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(This blog post was originally published on the <a data-mce-href="https://www.bostonproducts.org/blog/product-managers-as-business-leaders" href="https://www.bostonproducts.org/blog/product-managers-as-business-leaders">Boston Product Management Association (BPMA)</a> event site as part of a panel discussion of which I was honored to be invited.)<figure id="figure-5zr192j7vmlxma65dr"><img id="5zr192j7vmlxma65dr" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/207CKI4rsllq21bknScIRFVh6VJUe5NDFyoIgzL7la1h0ZJY2TD7tg73QftKATIs.png" alt="woman sitting at table" title="woman sitting at table" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-sm md:rounded-md lg:rounded-lg" style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionX="undefined" data-positionY="undefined" data-fullWidth="false"/></figure><blockquote>In a nutshell, all Product Managers (no matter what stage of their career) should seek opportunities to expand their horizons beyond their immediate area of focus that delve deeper into their company’s business and strategy.</blockquote>What makes Product Management interesting and challenging is the variety of experience it offers across different industries, technologies, and within companies of different stages and cultures. While this multifaceted aspect of the job itself requires diverse set of skills, Product Managers must develop a common, core set of skills over time, that involve a strong business acumen - their ability to think broadly and strategically across all facets of the company - in order to be much more effective business leaders. &nbsp;&nbsp;In a nutshell, all Product Managers (no matter what stage of their career) should seek opportunities to expand their horizons beyond their immediate area of focus that delve deeper into their company’s business and strategy. &nbsp;Depending on the company, this could mean many different things: from learning more about how distribution and supply chain works, to learning about customer acquisition and marketing strategy, to learning about company financials and how margins and bottom line impact strategic decisions, etc. Product Managers who invest the time to expand their business acumen can benefit in several ways - what follows are just a few examples.<h3>Ability to make better decisions with the team</h3>Product Managers who base their decisions with the bigger strategic picture in mind are able to make better decisions in that lead to positive and more productive outcomes. &nbsp;By expanding one’s horizons beyond features, functionality, and UX into business-centric areas such as efficiencies of acquisitions / conversions, company financials, market trends, the competitive landscape, etc., the Product Manager has a more comprehensive set of inputs to aggregate, synthesize, and leverage to make decisions.&nbsp;<h3>Ability to positively impact the effectiveness of company execution&nbsp;</h3>By taking the time as a Product Manager to come to a broader understanding of business objectives and needs, one will not only be able to shape the roadmap execution of the team(s) he/she works with directly, but will also be able to establish a more cohesive collaboration with other departments in the organization (i.e. marketing, sales, business development, finance). Eventually, this approach results in alignment across teams about the end goal as it related to the company’s broader strategy and vision, leading to effectiveness in execution and achieving the targeted growth. This, leads to a more sustainable performance of the company in the market, which benefits everyone. &nbsp;<h3>Ability to advance in leadership roles within the company, or entrepreneurially</h3>Product Managers with increasing business acumen position themselves for more leadership opportunities within their companies, or even externally as entrepreneurs. &nbsp;PM’s who expand their perspective from tactical execution within a primary area of focus to broader strategic impact and results gain an increased ability to communicate with much more gravitas, which increases their influence and visibility. &nbsp;Simply put, their career options multiply - they can decide to rise up the ranks of their company’s leadership positions; they can decide to go out on their own and start a company; or they can decide to hone their craft in/around very specific domain expertise. ​ At the end of the day, the great thing about Product Management is how much variety and flexibility there is at every step of the way of one’s career journey. &nbsp;That said, every Product Manager should commit to advancing his/her business leadership skills and experiences - not only does this benefit the individual and his/her team(s), it can be a “tide that raises all boats” in terms of the benefits the company itself realizes.

