Main takeaways: - Get in your reps: Turn customer empathy into customer obsession - Turn dreams into reality: Expand the vision of your current product area - Can you heard me now: Communicate what you’ve learned (customer obsession), where you’re going (Product vision), and why it matters

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5. Growing Your Product
Management Career
5
DONTAE DELGADO
Presentation Date
06/18/2021

6. SPEAKER
Dontae Delgado
Senior Product Manager
6

7. Compass
Senior Product Manager
2021
About Me
Dontae Delgado @dontaedelgado @dontaedelgado
eSentire fka
Versive Product
Manager 2016
Outreach
Product Manager
2019
Microsoft
Program Manager
2007, 2014

9. AGENDA
❏ Who Can Use This?
❏ Why Is It Important To Grow?
❏ Grow Your Customer Empathy
❏ Grow Your Product Vision
❏ Grow Your Communication
❏ Takeaways
❏ Appendix
9

10. WHO CAN USE THIS?
1
0
FOR US BY US

11. 7
SPECIFIC ROLES
https://www.heavybit.com/library/blog/kwans-hierarchy-of-product-needs-the-four-levels-of-product-manager
s/

12. SPECIFIC ROLES
12
1. Professionals looking to move into a Product Manager
role
2. 1-3 year PMs looking to move to a senior role
3. 4-6 year PMs looking to improve their skill set
4. PMs that are looking to expand their leadership,
mentor other PMs, or continue on the growth track for
Product Management

13. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT
TO GROW?
13
THIS IS THE GOOD
STUFF

14. 14

15. MY CAREER PATH
Microsoft
PROGRAM
MANAGER
Was given the opportunity to lead
a program that exposed me to
product management: identifying
a problem with customers and
drove that problem to a solution
Outreach
PRODUCT
MANAGER
Sharpening my skills and solidifying
what it means to be a Product
Manager; large product launches,
product mindset, analytics, design,
user research - build on the
foundation
Microsoft
PROGRAM
MANAGER
Program Manager in various
roles, focused on
Project/Program Management
functions: agile processes,
timelines, risks, scope, goals,
delivery focused
Compass
SR PRODUCT MANAGER
How can I grow my strengths?
What weaknesses can I minimize?
Where I can lead? What exposure
do I need to have next?
Versive
PRODUCT
MANAGER
Brought in to manage multiple
projects, but due to former
exposure, was given formal
product management
responsibilities and product
management role
15

16. GROWTH IS REQUIRED
16
The industry is changing:
1. The accelerated pace of the technology market
2. The process of digital transformation (creating new — or modify existing
— business processes, culture, and customer experiences with
technology)
3. The more data-driven our world is becoming
It’s foundational in order to transitioning from Product
Manager (APM/PM/SPM) to Product Leader (Lead, GPM,
Director)
1. Breadth across multiple types of product work
2. Training other PMs
3. Solving by allocating resources and influencing others
4. Creating more scope for the organization

17. 17

18. GROW YOUR CUSTOMER
EMPATHY
18
LISTEN, LINDA,
LISTEN

19. TURN CUSTOMER EMPATHY INTO
CUSTOMER OBSESSION
19
Customer empathy is understanding the underlying needs
and feelings of customers.
● It takes into account what really matters to the customer within their
problem space - what worries them, but also, what hopes they have
● It’s about viewing problems from the context of the customer - further
than recognizing and addressing tactical requirements
● Customer empathy is critical in creating products that do more than help users
accomplish something - it helps you create products that fit into and
improve their overall workflows
● This directly drives customer satisfaction and create customer loyalty

20. HOW DO DEFINE IT?
20
● It means that customer needs are at the center of everything you do,
and everything around you is built around those customer needs
● Persistent, preoccupation with the needs of your customers - not just in
your area, but outside your area of ownership
● This concept I first heard at Outreach; but other companies like
ZenDesk, Amazon, etc. originated and use it today
Showing priority for the customer’s
empathy
“ ”

21. EXAMPLE: Compass’s Mission
21
● This is bigger than building a platform or selling a product or even helping
people make money. It speaks to a deeper, meaningful impact in the lives of
every human being - helping our customers, help their customers find a
place where they will create memories, accomplish great things, and more.
● So ultimately when we are planning amazing products, in our minds and in
our hearts, we are envisioning the world that our customers live in when they
are able to accomplish their goals
We believe, that finding your place,
means
finding where you
belong.
- Robert
Reffkin
“ ”

22. LEARNINGS
Grow Your Approach
1. Think longer term in your planning and building of products when approaching
current problems
2. Create a Vision / Mission for the area you own that aligns with
ongoing development
Grow Your Interaction
1. Create an open feedback cycle with your customers (with the help
of stakeholders)
2. Show priority for the customer’s empathy while in the conversation
(demonstrate that you can share and understand the emotions of
your customer’s problems)
22

23. 23

24. GROW YOUR PRODUCT
VISION
24
SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW

25. 25

26. WHAT IS THE PRODUCT VISION?
26
The purpose of a Product, what problems it tries to
resolve, the intention with which the Product is being
created, the future state of the Product, and what it aims
to achieve for customers.
● This typically defined at the CPO or VP level of an organization
● Helps teams see the big picture/goal that they are aiming to achieve
● It bring the future into the present and provides a clear picture of the path
to creating the world that customers want to see

