For all we celebrate disruption, it can be, well, disruptive! Inside a business, nobody wants big lurches or major surprises. As a discipline, software engineering smoothed out releases through continuous delivery, but we on the business side still lurch in our strategy and choke on large budget chunks. I’ll use examples from government software that show exactly the wrong context for good product decisions. Within this, though, I’ll also show good examples of shortening feedback loops and product manager as “regulator” between fast-moving product teams and old-school leadership and funding models. It will leave you with an image of what good looks like and how you can play your part in getting your org there.

1. Feed Success &
Starve Failure:
Continuous Product
Management
Elizabeth Ayer
@ElizAyerINDUSTRY 2019

2. My favorite senior PM
interview question:

3. ?
Tell me about
something you built
that you really
shouldn’t have.

4. “I have never made
a bad decision
because I’m such a
great PM”

5. Translation
“I’ve never had real
responsibility”
or
“I never stuck around to see what
happened with my crummy
decisions.”

6. “I had responsibility,
I was wrong, and I
learned.”

7. The world of Product
is changing
!

8. “I’ve failed small
and corrected, and
it’s saved me a lot of
big failures.”

9. ∞
Continuous product
management

10. … the opposite of Continuous
Product Management
Rigid Up-front
Planning

11. 1800 F St

12. 1800 F St

14. 13% of large
government
software projects
are successful.
Source: State Software
Budgeting Handbook

15. The other 87%...

16. Photo by State Farm
https://www.flickr.com/photos/statefarm/19976901011/
We’re driving instructors for
government product managers

17. 18F coaches people
to solve big problems
in small pieces
■■■■■■
■■■■
■■
■

18. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZK_fnS62Lk&t=520

19. Lagged feedback
makes you oversteer؏

20. 1/ How do you steer
your product smoothly?
Key struggles

21. 2/ How can I encourage
senior leadership to a
continuous mindset?
Key struggles

22. Continuous Delivery
enables fast feedback

23. https://www.continuousdelivery.com/principles/

24. Dev Team Local env ProductIntegration

25. Dev Team ProductIntegration

26. What can I change?

27. Practices
What can I change?
Culture

28. First let’s talk about
practices

30. https://svpg.com/continuous-discovery/
User Research
Features
Prioritization
Roadmap
Measuring Results

32. User Research
Features
Prioritization
Roadmap
Measuring Results
https://amplitude.com/blog/focus-product-team-on-impact

33. “Fire bullets, then
cannonballs”
-Jim Collins, Good to Great

34. Feed success,
starve failure

35. https://blackboxofpm.com/ruthless-prioritization-e4256e3520a9
User Research
Features
Prioritization
Roadmap
Measuring Results

36. https://www.slideshare.net/marklittlewood/roadmaps-relaunch
ed-bruce-mccarthy-workshop-bos-boston-2018-tesla
User Research
Features
Prioritization
Roadmap
Measuring Results

37. https://www.staceybarr.com/measure-up/11-important-memes
-of-performance-measurement/
User Research
Features
Prioritization
Roadmap
Measuring Results

38. Now let’s talk about
culture

39. Product people
consistently
underestimate their
impact on culture⇨

40. Embarrassing storytime...

42. “They just want us to
ship s***”?*&!

44. Product
Team
Local env ProductIntegration

45. 1/ Outcome focus
2/ Shared responsibility
3/ Empowerment
4/ Effectiveness

46. 2/ How can I encourage
senior leadership to a
continuous mindset?
Key struggles

47. https://www.continuousdelivery.com/principles/

48. Beyond Budgeting - A High-hanging Fruit
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221256711500831X

49. The word ‘budgeting’ is not used in its
narrow sense of planning and control,
but as a generic term for the traditional
command and control management
model (with the annual budget
process at its core).
https://bbrt.org/what-is-beyond-budgeting/

52. This is how they see us

53. Change travels at the speed of trust.
— Steven Covey (?) via @DanHarley3

54. As a leader, I need to know critical
information so that I can avoid
getting caught off guard.

55. As a leader, I need to know
options so that I can guide
decisions based on context only
I have.

56. When you’re in a position
to change things….

57. Safe travels
Continuous Product Management
Elizabeth Ayer
@ElizAyerINDUSTRY 2019