Product Managers as Business Leaders

What kind of product organization do you have today? &nbsp;I don’t mean at the surface-level, such as general team structure or which agile process you employ. &nbsp;I’m trying to get to the heart of what your organization’s philosophical approach is to building software products. &nbsp;This typically comes directly from the management approach of the CEO and/or founder(s) and of course, at what stage the company is currently. &nbsp;I haven’t seen many truly valuable frameworks out there along with practical recommendations that help teams put a proactive plan in place to evolve. &nbsp;I will say this article (and previous articles) from Marty Cagan provides a great way of classifying different product organizations and I always appreciate his strong bias toward what he refers to as “empowered product teams.” &nbsp;What I would like to cover in this article is an attempt to offer up some practical advice to Product organization leaders and/or Product Managers that you can apply at the onset of this new year (and decade!) to influence evolution within your organizations. &nbsp; ​ Let’s start with a simple defining framework that we can use to align on terminology for the rest of this article. &nbsp;Here is one way of classifying an organization’s product philosophy that will suffice for the purposes of today’s conversation: one can look at the stage of growth of the company (early, growth, mature) alongside the CEO/founders’ instinctive expectations or baseline approaches to accountability. &nbsp;This visual provides a simple organizational evolution trajectory to consider:<figure id="figure-cjvkf2tintlswntij9"><img id="cjvkf2tintlswntij9" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/2fSzZ0LRWFmGER10PA85dp2REshUr5SAeuwwM6CbXQ6I4eaLv8rg3lJGrs0p7Kec.png" alt="" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-sm md:rounded-md lg:rounded-lg" style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/2fSzZ0LRWFmGER10PA85dp2REshUr5SAeuwwM6CbXQ6I4eaLv8rg3lJGrs0p7Kec.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;"></figure>What you see here is a simple representation of company growth transitions over time, along with a general evolution of the product organization’s role/responsibilities. &nbsp;When a company is in early stage, the founders are typically the primary product strategists and must be hyper-focused on execution as fast as possible to get to a place where they can measure and assess product market fit. &nbsp;In other words, they just want and need their team to carry out their vision. As the company grows into a mature organization, there ought to be an evolution of how accountability is distributed across the team, from simple execution of the founders’ vision to solving problems and driving market and customer impacts.&nbsp; &nbsp; There are a few trajectories that can play out over the course of a company’s life cycle, depending on the philosophical grounding of the executives (CEO and founders). &nbsp;I’d throw in factors in/around trust and what talent-level or domain expertise exists on the team as well. The less trust or domain knowledge that exists, the more the executives/founders will seek out executors or “doers”. &nbsp;Alternatively, organizations may actually have executives/founders who may not have expertise in building strong product experiences, or who simply are too trusting of their teams’ abilities to execute strategically. These execs may ultimately need to place much more emphasis on hiring strategic domain experts to rely on building the right products for the customers they are serving. &nbsp;This trajectory has its own pitfalls/risks, particularly when it comes to ensuring the right strategic SME is hired and onboarded properly. ​ If this general line of thinking resonates with you, keep reading - I’m going to attempt to boil it down even further (If not, leave comments below with your thoughts and opinions!). &nbsp;What this trajectory can look like at any given time is a snapshot at your product organization’s talent needs. What the following quadrant graphic shows is the type of personnel that really ought to be a part of your product organization, depending on where your org falls on the spectrum of size and accountability/trust structures:<figure id="figure-krf7bhe8aalswnu9zh"><img id="krf7bhe8aalswnu9zh" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/16YSNf5R75tgCcsykubAHLJIn5F1OaQfoMgQKJHl9Lq2pMcAZGWvgMoKKgtq3WxW.png" alt="accountability / trust quadrant" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-sm md:rounded-md lg:rounded-lg" style="aspect-ratio: 1/1; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="1:1" data-caption="Quadrant" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/16YSNf5R75tgCcsykubAHLJIn5F1OaQfoMgQKJHl9Lq2pMcAZGWvgMoKKgtq3WxW.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 1/1; object-position: center center;"><figcaption class="body-normal text-gray-500 mt-2">Quadrant</figcaption></figure> &nbsp;&nbsp; In a nutshell...Lower Left quadrant (Little-to-no accountability / trust structures in place and earlier stage):&nbsp; Your execs are probably the primary drivers of strategy and product vision. You don’t need Product Management at this point, just executors like engineers and designers. Upper Left quadrant (Some accountability / trust structures in place and medium-sized, growing company stage):&nbsp; You probably have your first Product Manager in place who helps drive execution at a day-to-day level, but who needs more guidance/supervision. &nbsp;This is a dangerous stage to be in - trust is starting to form but can be broken quickly if the company experiences setbacks; there may be early accountability structures in place such as OKR’s, but they are likely underdeveloped and/or evolving. &nbsp; Upper Right quadrant (Accountability structures in place, trust exists, and the company is mature): At this point there is probably a multi-person product team with a product development organizational structure that allows for empowered teams to execute against product visions driven by the