27. EXPAND THE VISION OF YOUR PRODUCT AREA
27
● Helps you make more strategic decisions rather than reactionary ones
● Opens up more opportunity for deeper product and market knowledge, which
ultimately helps increase your authority and responsibilities
● Helps you lead the creation of more scope and opportunities for
your organization
I distinctly remember at Facebook we had Don Faul, CEO of Athos,
come in and speak to us. He used to be in the Navy. He told us
about a saying in the Navy: 'Ship is greater than Shipmate which
is greater than Self.' To be successful as a Product Lead you
have to prove you can think about and improve the ship,
not just yourself.
- Bangaly Kaba, former Head of Growth at Instagram
“
”

28. HOW DO YOU EXPAND YOUR PRODUCT VISION?
28
Some questions to ask yourself to stretch your product
vision:
● What are your customers not saying when you talk to
them?
● What in your customers’ workflow is not being addressed?
● What external resources or technologies could advance your product?
● How has the industry changed that could unlock other opportunities?
The intersection of product strategy and
discovered opportunities
“ ”

29. LEARNINGS
Grow Your Vision
1. Talk to your customers outside the scope of projects or your product area -
learn about problems in their entire workflow. Look at what is directly
upstream/downstream of your area of ownership.
2. Steadily update your Vision / Mission for the area you own that aligns on a
periodic basis. You want to know you are making progress or adjustments.
Grow Your Opportunities
1. Look at the industry as a whole, the advancement of related technologies, your
competitors and partners - what trends do you notice? What is unlocked that
could help your product? What is going to change that could hinder your product,
and might require a pivot?
29

30. 30

31. GROW YOUR
COMMUNICATION
31
DON’T USE SEVEN WORDS WHEN FOUR WILL DO

32. 32

33. ALWAYS KNOW THE WHY
33
Bring together what you’ve learned
(Customer Obsession), use it to inform
where you’re going (Product Vision) and
then help everyone else understand why it
all matters (Communication).
● Investing in customer obsession will help you grow depth in discovering
the problems to solve and the products that solve them
● Expanding your product vision will help you determine the strategy for
building the right products…..
● …...but if you don’t effectively communicate it all, internally and externally,
you’ll struggle to be successful

34. 30
STREAMS OF COMMUNICATION
https://www.productplan.com/learn/product-manager-communication-streams
/
● Horizontal: Stakeholders; communicating implementation and execution details
● Vertical: Leadership; communicating expectation and outcome details
● External: Customers, partners; communicating what products and the when
they will be delivered

35. LEARNINGS
Grow Your Listening and Sharing
1. Understand how and when your different stakeholders need the information you
have - and give it to them in the most efficient possible: report, presentation,
weekly meeting, roadmap, document, etc.
2. Know the tendencies that are common from company to company: Executives
usually want concise documentation/explanations; Support teams usually want
as much information as necessary for them to know the product/feature
3. You want to meet them where they are at, but….in the broadest way possible - try
to fulfill multiple audiences at once as not to stretch yourself too thin.
4. Stakeholders want consistency and clarity for information. Look out for too
many questions around they “why” of a product, feature, etc.
35

36. 36

37. TAKEAWAYS
37
COME TOGETHER, RIGHT NOW, OVER ME

38. EMPATHY, VISION, & COMMUNICATION
1. Discipline yourself to prioritize repetition in these steps
2. Obsess over listening to customers: Interviews, surveys, CSAT, etc.
3. Develop the vision: create a source of truth, evolve it over time, point back to
the vision
4. Evangelize the vision: share it as much as possible as a way to let others know
what informs your decisions now and in the future
5. Create goals that are not based around your role, but around outcomes and
impact
6. Focusing on maximizing your strengths
7. Look for opportunities to learn
38

39. 39

40. Thank
You!
DONTAE DELGADO
Dontae Delgado
@dontaedelgado
@dontaedelgado
40

41. APPENDIX
41
SOME STUFF I DIDN’T TALK
ABOUT

42. PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
CAREER PATH
42
YOU MAY ALREADY KNOW THIS

43. 39
RESPONSIBILITI
ES
Product managers have both internal and
external
product management responsibilities.
Internal product management involves gathering
customer research, competitive intelligence,
and industry trends — as well as setting
strategy and managing the product roadmap.
External product management includes product
marketing responsibilities, such as messaging
and branding, customer communication, new
product launches, advertising, PR, and
events.
“
”
https://www.aha.io/roadmapping/guide/product-management

44. 40
COMPETENCIE
S
https://productschool.com/blog/product-management-2/guide-associate-product-manager-roles-part-
1/

45. CAREER
CATEGORIES
https://productschool.com/blog/product-management-2/future-product-management-2021-highlights
/
45

46. CAREER
PATHS
https://productschool.com/blog/product-management-2/future-product-management-2021-highlights
/
46

47. 4
3
Product
Marketing
Manager
Technical
Product
Manager
Data/Analyti
cs Product
Manager
Growth
Product
Manager
https://productschool.com/blog/product-management-2/types-product-management-roles
/
TYPE
S

48. 44
ROLE
S
https://www.heavybit.com/library/blog/kwans-hierarchy-of-product-needs-the-four-levels-of-product-manager
s/

49. www.productschool.com
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and
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