manager’s tool set
• Exercise shifts in thinking
– Provide a "users’" perspective through Customer Activities
– Deployment Experts of our tools
• Focus on Solutions
– Problems clearly identifies gaps
– Solutions close those gaps
• Create opportunities from the inevitable
– Serviceability
– Inspections
– Corporate process adoptions


Waging War

• Marshal Adequate Resources
• Make Time Your Ally
• Everyone Must Profit from Victories
• Know Your Craft


Marshal Adequate Resources

• Invest Adequate Resources
– Hardware , people, time allocation
– Immediate versus future
• Maintenance schedules, Future Products ,
Career Development, Customer Care?
• Preparation for the next technology?
– Just in time training
– Individual Development Plans


Marshal Adequate Resources

• Invest Adequate Resources
– Everyone is a project manager
• Clone through training
• Reporting and Status
• Improve everyone’s estimation skills
• Assist everyone in understanding other’s
motivations


Make Time Your Ally
• BEE (Be Effective and Efficient)
– Automation and Optimization
• Reporting and Analysis
• Templates, autoresponders
– Skills
• Stay on top of technology
• Network for the skills/time you lack
– Minimize interrupt-driven activities
• Block/isolate email time
• Do Not Disturb – Office hours


Make Time Your Ally
• BEE
– Shift happens
• Expert in adjusting with speed and accuracy
– Execution
• Delayed action lose their positive quality
• Find ways to borrow versus re-invent
– Execution Tips
• External Commitments
• Make Important things Visible
– Subject Header Naming Convention
• Reasonable Forcing Functions
• Share the wealth (delegate)
– Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should
– Engage others

Make Time Your Ally
• The Key is to become rapidly effective and efficient
– Automation and Optimization
• Reporting and Analysis
• Templates, autoresponders
– Skills
• Stay on top of technology
• Network for the skills/time you lack
– Recognize That Shifts In Strategy Will Occur
• Expert in adjusting with speed and accuracy

– Execution
• Delayed action lose their positive quality
• Find ways to borrow versus re-invent
– Execution Tips
• External Commitments
• Make Important things Visible
• Reasonable Forcing Functions
• Share the wealth (delegate)


Everyone Must Profit from Victories
• Strengthen Human and Material assets with each Victory
• Win/Win
– Expand resources by recognizing who also needs it.
• Testing example: Tech Support, Customer Training, Field
Enablement
– Partner versus Adversarial
• Enhance the interaction between “seemingly opposite sides”
• Sit on same side of the table
– Attending Meetings/Conferences
• Materialize into something tangible
• Action item, FAQ, Press Release
• Trade Show demo, Technical Paper


Know Your Craft
• Master the expertise required to win
– Industry/Technology knowledge
– Marketing/Sales Knowledge
– Communication/negotiation skills
– Customer service and care
• Create your unique benefit
– Materialize the mastery
– What differentiates you?
• Find a Hero
– Seek knowledge from other experts
– Fill gap with other experts
– Seek out multiple mentors and coaches


Attack by Stratagem
• Win Without Fighting
• Strength Against Weakness – Always
• Beware of “High-Level Dumb”
• Obey Fundamental Principles


Win without Fighting
• The Ultimate Victory is to win without fighting
• Make the most of your assets
– Negotiating power depends upon how attractive NOT reaching an
agreement is
– Develop Best Alternatives to a Negotiated Agreement
– Search for the Higher Level Good.
• Focus on essence and not specific task
• Carve out a niche


Strength Against Weakness

• Battles are won by concentrating strengths
• Rules of ratios
– Example: Development to Tester ratios*
– Accomplished by playing with time and place
– Focus on the Spirit of the organization
• Can not be strong everywhere
– Defend yourself when you cannot defeat the enemy


Beware of “High-Level Dumb”

• Avoid acting without full knowledge of the situation
• Ask the right questions
– Aggressively Take The Initiative,
– Go Out, Talk To People, Get The Info You Need
• Support the intent versus just meeting numbers
– Begin with the End in Mind
• Take advantage of opportunities


Disposition of Military Strength

• Be Invincible
• Attain Strategic Superiority
• Use Information to Focus Resources


Be Invincible
• Build strengths that can take advantage of
opportunities
• DATA
– Quick, effective high level summaries
– Have external outside references and experts for details
• Understand how to properly apply the principles
– Flexibility without abandoning the vision or goals
– SHIFT Happens


Attain Strategic Superiority
• A successful strategy achieves victory before the
battle
• Risk Assessment and Contingency plans
– Probability, Impact, Plan
• Creates the condition for certain victory
– Early customer adoption and feedback
– Get Upfront Commitment
• Reviews
• Recovery Protocols *


Recovery Protocol Example

Add Optimize Compromise Accept
Attributes (Most Flex) (Less Flex) (Less Flex) (Least Flex)

Resource X

Scope X

Schedule X

Quality Criteria X


Employment of Secret Agents

• Collect All Available Data
• Invest In Intelligence Resource
• Establish An Active Intelligence System
• Practice Counterintelligence


Invest and Create An Intelligence
System
• Everyone you meet is a potential Agent
– Network, Network, Network
– Materialize something tangent from your
meetings
– Opportunities to Build Reputation
– Opportunities to build relationships toward next
career step


IT Professional Development Toolkit
• Release in May
– who, what, where, when and how to accomplish
all of the above.
• Contact:
– vConferenceOnline.com/Bits on the Wire, Inc.
6420 E. Broadway, Suite A300
Tucson, AZ 85710
520-760-2400 or (877) 853-9158
info@vconferenceonline.com


Summary
• Pick your top 3 and start
– Which items struck a cord?
– Start with those.

The most influential person to you is YOU.


Administration
• Email
– LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info
• More information:
– www.LauraLeeRose.com
• Author
– TimePeace: Making peace with time
– Purchase via: Amazon.com
• IT Professional Development Toolkit
– Release in May

Please Join Us Again!
AIPMM Webinar Series: Friday March 29
Becoming The "Social Product Manager"
http://aipmm.com/aipmm_webinars/

Global Product Management Talk: Monday March 25
Rich Mironov @RichMironov
Seasoned Product Executive, Tech Startup Veteran,
& Author, The Art of Product Management
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/prodmgmttalk

Stay Informed!
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AIPMM Webcast: Art Of War For The Product Manager

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