Slides Ian Moulton recently used in his discussion w/ mentees of The Product Mentor. The Product Mentor is a program designed to pair Product Mentors and Mentees from around the World, across all industries, from start-up to enterprise, guided by the fundamental goals…Better Decisions. Better Products. Better Product People. Throughout the program, each mentor leads a conversation in an area of their expertise that is live streamed and available to both mentee and the broader product community. http://TheProductMentor.com

1. 12 RULES FOR BUILDING YOUR PRODUCT
MANAGEMENT PLAYBOOK
IAN MOULTON - JANUARY 10, 2016

2. • 12 years of experience building products
• 9 years in product management roles
• 5 different organizations
ABOUT ME

3. Organizations:
1. Startup: 60 employees – NYC, CA & WI – founded 2003
2. Cooperative: 3,200 employees – NYC, DC & CA – founded 1846
3. Digital: 200 employees – NYC – founded 1953
4. Startup: 7 employees – NYC – founded 2008
5. Hybrid: 250 employees – NYC & Montreal – founded 1998
ABOUT ME

4. Products:
• Consumer web (news websites, video players, YouTube channel)
• Business web tools (CMS for news and video publishers)
• Consumer mobile (iOS and Android apps)
• Consumer web (college guide, “Ask an Alum” service on websites)
• Business web tool (“Ask an Alum” admin tool for organizations)
• Consumer app/hardware (digital jukebox)
• Business web-based tools (jukebox management tools)
ABOUT ME

5. “Mini-CEO”
CEO vs. Product Manager:
• All employees under authority of CEO
• PMs have no direct authority; opportunity to lead
• CEO make decisions without the burden of proof
• PMs have to be more persuasive
• “Mini-CEO” can hurt how your team perceives you
• People may doubt your interest in collaboration
• PMs still have to influence the build/buy/partner/integrate
• Accountable for the end-to-end success
RULE #1: MIND YOUR ANALOGY
http://techproductmanagement.com/ceo_of_the_product/

6. “Quarterback” or “Coach”
• Game plan/strategy
• Working well as a member of a team
• Adapting to your opponent, the playing field, and the conditions.
• Motivate others
#1: MIND YOUR ANALOGY

7. Sports
• Clear winners and losers
• Rules rarely change
• Stable cast of characters
(teams, leagues, etc.)
• Focuses on real-time execution
• Customer needs and expectations
not a focus – only winning
#1: MIND YOUR ANALOGY

8. Organizational teams
• Be creative and adapt to shifting environment
• Meeting customer expectations more than beating competition
• Successfully satisfying customers is the way to beat the competition
Rock bands
• Create new products (e.g. concerts, recordings) sold in marketplace
• Satisfy stakeholders (e.g. audience and critics)
• Recognize and create revenue-making opportunities
#1: MIND YOUR ANALOGY
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ruthblatt/2014/01/10/sick-of-sports-why-rock-bands-are-a-
better-metaphor-for-work-teams/

9. 1. Understand and work within
the business context
2. work with engineers
3. think strategically AND get into
the details
4. estimate the impact of a
feature
5. know when to say no
6. make the case of why
something should be on the
roadmap
7. predict release schedules with
unreliable engineering
estimates
#2: BUILD YOUR EXPERIENCE
http://www.producttalk.org/2012/07/you-dont-need-experience-to-become-a-product-manager/
8. use data to inform
your decisions
9. know when talking to
someone trumps data
10. find another way
when you hit a
roadblock
11. advocate for the user
12. focus on benefits not
features
13. know the difference
between your user
and your customer
14. conduct an ad hoc
usability test
15.get to the root cause of
feedback
16.be the product expert on
customer and prospect
calls
17.distinguish between
bugs you can ignore and
bugs that must be fixed
18.be ruthlessly focused on
your product’s core
value
19.guide a designer to not
just create your vision
but build upon it
20. write user stories that
communicate the what and the
why
21. ensure high product quality
even if you don’t have any QA
support
22. understand what drives
revenue, if not manage the
P&L for your product
23. identify the most important
thing to do right now (not
always the most urgent)
24. experiment with everything
25. get in the heads of your users
/ customers
26. identify a pricing strategy
27. iterate until the end of time
• Tackle right away
• Intermediate
• Interview question
• Comes with time

10. #3: KEEP YOUR RESUME IN MIND

11. #3: KEEP YOUR RESUME IN MIND
http://www.jobhero.com/resume-samples/senior-product-manager
• Focus on skill-building vs. credentials (sizzle vs. steak)
• Complete meaningful tasks and add bullet points to your resume
Product Manager Résumé Examples:
• Increased new customer acquisition by 44% by streamlining e-commerce listing creation process.
• Reduced average listing creation process time for new customers by 35%.
• Recaptured $76K in revenue by re-aligning sales territories.
• Delivered customer reports which increased customer satisfaction 25%.
• Reduced costs and enhanced development flexibility to meet market demands by designing and
implementing iterative development and delivery mechanisms.
• Coordinated landing page optimization efforts to update the UI on 40+ landing pages in less than two
months, experiencing conversion lifts between 15-35%.