product managers, with clear accountability against market/customer outcomes. &nbsp;This is when it is good to have Sr. Product Managers who bring added level of professional maturity and domain expertise, who are capable of leading large initiatives strategically. Lower Right quadrant (Underdeveloped accountability structures or a lack of trust within a larger, mature company environment): In this scenario, it’s probably best to have a product organization that is made up of Project Managers and/or Program Managers, or even Engineering Managers who take on some product roadmapping responsibilities. &nbsp;This is not a scenario where a Product Manager is needed, or where one will thrive for long. This type of organizational situation can stem from many scenarios, whether it’s that the founder(s)/execs never were able to let go of their product ownership (there are many articles and case studies out there about this), HR leadership never ensured the proper accountability and success measures were put into place to clearly empower people and teams, etc. &nbsp;Regardless of how this organizational situation has arose, this is one where true Product Managers will very likely not be happy, nor thrive.&nbsp;<h3>Now what - Where do you want to be?</h3>If you are tracking so far - the question becomes, so what? &nbsp;If you are able to identify what type of organization you are a part of, does it matter? &nbsp;It is what it is...right? Well, it depends. The question to ask is where do you want your product organization to end up? &nbsp;Whether it’s 3 months from now or 2 years from now - what do you want to see improved? And the second question to ask yourself is, will you have a reasonable chance of influencing change to get to where you want to be? &nbsp;If not, you need to decide if you can put up with the state of the union at your current company, or consider looking for another organization to join that aligns more closely with your vision. Assuming you feel reasonably confident you can inspire change, I offer up some practical advice to consider trying out as 2020 kicks off. &nbsp;This advice is the same whether you are a Product Manager working within a Product Development organization, or if you are the Sr. leader or executive leading that Product Organization - how you go about influencing / enacting that change will be different of course.#1 - Implement or strengthen foundational accountability structures - If your organization does not have the right structures in place to clearly and publicly declare what outcomes the product team should drive, this should be the first area of focus. &nbsp;Some organizations have OKR’s or MBO’s, but are so high level without proper hierarchical ties down to the product roadmap, there is not a clear sense of what results any given team must drive. If the accountability “pipeline” doesn’t go all the way from the top to the bottom, then it will not be a big surprise that the executives/founder(s) cannot easily empower the teams to take on their own problem domains and for the Product Managers to set their own strategic visions. &nbsp;Make sure there is a clear, tight connection between each Product Manager’s area of ownership and the corporate goals the company executives are focused on. Practically, one example of this could be to ensure that every Product Manager creates his/her own OKRs that clearly contribute to the company-wide OKRs. Of course, with SMART objectives that are quantified and achievable.&nbsp; #2 - Build trust with the executives/founder(s) - this is admittedly a bit squishy, but don’t expect the executives/founder(s) to suddenly start trusting their product organization to deliver results simply because the product folks want more empowerment. &nbsp;Product teams must demonstrate success *before* they are empowered. What can this look like practically? If executives/founder(s) are driving the product roadmap and vision, then a product organization can build trust by becoming extremely predictable in delivering features to the market, ensuring there are never any surprises in what they deliver, and ensuring that quality is top notch. &nbsp;Remember the executive/founder mentality in many of these situations is that they feel they must oversee the strategic vision and ensure execution aligns to their vision. If the product team builds trust at the execution level, then it will be that much easier to begin to take on more and more ownership and empowered decision making responsibilities from the executives/founder(s) as the company grows. #3 - Align organizationally to talent needs today and for the future - Use the organizational diagrams above to match the type of product talent you need for today, but also for the future. &nbsp;This could mean hiring a different role than Product Manager to begin with, just to ensure execution is handled properly/well. But, ensure that a proper hiring plan is put into place that aligns to where you want your product organization to evolve, and proactively work on budgeting allocations and approvals to that plan, as you work on #1 and #2 above. &nbsp;That way, as you begin to build trust, take on more empowered leadership with your product organization teams, and execute against very clear accountability measures that tie to corporate objectives, you will be able to more efficiently build the team in step with your organizational evolution.If you are a Product Manager who has a different vision in mind than where you find your product organization today, use the above as a guide to influence in your individual contributor role. &nbsp;Use those characteristics that make you a good PM, in particular strong communication skills, persuasiveness, and being data-driven, to influence organizational change. &nbsp;If you are a Product Organization leader, use the above practical advice to put the right organizational foundations in place, and manage your team’s execution to build trust in such a way that you can ultimately get to your vision of a stronger, more future-proof product organization that will align with where your organization is growing.

