Noel Tate, Director of Product Management at FabFitFun
@noeltate

Product Managers may be responsible for overseeing the creation of technology products — but they aren’t the ones actually creating that product. Product designers, UX professionals, and software engineers are a part of the actual creation, and relationships with all three of those groups are absolutely critical for successful product managers.

To foster and sustain positive relationships with software engineers, a new product person can start by understanding how the engineering team communicates best with the rest of the product organization. Not every engineering team communicates the same way. Understanding your engineering colleagues and their personal communication preferences is important. This isn’t about tying down a process, but more simply discovering how the engineering team and the Product Manager will work together. 

This conversation will help to create a shared structure. For example, how should stand-ups be managed? Decide when they will start, how they will be led, etc. Then, write this structure down and get everyone to agree to it. The document should not be a PDF, but a shared, editable document that is constantly evolving.

If something isn’t working, ask why and be committed to changing it. The intention should be to develop a bit of structure to the interactions between the Product Manager and the engineering team. If the Product Manager is joining an established team, ask them how they work now — and how the current process can be simpler and better. Then listen to what the engineering team says about its processes. Follow through on their suggestions to contribute to their way of working. Perhaps you’ve been hired to bring new knowledge and experience to this company.  Still, understanding the current scenario and what currently works is critical, as not everything may need to be overhauled.

Open collaboration makes it easier to bring your experience to the team. Don’t try to force the team to adopt your way of working. Instead, create buy-in. If there is no buy-in of your ideas, consider dropping it for a time and trying a new idea. 

Ultimately, what’s most important is that you develop real trust between you and your engineering team. There are no shortcuts to build this trust, but there are ways to break the ice quickly. For example, in retrospectives, consider always putting up something about your own performance. Acknowledge your mistakes first — as this helps to build trust and open communication. It’s important, though, to follow through and improve your performance by taking action straight away. Build on this process and back up what you say to build up trust.

When you’re working with remote engineering teams, things can be even trickier — but it’s also more important to make a concerted effort to build trust. Generally, it’s better to over-communicate than under-communicate — but this may not be possible if the team is scattered in different time zones. Take the time to keep all relevant stakeholders in the loop and share information widely. 

Communication is one of the key parts of the Product Manager’s role. Start by over-communicating — then you can pull back to find a level of communication that works best for the company and product organization. 

But remember that coding requires concentration. Learn when your team likes to concentrate on coding tasks (e.g. after the stand-up, in the morning, after lunch) and try not to schedule meetings or expect communications during these times.

When it comes to communicating with your engineering team, don’t be afraid to try things that may not work. Take each stumble as a chance to learn something new and gain insight on how you will be able to ultimately communicate best with your engineering team.

The post How new Product Managers can build a great working relationship with Engineers appeared first on Product Collective | Organizers of INDUSTRY: The Product Conference.

Tanya Cordrey, Former Chief Digital Officer, Guardian Media

@tcordrey

Product and engineering teams often try to engage their organizations with well-recognized frameworks and approaches. But different firms often need different forms of engagement. And this needs to start with your strategy. There is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to product strategy, though, so it’s important to understand different frameworks and approaches, but apply what you determine to work best for your organization.

A thriving product team is one that’s aware of not just external factors that go into building their product strategy, but internal ones as well. Many Product Managers feel like they are unpopular in their organization simply because of the number of times that they must say “no” to different stakeholders. Nonetheless, the role is about balancing your product’s needs and those of the business. 

Product Management can sometimes be viewed as a threat by other parts of the organization. They may fear the implications a strong product team might have for their roles. If you spot this feeling of unpopularity, it’s possible to course-correct. However, if you miss it, the feeling will get worse. 

How do you know if this is happening in your organization? You may have an intuition that something isn’t right. There may be talk of setting up a PMO or more governance of the Product Management process. There may be painful conversations about who owns the customer delivery.

How does this happen? Sometimes, distrust mounts up when the product organization isn’t mindful of other parts of the organization. It’s easy to stay focused on the product and customers — but ignore how your work may affect others internally.

Product Managers should adopt an adaptive approach. There is no one model that will work across all teams and roles. It’s not about doing it the right way, but rather finding ways to do it right — for your product, your product team, and your organization as a whole.

Tanya introduced the idea of modes of product team management. Rather than being focused on a person’s title or where they are in the product organization, consider how close the person is to the customer and their ownership of the product. 

Product amplifiers are close to the customers but not the product. They can make the mistake of accidentally setting up Product Management in competition with the real product. Core product experts on the team can be helpful to mitigate this, but it’s necessary to be clear about their role and responsibilities.

Product partners are closer to the product than the customer. Product partners and product amplifiers may conflict with who actually “owns” the customer. But really, both groups need to work in tandem with each other to serve the customer and ensure that product is built to serve that customer.

Consensus is not required at every step of the process — so understand that conflict is natural and is to be expected. But as a product person, you do need buy-in from stakeholders throughout your organization — and being mindful of how your work affects them will be critical. Remember to think about communication and how to reduce the cognitive load Product Management teams bring to the rest of the business.

The post How to choose the best product strategy for your company appeared first on Product Collective | Organizers of INDUSTRY: The Product Conference.