From talk to CTO School in NYC - what is good product management - how engineering can be a good partner to product (and how to structure product leadership) - how to hire

1. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
For CTO School Meetup
Nov 10 2014
Giff Constable
www.neo.com

2. WHO AM I?
6 startups over the years
currently CEO of Neo Innovation
co-organizer of Lean Lessons Learned meetup
author of Talking to Humans

3. I went looking for stories on PM-Engineering
collaboration, and got horror stories

4. I also discovered some jokes

5. Q. what’s the best way to pay a product manager?
A. American Express. They love taking credit for
things.
Source: The Cooper Review

6. We know what good engineering looks like.
We’ve got a more advanced understanding now as
to what good design looks like.
But what about product management?

7. What is a good product manager?
How to be a great partner to them?
Appendix: How to hire for them?

8. 1. WHAT MAKES A GOOD PRODUCT
MANAGER

9. Product managers are not “one size fits all”

10. Process
Creative
Vision
Engineering
Skills
Communication
& Empathy
Business Design Skills
Skills
Domain
Expertise

11. “You need to hire PMs for attitude over aptitude”
- Satya Patel
http://venturegeneratedcontent.com/2014/10/30/what-makes-a-great-product-manager/

12. 12 attitude traits of a good product manager

13. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER
Leads and serves at the same time

14. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER
Thinks managing people means telling them what
to do and how to do it (aka “requirements”)

15. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER
Has great product ideas, but spends as much time
fostering the creativity of the team

16. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER
Thinks their ideas (or their boss’ ideas) are God’s
gift

17. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER
Can balance a healthy obsession with data and
experiment-driven development, along with a
healthy respect for vision, risk and intuition

18. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER
Pegs either end of the spectrum, with total worship
or total rejection of metrics

19. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER
Deeply understands the customer’s needs and
behavior through direct contact, not indirect
research

20. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER
Hides behind the sales team, the customer support
team, the Gartner Group reports

21. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER
Understands the power of focus and simplicity

22. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER
Thinks more features are always better

23. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER
Is a master at managing everyone’s expectations
while making people feel listened to and respected

24. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER
Forgets that their constituency is people above,
below, across and even outside the company

25. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER
Understands tech debt − they might ask for it, but
they will fight to pay it down later

26. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER
Thinks the engineers just need to work harder
because customer-facing features are all that
matter

27. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER
Knows when an outcome is necessary, and
efficiently iterates until it is accomplished
Knows when a deadline is necessary, and
ruthlessly manages scope
Knows when a feature output is necessary, and
effectively manages timing

28. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER
Can’t even think about outcomes − can only think
about the next feature to ship
Promises fixed scope against fixed deadlines
Is not pragmatic enough to do what needs being
done, or even understand it

29. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER
Feels responsible for how the product is bought,
sold, and marketed

30. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER
Thinks their job stops once the feature is shipped

31. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER
Takes the time to deeply understand the production
process across all functions

32. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER
Thinks everything takes a weekend, because they
don’t have a clue

33. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER
Can come from any discipline, but knows their job
is to balance across all disciplines now

34. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER
Can’t stop meddling in the area they know best,
and favors it when compromise is needed

35. GOOD PRODUCT MANAGER
SHIPS

36. BAD PRODUCT MANAGER
BLAMES

37. I view these traits as non-negotiable
Hire for it and fire for it

38. see a detailed skills matrix at
careers.neo.com

39. 2. HOW TO BE A GREAT PARTNER TO
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT?

40. Think strategically about the pressures on the
business, not just the pressures on engineering

41. Be a creative partner fascinated by customer
needs and willing to gather direct research on
those needs

42. Inspire your engineers to be creative partners, not
just in engineering problems, but product
problems

43. Don’t sandbag

44. Be willing to accept tech debt, but don’t hesitate to
challenge it

45. On tech debt: include infrastructure-related KPIs
in your heartbeat report on key metrics
Early stage: refactor as you can, plan for periodic
infrastructure-focused iterations, and don’t be
afraid to call an audible
Later stage: refactor as you can, and create a
rotating team that is dedicated to infrastructure

46. Engineering, product and design all need to report
into the CEO − create a trio of equal partners

47. Create a team working agreement for leadership,
not just the cross-functional teams

48. PM owns the outcomes and priorities
Design owns the user experience, voice and visual
identity
Engineering owns how something is built
But everyone is a creative partner and gets a say

49. A product business requires constant compromise
because quality is a relative thing
Sometimes you will deeply disagree with a
decision
Build appeals to the CEO, who makes the final call,
into your team agreement so that you have a
transparent process not politics

50. Do retros together to spot problems early

51. If you are in the same location, the heads of all
three groups should sit together, just as your
cross-functional teams should sit together

52. Be generous − depending on priorities, product,
design and engineering will have different times in
the driver’s seat

53. If there isn’t mutual respect and trust, someone
has to go. Period.

54. THANK YOU
@giffco
giff@neo.com
www.neo.com
www.giffconstable.com

55. APPENDIX: HOW CAN YOU INTERVIEW
FOR A GOOD PM?

56. 1. Know what you are looking for
2. Do a traditional interview on experiences, goals,
values, failures, favorite new product, current
reading list, etc
3. PAIR

57. Give them a gnarly product problem you are
currently working on and see if they can solve it

58. Ask them to sketch out a single-screen application
and then write every single user story behind that
application
Example: a single-screen loyalty-program app for an airline

59. Give them a startup idea and ask how one could
validate if it was a good idea before building it

60. Give them an interesting product idea, and ask
how one would go about best acquiring
customers?

61. Give them a problem that has been bugging you,
and ask how one could solve it with a new startup?

62. Give them a true, complex prioritization debate
your team is having and ask them whether
outcome, deadline, or output is most important
Note: their answer here is less important than their questions

63. You know how non-technical friends ask you to
interview their CTO candidate?
Get a great PM to interview your VP of Product
candidate