Your Product Organization?

"Leveraging Data and Customer Feedback to Quickly Iterate Upon Your Product"&nbsp;<figure id="figure-qc11y1i7ulsmni3sd"><iframe id="qc11y1i7ulsmni3sd" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xAbtb2lWHfc" class="w-full bg-gray-100 rounded-sm md:rounded-md lg:rounded-lg" style="aspect-ratio: 16/9" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowFullScreen="" data-url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAbtb2lWHfc" data-corners="default" data-fullWidth="false"></iframe></figure>

Denver Startup Week 2020

I was honored to have the opportunity to speak on "The Modern Product Manager" at the first event for Product School Boulder. &nbsp;It was great fun! Here's a <a data-mce-href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1J3wcCgvDYr-jZp0e-V31uPxPOJ_Ka9JShb1qpjDSwFk/edit?usp=sharing" href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1J3wcCgvDYr-jZp0e-V31uPxPOJ_Ka9JShb1qpjDSwFk/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">link to the presentation deck</a>.<figure id="figure-3swmt4o64rlxm9sa1w" class=""><img id="3swmt4o64rlxm9sa1w" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/8jbVuUVvHg09mQKc2vcqoCsma2f9n7PYkgHtpkOigdqkMIdzJSV4Ahk6KCvupu41.png" alt="modern product manager deck" title="modern product manager deck" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-sm md:rounded-md lg:rounded-lg" style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: undefined undefined;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/8jbVuUVvHg09mQKc2vcqoCsma2f9n7PYkgHtpkOigdqkMIdzJSV4Ahk6KCvupu41.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: undefined undefined;"></figure>

Product School Event

So you have a roadmap that is guiding your organization. &nbsp;Work is getting done, product is shipping to market, so, all is well right? &nbsp;Not necessarily. Here’s a litmus test: approach three people across your organization (one of the engineers, one of your stakeholders in marketing or sales, and one of your senior leaders or executives), and ask two questions:<blockquote>WHAT is the product development organization building over the next 3 months? &nbsp;​WHY is the product development organization building those things?</blockquote>If you get consistent answers across the three people, congratulations, you should celebrate! &nbsp;If not, you might take a step back and consider whether your roadmap is actually clearly articulated across your entire organization. ​ There are a ton of articles out there about the tools you can use as a Product Manager to manage your roadmap, and a ton of opinions out there about roadmapping best practices. &nbsp;This, hopefully, isn’t yet another one of those articles - and here’s why: I’ve worked in software for 18+ years for 8 companies of various stages of growth and across 5 distinct industries, and there isn’t one silver bullet tool and/or approach to roadmapping that would have worked across those 8 distinct companies. &nbsp; &nbsp;What I have learned over the years is that effective roadmaps and the processes surrounding them come down to what the team, the stakeholders, and the senior leaders find most clear. &nbsp;The people I worked with at these companies all had different collaborative definitions of what “clear” means, which had an influence on the processes and tools we used to manage and visualize our roadmaps.For some organizations I’ve worked for, roadmaps were managed directly in the agile software management systems we used, such as Jira/Confluence, Team Foundation Server, or Rally. &nbsp;For other organizations, we used multiple tiers of roadmaps: one granular roadmap for the teams building the software; one strategic roadmap for senior leadership and executive teams, and one thematic that we used externally for partners and customers. &nbsp;And, for the early stage startups I worked for... Google Sheets worked just fine for our teams of less than 15.Rather than choosing your roadmapping tools and processes from external recommendations and/or “industry best practices”, I recommend you focus on the unique individuals you work with and frame the question around clarity. &nbsp;Ask yourself, and your colleagues, “What do we need to do so that everyone across the organization will answer these two questions consistently: ‘WHAT are we building over the next 3 months and WHY are we building those things?’” &nbsp;I offer some advice to help you improve “clarity” with your roadmapping: repeat yourself a lot and do so through a variety of channels. &nbsp;Remember, humans make up your organization, and humans miss a lot of information on any given day, and/or they all have unique ways of hearing or processing things. &nbsp;So I’ve found that Product Managers must frequently repeat themselves when it comes to communicating the WHAT and WHY of the roadmap, across many different channels and/or venues. &nbsp;Visual roadmaps with strategic themes, Table-based roadmaps with granular details, team meetings or organizational presentations in which the roadmap is verbally shared, etc - these are all examples of how you can communicate your roadmap to your organization that maximizes the chance of getting through to the various people within that organization.So if you’re a Product Manager or a leader of Product people, consider just how clear your roadmap is for your organization, and whether celebration is in order, or a “rolling up of sleeves” is in order.

