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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;