NBCUniversal

1. CENTRALIZED PRODUCT TEAMS:
HOW TO TRANSFORM YOUR PMs FROM
ORDER TAKERS INTO THOUGHT
LEADERS
Daniel Alvarez
VP, Product & Design

2. Our journey for the next 30mins
PMs: Ideal vs.
Reality
Centralized vs
Decentralized
Transformation
in 5 steps
OPTIMISM
PESIMISM
TIME
Conclusion
Start

3. REALITY CHECK: SOMETIMES
WHAT WE SAY WE DO IS
DIFFERENT FROM WHAT WE
ACTUALLY DO

4. What we love to hear about Product
Management:
The mini-CEOVisionary
Leader
Subject Matter
Expert
Voice of
The customer

5. However, more often than not we see
organizations in which this happens…

6. Stakeholders that
think that Project
Management equals
Product Management

7. PMs sitting in
endless meetings,
taking requests
from stakeholders

8. PMs drowning in
requests from all
sides

9. PMs only focused
on execution

10. This is most commonly found in
organizations with…
New to
Agile
Nascent PM
practice
Centralized
PM teams

11. WHICH ONE IS BETTER,
CENTRALIZED OR
DECENTRALIZED?
(THEY BOTH HAVE THEIR MERITS)

12. Organizations tend to go back and forth
Centralize! Decentralize!

13. Centralized Product Teams get a bad
reputation for building these type of
products

14. But it doesn’t have to be that way

15. THE CASE FOR
CENTRALIZED TEAMS AT

16. Our team covers 40+ different local TV
stations across the US

17. A centralized approach makes sense for
us because…
• We have a relative small footprint of digital resources
in some stations
• Allows our stations to share solutions to common
problems
• Allows us to test in smaller markets and scale the
features that work

18. In all transparency…

19. We’re still in the middle of our
transformation
Order
Taker
Thought
Leaders

20. WHAT IS THIS
TRANSFORMATION PROCESS
YOU SPEAK OF?
(5 STEPS, NO SILVER BULLETS)

21. #1 Measure #2 Protect #3 Inspire #4 Execute #5 Communicate

22. #1 MEASURE
(ESTABLISH YOUR BASELINE OUTPUT)

23. Evaluate all features/products launched
over the past quarter to a year
Feature 1
Feature 2
Feature 3
Feature N
Where did the need for this feature
originate? Stakeholder Request or
from the Product Team

24. You should arrive at something along
these lines
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Stakeholder
Request
Product
Team
80% 90% 70% 95%
20% 10% 30% 5%

25. #2 PROTECT
(YOUR TEAM AND YOUR PRODUCT)

26. Centralized teams tend to get pulled in
many directions at once
PROCESEES
& TOOLS PM

27. #2.1 STREAMLINE YOUR INTAKE
CHANNELS FOR REQUESTS
(ONE CHANNEL TO RULE THEM ALL)

28. You usually encounter this situation
The drive-by
Slack messages
The urgent email
Hallway convo
The overwhelmed PM The developers

29. You must establish a single point for
intake of all requests from stakeholders
slackbot
• Structured
• Trackable
• Easy to find

30. A unified intake allows the PMs to have a
view on all the asks in one place
Product
Intake
Analyze all requests Cohesive vision Happier PMs

31. Other benefits of the Unified Intake
include:
• Makes people stop and think!
• Allows you to shape the conversation

32. Important things to keep in mind:
• Set clear expectations for response times (SLA)
• Allow room for exceptions, with clear guidelines
• Be very strict about it

33. #2.2 CONSISTENT AND
TRANSPARENT VALIDATION OF
IDEAS
(EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL)

34. Take inputs paired with our Goals and
Themes to come up with features/epics
Roadmap Inputs Roadmap Outputs
Product
Intake

35. Long list of items is taken through a set
of filters
Validation Prioritization Balance

36. Validation: We start with this initial set
of questions
1.What problem are we trying to solve? From user perspective
2.What experience will we build to solve it?
3.Who is our audience for this product?
4.How will we measure success? (metrics)
5.How big is the opportunity? (market size)
6.What alternatives are out there now? (competition)
7.Why is our solution better? (differentiator)
8.Why now? (market window)
9.How will you take this to market? (GTM)
10.What other factors are critical to success?
11.What is the high level plan?
12.These are a lot of questions, are you still reading?

37. Validation: and then we drill down some
more
1.Does it fit with the product vision?
2.Will it still matter in five years?
3.Will everyone benefit from it?
4.Will it improve, complement, or innovate on the existing workflow?
5.Does it grow the business?
6.Will it generate new, meaningful engagement?
7.If it succeeds, can we support and afford it?
8.Can we design it so that reward is greater than effort?
9.Can we do it well?
10.Can we scope it well?

38. Filter #2 - Prioritization
Validation Prioritization Balance

39. Prioritization: at the highest level we
use these four quadrants
HIGHIMPACTLOWIMPACT
HIGH EFFORTLOW EFFORT
I
III IV
II

40. Filter #3: Balance
Validation Prioritization Balance

41. Balance: make sure to invest in some big
bets and small bets

42. Balance: avoid bias towards the big fish
Will everyone benefit from it?

43. #2.3 EMPOWER YOUR TEAM TO
JUST SAY NO
(INSTEAD OF “MAYBE LATER”)

44. This is what
happens when you
say “maybe later”

45. (Be nicer than this)
Just say no

46. #3 INSPIRE
(FROM THE INSIDE OUT)

47. The Design team will be your biggest ally
DESIGNPRODUCT

48. A GOOD PM TEAM
WILL PUSH DESIGN
TO FLY HIGH, WHILE
STAYING GROUNDED
ON ENGINEERING
DESIGN
PRODUCT
ENGINEERIN
G

49. Establish clear goals for your team
Set long term
vision
Set Individual
Goals
Now Goal
Stakeholder
Request
80% 70%
Product
Team
20% 30%Increase Product
Contribution %

50. Incentivize ideas from within
Brainstorming
sessions
Design Thinking
Workshops
Empower the
team

51. #4 EXECUTE
(DO WHAT PMS DO BEST)

52. Ideas are useless if you can’t execute
them
• Build, measure, learn
• A/B Testing
• User Testing
• And so on…
THE PM EXECUTION
BLACK BOX
IDEAS NEW SHINY
PRODUCT!

53. #5 COMMUNICATE
(EARLY AND OFTEN)

54. Combat pushback by communicating
your progress early and often
TRANSFORMATION
METRICS
RESISTANCE
TO CHANGE
LAUNCHES
LEARNINGS
PM STAKEHOLDER

55. Evangelize the role of ProductPM
• Explain what product is (and what it is
not)
• Bring people into your thought
process for decision making
• Talk to anyone who listens!
• Rinse and Repeat

56. TRANSFORMATION
IS A LONG WINDING ROAD

57. #1 Measure #2 Protect #3 Inspire #4 Execute #5 Communicate

58. Happy PMs = Better Products

59. THANK YOU!