How Clear is Your Roadmap?

I’ve been bringing software to market for a long time. &nbsp;One of the things I love most about the tech industry and specifically the Product Manager role itself, is the constant way things evolve and morph over time. &nbsp;As a technology professional, it has been necessary to continually evolve and grow to remain relevant in such an exciting industry. I have learned a lot over the years about what works and what doesn’t as a Product Manager - today’s topic will focus on what I call the “Modern Product Manager.” &nbsp;So what does it mean to be a “Modern Product Manager”? &nbsp;Today’s Product Manager ensures the best product is built for the target customer, serving his/her organization by articulating the WHAT and WHY with clarity and energy. &nbsp;I think this is a good “elevator pitch” of what Product Managers do, no matter what industry or company stage. Yes, it’s true you can ask 10 people what it means to be a Product Manager and you’ll get 10 different answers, but I think the statement above boils it down to the essence of good Product Management. &nbsp;<blockquote>Today's Product Manager ensures the best product is built for the target customer, serving his/her organization by articulating the WHAT and WHY with clarity and energy.</blockquote>Product Managers are responsible for knowing their market and especially their customers - the better they know the customer, the more they maximize their chances of building the best product experience for them. &nbsp;There are, of course, other challenges PM’s face that can inhibit building the best possible experiences, but a PM cannot be effective if he/she doesn’t know the customer well enough to know what they need most. &nbsp;Product Managers need to communicate well - you’ve probably heard that generic statement before, right? &nbsp;What does it really mean, though? Everyone, no matter what role you are in, needs to communicate well in order to work well with others - that frankly is table stakes! &nbsp;But specific to Product Management, let’s dive deeper: in my experience, PM’s must be able to clearly articulate WHAT is being built (currently and upcoming), and WHY it’s so important to be building those things. &nbsp;The most effective PM’s know what level of detail to provide to his/her audience members, and they know how to articulate it with proper reasoning and energy to persuade the given audience WHY it’s so important to be building those things. &nbsp;Modern Product Managers “serve their organizations” - I explicitly use this wording because PM’s, really, don’t have authority across the teams they work with, nor the stakeholders they partner with. &nbsp;Effective Product Managers are good partners across various groups - one way I put it is they are in many cases, the “glue” that makes sure everyone is strategically aligned. &nbsp;&nbsp;Finally, I’ll dig into how Modern Product Managers can be more persuasive and articulate. &nbsp;You see this a lot out there - PM’s must be “data-driven.” I agree wholeheartedly, but I also know it’s hard to be as data-driven as one might want because of deadlines, execution issues, misaligned progress, etc. &nbsp;That said, at the end of the day, PM’s must be as data-driven in their approach to building product, as well as how they work collaboratively within the organization to ensure efficiency and quality. I’ll be writing a whole series on what I believe it means to truly have a “data-driven” product organization, it’s pretty meaty. &nbsp;At the end of the day, if you buy into the idea that the “Modern Product Manager” ensures the best product is built for the target customer, serving his/her organization by articulating the WHAT and WHY with clarity and energy - then I put forward 5 attributes that I think effective PM’s should exhibit that will best serve them as they fulfill the above core responsibilities.They have high emotional intelligence, or EQ. They are persuasive. They are adaptive. They are curious. They are data-driven.If you are a Product Manager looking to grow, consider how well you exhibit these attributes. &nbsp;If you are a manager of a product organization, think about your PM’s and their effectiveness within your organization and with stakeholders. &nbsp;And if you are an executive looking at how you can influence the speed and quality of product you bring to market, consider how well your Product Managers and Sr. Leadership are working together and leveraging the right data to make the best informed decisions.&nbsp;