12. #4: INTERVIEW
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/interview-techniques-star-dayna-l.
• Interviewing: Take-home test.
• The hypothetical scenario whiteboard session
• Providing work samples
• Portfolio
• Interview
• STAR (Situation, Thinking, Action, Results)
• S -- Situation; describe a specific situation;
H -- Hinderances; identify any hindrances or challenges faced;
A -- Action; explain the action(s) you took in response;
R -- Results; discuss the results or outcomes from your action(s);
E -- Evaluate; explain and evaluate what you learned from the experience.

13. #5: KEEP
UP ON
PRODUCT
https://medium.com/@johnpcutler/8-
trends-shaping-modern-product-
management-
29953562e5f0#.m39yl7x9n

14. #5: KEEP UP ON PRODUCT
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/interview-techniques-star-dayna-l.
Track down sources to check up on.
Books:
• Good Product Manager, Bad Product Manager
• http://www.khoslaventures.com/wp-
content/uploads/Good_Product_Manager_Bad_Product_Manager_KV.pdf
• Lean Start Up (Eric Ries)
• Inspired: How to Create Products Customers Love (Marty Cagan)
Other publications:
• Harvard Business Review
• Forbes, Fast Company, Inc.
• TechCrunch
• Product Hunt

15. #6: KEEP STRATEGY IN MIND
• Define the problem.
• Though it is the exception, it cannot be a problem, but simply be customer delight.
• “People hate [problem]. Our team exists to create [service that solves problem] and
make it accessible to [large group]. We will achieve this by [doing this and this]
which makes sense because [rationale]. We will measure success by [metric that
matters].”

16. #7: TELL STORIES
http://www.producttalk.org/2012/07/you-dont-need-experience-to-become-a-product-manager/
• Identify intended product value, share and evangelize this story throughout their
organizations.
• This is important because it ensures that the entire team understands the why behind
what they are doing.
• Without a firm understanding of the why, the team risks becoming task focused, losing
sight of the big picture, and deflating any sense of empowerment or excitement that
once existed.
• The Press Release
• The Presentation
• Bob Dylan shows that content matters
• Take a stance – differentiate yourself
• Be authentic
• Be confident

17. #8: IDENTIFY ANALOGS AND ANTILOGS
https://hbr.org/2010/08/what-can-we-learn-from-ninten
• Both in the entertainment space (in-home vs. in-venue)
• Similar hardware release cycles (3+ years)
• Similar strategy:
• Competing Against
Non-Consumption
• Associated Press:
• Intel Inside
• Unigo:
• Udemy
http://www.productbookshelf.com/2011/08/getting-to-plan-b-analogs-antilogs-and-leaps-of-faith/

18. #9: MAKE YOUR TEAM A GREAT PLACE TO WORK
• Brandon Chu: Contribute to making our product development organization a
productive and enriching place to work.
• Brainstorm
• “Own” Lunch

19. OPENSTAGE 2 CONCEPT MAP
VISUALIZATIONS
EFFORT
HIGH
LOW
$$ BUSINESS IMPACT
HIGHLOW
MOBILE DJ OF THE DAY
SWYPE KEYBOARD
IBEACON / PROXIMITY LOGIN
LINKS TO
ARTIST PAGE INCREASE
PLAY NEXT
PRICE
FUN STATS
PAGE
‘SPONSORED’
INTERNAL
LIGHSHOW VIRTUO
FB ADS
w/ MUSIC
CONTENT
STAFF
PICKS
MOBILE USER
PLAYLISTS,
LEADERBOARD
JUKEBOX
EASY CHECKIN
REVERSE QR CODE
FACIAL RECOGNITION
PUSH
NOTIFICATION
TO MOBILE
SONG
GIFTING
DEDICATIONS
END OF SESSION
GAMES WACK
A MOLESEE OTHERS
PLAYLISTS
ATARI GAMES
RECOMMENDED
PLAYLIST
ANIMATED
PHOTOBOOTH
SONG QUEUE
UPGRADE
2 PLAYER
TRIVIA
1 CREDIT
ROULETTE
INTERACTIVE
PLAY QUEUE
#10: BRAINSTORM

20. #11: BUILD AN ADVISORY BOARD
• Set an expiration date
• Weigh feedback from the underepresented groups

21. #12:
ORGANIZE
YOUR DAY
https://image-store.slidesharecdn.com/3e21c9c9-80da-44f0-928d-eb8cf36e33a4-original.jpeg
• Usability Testing
• SWOT Analysis
• Themes for every day