Slides Marc Wendell 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. NOT MY JOB
TAKING ON MORE THAN
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
MARC WENDELL
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT, FRANKLY MEDIA

2. THIS TALK IS NOT
1. An existential argument around the question “what is
product management”
2. An attempt at addressing the boundaries of the product
management craft

3. THIS TALK IS
1. Aimed at providing you tactics to ensure you can
effectively practice product management and mitigate
organization distraction

4. PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
Program
Management
Product
Management
Product
Marketing
1. Resources
2. Project plans
3. Agile process
1. Product Strategy
2. Buy, build,
3. partner
4. Validation
1. Go-to-market
2. Positioning
3. Sales enablement
You’re really good at this
You’re a stakeholder to this

5. TAKING ON MORE
Program
Management
Product
Management
Product
Marketing
X
Product Management

6. HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?
1. Necessity
2. Role definition drift
3. Organization drift
4. Abrupt transitions

7. WHAT THIS MEANS
The good:
1. Ability to hone useful tertiary skills
2. Deepen your knowledge of other disciplines
3. Increased organizational exposure
4. Greater share in success
5. Career acceleration opportunities
The bad:
1. Less time spent on developing core product skills
2. Greater workload
3. Greater accountability
4. Risk of diluting core PM role with organization

8. CASE STUDY ONE: LARGE CO
1. Matrix organization
2. A legacy of success
3. My role: member of a team launching a suite of new
products in new markets for a new user base

9. LARGE CO: ROLE
EXPANSION STORY
Start
UX
Content
Validation
PM!

10. OUTCOMES
Successes
1. Significant visibility leading to growth opportunities
2. Built credibility as a PM very quickly
3. Carved out a PM transition path
Failures:
1. Unable to offload content operations and strategy
2. Became overarching SME on all operations matters

11. CASE STUDY TWO: SMALL CO
1. Weak role definition
2. “All hands on” mentality; shaky development processes
3. My role: Product Manager without the luxury of
operations, robust program management, product
marketing or operations

12. SMALL CO: ROLE
EXPANSION STORY
PM
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
OPS
OPS OPS OPS
PMK
PM
OPSPJMSTR
See the pattern?

13. OUTCOMES
Successes
1. Maximized authority
2. Ability to significantly influence all disciplines
3. Deep stakeholder engagement
Failures:
1. Stuck in product operations quicksand
2. Unable to affectively advocate for proper product
management fundamentals
3. Lack of stakeholdership across disciplines

14. YOU’VE TAKEN ON MORE THAN
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
What to do:
1. Find your growth opportunity
2. Determine timelines
3. Set clear expectations and deliverables

15. YOUR GROWTH OPPORTUNITY
Program
Management
Product
Management
Product
Marketing
Gain proficiency, but know when to consult the experts

16. DETERMINING TIMELINES
Guidelines:
1. Ask the question: “Am I owning this forever?”
2. Set start and end dates where possible
3. Determine your plan to transition non-PM tasks

17. SETTING EXPECTATIONS
Guidelines:
1. Ask the question: “What am accountable for and to
whom?”
2. Strategy: determine planning and alignment goals
3. Tactics: knowing what deliverables support each
discipline
4. Consult the experts!

18. ACHIEVING SUCCESS
1. Say no when you need to; do not set yourself up for
failure
2. Contribute, but do not misrepresent yourself
3. Prioritize your time based on customer impact, revenue
and strategy
4. Use the experience as an opportunity to evangelize the
PM role!

19. FOCUS ON COLLABORATION
& TRUST
1. Build trust and avoid ownership conflict
2. Build trust by appreciating all of the disciplines
1. Maximize customer focus over internal definitions

20. TAKE AWAYS
1. Role expansion can provide growth opportunities to further your PM career
2. Role expansion should not come at the expense of developing core PM
competencies
3. Take an active role in managing your role expansion experience
4. Don’t let yourself drown!
Know the gears, optimize the machine!