A guide and resources to developing an effective product management & product development strategy

1. Products

2. WHAT IS PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
• Listen broadly
• Translate to actionable strategy
• Fight for what you believe in
• Communicate priorities as sprints
• Clear obstacles
• Launch
• Begin again

3. WHAT IS PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
how do we get there?
the product manager’s job is to act as a funnel for ideas, listening broadly and
translating into actionable strategy. The product manager fights for the strategy
(s)he believes will achieve the vision, communicating with quantitative
information (financial investment and schedule to launch, revenue potential and
pricing model) as well as qualitative (market differentiators from competition).
Once strategy is agreed upon, the product manager communicates the product
and prioritization plan to all stakeholders and clears obstacles from the paths of
engineers. The product manager guides the launch process, working with
marketing and sales to ensure the product reaches the largest audience with the
most impactful message possible. The product manager listens to feedback,
gathers ideas for improvement, and begins again.

4. the product manager is a funnel for ideas
ideas come from many sources. The product manager’s most
important job is to listen and translate: what is being requested,
and what is the fundamental need that is not being met. The
product manager knows how to ask questions and dig deeper,
finding areas ripe for innovation. The product manager solicits
information from:
• customers (direct feedback is the best feedback)
• the sales team
• marketing
• engineering
• industry publications
• any press or journalism
• friends and family
• the product manager’s cultivated instinct
deliverables
• notes (in any format) that
can be shared with the
rest of the product
management team
LISTEN BROADLY

5. the product manager is a funnel for ideas
SALES * PRODUCT * MARKETING MEETING
• 1 week before: determine questions sales should ask customers
for next meeting (product feedback, pain points)
• During meeting: product management review of product status
or new product launches; review and investigate customer
responses to previous questions
• 2 days after: notes distributed to team
CUSTOMER MEETINGS
• ask a customer to walk you through their typical workflow; take
notes of painful steps / things that would irritate you if you had
this job
• what’s the most / least rewarding part of your job?
• what would you assign someone if you had a magical genie
assistant?
a few resources
• http://startupclass.samaltman.c
om/
• http://paulgraham.com/articles.
html
• http://www.greentechmedia.co
m/
• https://techcrunch.com/
• http://solarbuildermag.com/
• http://www.wired.com/category/
magazine/
• http://www.seia.org/
• https://medium.com/@noah_w
eiss/50-articles-and-books-
that-will-make-you-a-great-
product-manager-
aad5babee2f7#.ezc1tvcf5
LISTEN BROADLY

6. the product manager’s passion is his/her leadership strategy
ideas are not strategy. Ideas are divergent, incomplete wisps of
imagination. A product manager cultivates ideas and turns them
into products, but first a product manager needs a team. To get a
team, a product manager needs a plan and passion. Without
passion, the product manager should look for more ideas. Once
the passion is there, it’s time to start planning:
• what is the problem (hypothetical or real user stories)
• who is affected by that problem (market size)
• what is the solution (proposed product)
• who else is doing something similar (competitors)
• what will someone pay to solve the problem (pricing model and
revenue plan)
• what will it cost to develop the solution (resources, time, capital
investment)
deliverables
• product strategy
presentation (MRD)
• yes / no / need more
information decision
TRANSLATE TO ACTIONABLE STRATEGY

7. the product manager’s passion is his/her leadership strategy
PRODUCT STRATEGY PRESENTATION
• 2-8 weeks before: gather inputs and confirm assumptions from
sales, engineering, marketing, etc.
• 1 week before: product managers notify other department
stakeholders of final assumptions
• During meeting: highlight assumptions made and intel gathered
in coming to proposed strategy. If disagreements begin to derail
conversation, focus on root cause: what differences in
assumptions are being made. Do not leave meeting without
concrete next action steps
• 2 days after: notes distributed to team and next steps
highlighted
• 3 days after: if approved, start working on PRD
a few resources
• The Innovator’s Dilemma
• The Lean Startup
• https://blog.adamnash.com/200
9/07/22/guide-to-product-
planning-three-feature-buckets/
• https://medium.com/@dunn/get
-one-thing-right-
89390244c553#.vtnskl3sy
• https://medium.com/swlh/how-
to-design-a-pitch-deck-lessons-
from-a-seasoned-founder-
c816d1ae7272#.eqs6lymi2
TRANSLATE TO ACTIONABLE STRATEGY

8. detailed communication of plan will set expectations
precision is a product manager’s best ally. Once a product
manager has agreement on strategy, communication should be
consistent and frequent, to the point of excessive. A product
manager should update all stakeholders weekly (regardless of
whether there are changes) on the following:
• schedule
• deliverables
• dependencies & required resources
• potential upcoming roadblocks
• unforeseen challenges
• cost target / current cost
• reliability metrics
• features & capabilities
• customer / market feedback
deliverables
• Product Requirements
Document
• Weekly updates
FIGHT FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN

9. detailed communication of plan will set expectations
PRODUCT REQUIREMENTS DOCUMENT
• 2-4 weeks before: gather inputs and confirm assumptions from
engineering. Solicit early concepts from engineering & company
brainstorm competition
• During meeting: confirm teams are aligned on top level
objectives and tasks toward success. Don’t leave meeting
without sign off to progress to next stage of design
• 2 days after: notes distributed to team and next steps
highlighted
• 3 days after: if approved, start working on Concept phase of
design. Write and get first sprint doc approved
WEEKLY UPDATE
• Tuesday - Thursday: gather updates from department
stakeholders and integrate into weekly update document
• Monday: distribute to management team
a few resources
• http://www.svpg.com/assets/Fil
es/goodprd.pdf
FIGHT FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN

10. priorities should be achievable, discrete items within the
overarching product schedule
a product manager does not say how to accomplish a product’s
goals. A product manager says what performance characteristics
the product’s success will be gauged by. The engineering
(mechanical, structural, electrical, software, or otherwise) team is
responsible for saying HOW. The product manager says: what
first. Priorities should be spec’d bi-weekly with concluding
feedback reviews led by engineering. To be included in sprint
specifications:
• Goal / intent of the sprint. Include broader product context as
necessary.
• User story solved by this accomplish this priority
• Visual documentation (UX wireframes, mechanical part
rendering, etc.)
• Clarifying team comments / questions/ discussion / notes
deliverables
• Sprint spec document
• End of sprint review, led
by engineering
COMMUNICATE PRIORITIES AS SPRINTS

11. priorities should be achievable, discrete items within the
overarching product schedule
SPRINT SPEC DOCUMENT
• 2 weeks before sprint begins: put together draft of spec
document. Begin gathering detailed support information
(wireframes, concept ideas, references, etc.)
• 2 days before sprint begins: review with engineering
stakeholders. Update to resolve questions / comments
• Day of sprint beginning: release to engineering team
• Day of sprint end: engineering-led review of progress to product
management, engineering, and potentially wider stakeholder
audience
a few resources
• http://bjk5.com/post/607602801
07/shipping-beats-perfection-
explained
• https://www.kennorton.com/ess
ays/leading-cross-functional-
teams.html
• Managing Humans: Biting and
Humorous Tales of a Software
Engineering Manager
• How to Win Friends and
Influence People
• https://www.kennorton.com/ess
ays/how-to-work-with-software-
engineers.html
COMMUNICATE PRIORITIES AS SPRINTS

12. distracted teams don’t do good work.
a product manager rewards success, no matter how incremental,
and vigilantly protects his or her team against scope creep. A
product manager takes all blame for product misses and gives all
credit for product wins. As frequently as necessary (hourly, daily,
weekly), the product manager checks in with his or her team and
acts as champion to destroy:
• requests from anywhere and anyone that do not contribute to
progress on the agreed-upon priorities
• resource limitations in terms of testing environments, prototypes,
etc.
• lack of access to feedback, either from customers or department
or partner company
In case an intractable obstacle is discovered, it is the product
manager’s responsibility to elevate the issue and procure
additional resources or time to allow for new information.
deliverables
• Weekly updates
• Yes / no / need more
information decision on
intractable obstacles
CLEAR OBSTACLES

13. distracted teams don’t do good work
OBSTACLES DOCUMENT
• when obstacle appears that team can’t absorb: immediately
meet with team stakeholders to determine obstacle, effect if
unaddressed, potential solutions, and resources / time needed
for each solution
• 1-2 days after obstacle determined: if necessary, schedule
meeting to review and make decision going forward
• within 3 days: update team with decision
a few resources
CLEAR OBSTACLES

14. a great product isn’t a great product until someone uses it
a product manager releases alpha and beta before launch to
determine, and give engineering time to solve, unknown
challenges. A product manager’s job during alpha and beta is to
talk to every salesperson and customer, soliciting early feedback
and generating “first customer” partnerships. The product manager
communicates new information through frequent team updates,
acknowledging any changes to original plan and re-engaging the
team with new passion. During this phase, the product manager
coordinates with a broader group, including sales and marketing,
so messaging needs to be concise, consistent, and priorities even
more rigorously defended.
deliverables
• Customer specification documents
(installation, commissioning, O&M,
feature sets, etc)
• Certification listings & bankability
reports
• Sales quote capability & pricing plan
• Marketing spec sheet
• Sales presentation for customers
• Systems integrations (CRM, ERP, etc)
• Current & roadmap costs
• Lead times
• Website integration
• Partner references from Alpha & Beta
launches
• Press plan
• Launch presentation
LAUNCH

15. products are never done
after launch, sustaining begins. A product manager uses
quantitative metrics to gauge product success (market share,
average selling price and margin, customer feedback trends, time
from quote to sale, sales conversion rates, mentions in press, rate
of custom product requests). A product manager solicits ideas and
areas for improvement, begins planning to expand the product to
economically fruitful fringe cases, and starts scheming the next
strategy to disrupt the current plan.
BEGIN AGAIN
deliverables
• Notes & discussion with
the product management
team