Main Takeaways: - Working with 3 engineering teams in 3 timezones - Aligning with a wider international team - Tools and techniques I use to work remotely

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6. Being a Remote Product
Manager
By Gary Webb

7. AGENDA
⬥ Introduction - About me
⬥ Working with 3 engineering teams in 3 timezones
⬥ Tools and techniques I use to work remotely
⬥ Aligning with a wider international team
⬥ In Summary
⬥ Recommended by me
7

8. HELLO!
8

9. ABOUT ME - PERSONAL
9
⬥ Born and raised in Essex, England (just outside of London)
⬥ Live in Essex with my Fiancee and 18 month old boy
⬥ I enjoy property and have renovated 3 properties in 10 years
⬥ Huge fan of Football (soccer if you are from North America or
Australia)
⬥ Enjoy the buzz of Product Management and creating things
that users find exciting!

10. ABOUT ME - BUSINESS
10
⬥ Le school at 16 and went to work for UK’s biggest bank
⬥ Made way up through various roles until landed in Digital
Banking in 2009 delivering 3rd party integrations
⬥ Joined a startup Web 2 Print company and responsible for IT
and Systems - company was sold in 2016
⬥ Joined Groupon in 2017 and responsible for localistation for
Goods Products
⬥ Moved to create a new Search and Demand Product for 2020

11. Working with 3
engineering teams in 3
timezones
1

12. “The further away the team is
from you, and the more the
communication challenges of
language, culture and time
zones, the more pressure
there is.
12
Marty Cagan

13. MULTI SITE PRODUCT AND ENGINEERING
My Office
13Find more maps at slidescarnival.com/extra-free-resources-icons-and-maps

14. Pro’s
❖ There is always
somebody awake
❖ Global context can
shared
CON’S & PRO’S
Cons
❖ Different time zones to
juggle
❖ Lack of real-time
collaboration
❖ Things can get lost in
translation
14

15. MANAGING THE ‘CON’S’
⬥ Managing Timezones
⬦ Prioritise your diary by timezone
⬦ Change your working pattern
⬦ Setup a handover and document
⬦ Align all timezones once a day
15

16. MANAGING THE ‘CON’S’
⬥ Lack of real-time collaboration
⬦ Use collaborative tools - Miro, Google Doc’s,
Confluence, Slack - and move away from
emails
⬦ Prepare for bigger sessions to accommodate
all teams so they can contribute
16

17. MANAGING THE ‘CON’S’
⬥ Things can get lost in translation
⬦ Ensure any uncertainty is addressed through
documentation
⬦ Include engineering teams at the start of the
process ie discovery
17

18. Tools and techniques I use
to work remotely
2

19. MY 3 TOP TIPS
Prototyping
Using design and
collaboration
so ware will reduce
the disconnect
between Product,
Business and
Engineering across
the globe.
Meet once a year
Where possible and
company budget
allows, there is
nothing like meeting
people in person,
even if it is once a
year.
Relationship’s
Build a relationship
and trust with people
in the teams.
Nothing gets you
through change like
people who you can
trust to deliver
19

20. Aligning with a wider
international team
3

21. INTERNATIONAL TEAMS
21
My Office
Find more maps at slidescarnival.com/extra-free-resources-icons-and-maps

22. KEY OBJECTIVES FOR SUCCESS
❖ Find common problems / goals
❖ Have a solid business case
❖ Understand your users
22

23. BREAKDOWN OF OBJECTIVES
⬥ Find common problems / goals
⬦ Create a global matrix for your problems or
goals and review each region
⬦ Be involved in as many product discussions
not just for your regions
⬦ Look at global data and break it down to
region level back up your theories
⬦ Try and avoid specific functionality or
features for one or a small sample of regions 23

24. BREAKDOWN OF OBJECTIVES
⬥ Have a solid business case
⬦ Make sure you have reliable data
⬦ Have a really healthy relationship with data
analysts / scientists
⬦ Speak out at prioritisation if you believe a
case is weak or strong
⬦ Manage your product sponsor with realistic
chances of changes being made
24

25. BREAKDOWN OF OBJECTIVES
⬥ Understand your users
⬦ Process map each region so you can
understand outliers required
⬦ Ask for feedback from your users
⬦ Be prepared to change your strategy to
adoption per region
⬦ Include subject experts from each region to
steer your design and execution plans
25

26. In Summary4

27. IN SUMMARY
Managing Timezones
With effective time
management and
careful planning, this
is not as daunting as
it seems. Find ways
to manage your
‘cons’ and play to the
‘pros’
Find ways to make
your life easy
So ware and
processes can help,
but the key in to
form key
relationships
globally to help you
drive change
Aligning Globally
Find a common issue
to help form
important
relationships and be
honest about what is
realistically going to
be delivered
27

28. Recommended by me5

29. RESOURCES I RECOMMEND
Inspired - How to
Create Tech Products
Customers Love by
Marty Cagan
Sprint - How to Solve
Big Problems and
Test New Ideas in 5
Days by Jake Knapp
The Product Manager's
Survival Guide, Second
Edition: Everything You
Need to Know to Succeed
as a Product Manager by
Steven Haines
29
Delivering Product
for Different
Cultures" by Idan
Fargeon, Lead PM at
Alibaba Group.
Lessons of Product
Localization from
Airbnb" by Julian
Leung, Fmr PM at
Airbnb.
Building Great
Relationships With
Your Team" by
Jean-Pierre Pequito,
Sr PM at Intercom
Books
Product
School
Videos

30. THANKS!
ANY QUESTIONS?
You can find me at:
⬥ LinkedIn
gary-webb-40a357146
⬥ gary@w3bb.co
30

31. www.productschool.com
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