The document provides an overview of product management at different organizational scales, from a single product to multiple products and teams. It discusses the roles and responsibilities of product managers and how they influence, decide, and advocate for their products. It outlines common struggles and traps faced by product managers as an organization grows from one product with one team, to one product across several teams, and finally to multiple products across many teams. The key responsibilities for product managers are defined for each structure.

2. Product Management:
The Intricate Art of Getting (the Right) Things Done
February 22, 2019

3. Intros
About me…
• 10 years as a FE developer
• 7 years as a product manager
• 5 years as a leader and coach
• VP of Product Agility at Cprime
About this webinar…
• About Product Management
• How we work…
• One Product, One Team
• One Product, Several Teams
• Many Products, Many Teams

4. Product Management at a Glance
More than the “voice of the customer”

5. Superheroes, Umpires, and Steve Jobs
Influencing +
• An unfortunate title
• All the authority vs. none
Making a call +
• Non-binary umpiring
Advocating for your product =
• So much more than the
“voice of the customer”
Superheroes

6. There’s No Managing in Product Management
What we can do
• Influence
• Advocate for
• Define
• Decide
• Answer the questions who,
what, why, and in what order
What we can’t do
• Dictate
• Control
• Design
• Make everyone happy
• Answer the questions how
or how much

7. Structures of Product-Based Organizations
One Product, One Team One Product, Several Teams
Many Products, Many Teams

8. One Product, One Team
The Product Manager Purple Squirrel

9. One Product, One Team
Influences
• Vision, strategy, &
roadmap
• Pricing strategy
• Growth strategy
• Product team’s
confidence in
product strategy
Decides
• Roadmap details,
release composition,
and sequence for dev
• New features
investment vs. other
• Cross-group time
investment
• Product story and its
definition
Advocates For
• More help for your
product
• R&D investment
• Marketing
• Sales
• Customer support
• The product team
• Buyers and users

10. One Product, One Team
Struggles
• Too many balls to juggle
• Not having all the
necessary skills
Traps
• Juggling traps
• Trying to do & control it all
• Focusing only on business side
• Focusing only on tech side
• Not taking time to communicate, lead, &
influence
• Skills traps
• Ignoring areas you aren’t good at
• Over-focusing on areas you are good at
• Not listening
• Not taking the time to invest in your learning

11. One Product, One Team
Struggles
• Trying to please everyone
Traps
• Pleasing everyone traps
• Becoming overly reactive to requests
• Getting mired in tactical tasks
• Being driven by the last customer
conversation
• Continuously switching product direction or
flip flopping
• Getting into “feature chase”

12. Winning Is…
• Balance for you and your product
• Thoughtful investment of time
• Focus on relationships and
communication
• Enjoy this time while you have it

13. One Product, Several Teams
Product Managers, Product Owners, and Spreading the Fun

14. Product Managers and Product Owners
Now you have…
• Help & teammates
• Conflict & confusion
• A collectively stronger skill set
So how do we work together?
Product
Manager
Product
Owner
Product
Manager
Product
Owner

15. One Product, Several Teams – The PM
Influences
• Vision & strategy
• “Go to market” &
product positioning
• Pricing strategy
• Growth strategy
• Product team’s
confidence in
product strategy
Decides
• High-level intent of
what, why and who we
build product for
• Product roadmap
• Investment in new
features vs. other
• Cross-group time
investment
• Product story
Advocates For
• More help for your
product
• R&D investment
• Marketing
• Sales
• Customer support
• The product owners
• The product team
• Buyers and users

16. One Product, Several Teams – The PO
Influences
• Product manager
• Product team and
other stakeholders
• Product roadmap &
product designs
Decides
• Definition of the
product story (backlog
items)
• Behavior & design
questions
• Sequence for
development
• Balance between
support & new feature
dev within sprint
Advocates For
• Product team & fellow
product owners
• Users over buyers
• Product technical
health

17. One Product, Several Teams
Struggles
• Getting into adversarial
relationships
Traps
• Getting into adversarial relationships traps
• Thinking you are in charge; “I say -> you do”
• Not listening to people around you
• Struggling to see big picture or being overly
focused on tactical objectives
• Pushing the pressure you feel down

18. One Product, Several Teams
Struggles
• Falling asleep or falling
too far into the weeds
• Managing up, down, and
sideways
Traps
• Falling asleep or into the weeds traps
• Not trusting others to make decisions
• Obsession with perfection or perception
• Falling asleep at the wheel; “I’m big picture
now; that’s not my problem.”
• Becoming too aligned with delivery
concerns at the sake of strategy
• Managing up, down, and sideways traps
• Not communicating or sharing context
• Playing too much politics or not enough
• Getting into adversarial relationships with
your peer set

19. Winning Is…
• Keep the entire product group moving
as one
• Communicate, communicate,
communicate
• Excel at the people piece
• Leverage unique strengths of others
for benefit of team
• Stay humble
• Respect PO’s and know the grass isn’t
always greener

20. Many Products, Many Teams
When Stuff Gets Real

21. The Big Time
• Congrats and buckle your
seat belt
• You lead a product
line/family
• You lead an organization of
product people
• Your peers may be
executives in other
organizations
• You now have business
ownership (P&L, C-team)

22. Many Products, Many Teams
Influences
• Corporate vision
and strategy
• Other business
functions and how
they work with &
within your product
line
• Investment in your
product line; where
does the funding go
Decides
• Product line vision and
strategy
• Investment allocation
within the product line
• By bet
• By product
• By client
• By PM
• Staffing and hiring
• Composition and
culture of team
• Assignments of
PM’s to products
Advocates For
• Your team
• Your business
• Your products and their
customers
• Product management’s
place at the table in the
company
• The teams of people
that market, sell, build,
and support your
products
• Company goals

23. Many Products, Many Teams
Struggles
• Business vs. strategy
vs. people
• Falling asleep or falling
too far into the weeds
Traps
• Business vs. strategy vs. people traps
• Choices are in direct conflict
• Your bonus is typically tied to the short
term objectives. The sales leader’s bonus
most certainly is.
• Thinking short term can limit the potential
of your product line and your company.
• Falling asleep or into the weeds traps
• Stay in your lane
• Invest your time wisely
• Balance comes with supervision
• Show interest without micro-managing

24. Many Products, Many Teams
Struggles
• Playing too much
politics or not enough
Traps
• Playing too much politics or not enough traps
• Too much politics becomes a distraction to
more meaningful work
• Obsession with politics can affect your
mental state and cause burnout
• Keep your conscience; this isn’t a reality TV
show
• Play enough so you can effectively influence
and advocate; you need friends and allies

25. Winning Is…
• Manage your energy
• Stay sane
• Continue to do the right thing for
the company, products, and people
• Stay in the fight
• Find a support system outside your
company

26. Next Steps
• Learn more about how Cprime can help: https://www.cprime.com/product-management/
• Next week: Webinar with Anne Steiner & David Laribee
• Scaling Product Thinking with SAFe-Secret Sauce for Meaningful Impacts
• Check out our upcoming webinars; read our blog, download whitepapers/case studies &
more: www.cprime.com/resources
• Share with us what topics you are interested in, ask us questions or give us feedback!
• learn@cprime.com
• Share in the conversation on Social Media and keep updated on thought leadership,
events & more
• www.linkedin.com/company/cprime-inc
• @CprimeInc on Twitter

27. Q&A