Just Product Management Things - Issue #3
How to master influencing without authority, Tips to hire and manage a Head of Product, Tech know-how for PMs, Active vs Lazy Thinking, and more...
How to master influencing without authority
There are 3 key pillars to wielding influence - Substance, Style & Understanding Audience. Within these styles of communication plays a very important role. There are 6 key elements of making a compelling argument:
Framing: Craft a perspective that aligns with your desired outcome and nudge the audience in that direction
Social proof: Build on top of existing opinions that align with yours and present to the decision maker that multiple people believe in that idea
Inception: In extension to social proof, building on other ideas must follow with making others champion of your decision by making them owners of the desired direction
Goal Alignment: Elucidate how your desired decision aligns with the goals of the key decision maker
Citation: Use proven data from various sources such as A/B tests, published research, precedence (past decisions within the company), benchmarks, etc. to support your point of view
Narration: Bind all above into one tight, cohesive story. Also, as all executive communication, state your recommendation first and then support it with a story.
Read more on Sachin Rekhi’s website
Tips to hire and manage a Head of Product
Don’t hire a product leader until you have product-market fit
Set your expectations for the product lead based on the company’s growth phase
Your growth rate should determine the tenure of your product leader
Don’t hold out to hire someone who can do ‘all things product management’
It’s okay to hire different people to lead your product as the company grows
Own the fact that you own the product strategy
A product leader is not the same as a chief operating officer
Once the product function is established, you may no longer need a product lead
Smiling Curves
(Graphic from Stratechery.com)
A smiling curve is an illustration of value-adding potentials of different components of the value chain in an IT-related manufacturing industry. According to Stan Shih (founder of Acer computers), in the personal computer industry, both ends of the value chain command higher values added to the product than the middle part of the value chain (manufacturing). If this phenomenon is presented in a graph with a Y-axis for value-added and an X-axis for value chain (stage of production), the resulting curve appears like a “smile”.
Read Gaming the Smiling Curve from Stratechery (where I first read about the concept)
The anti-framework for new product managers
Instead of another framework, Angela Blake shares some lessons that might come handy for new Product Managers:
Don’t unlearn completely: If you are moving from a non-product role to product, don’t abandon your learnings, processes, etc. from your previous roles; instead build on them. Especially, spend time on consuming documentation, using the product and seeking amply clarifications
Build collaboration, before credibility: Collaboration helps you both - learn and be a part of the ‘team’. Instead of trying to project credibility through information, do it through collaboration skills such as seeking input from others, seeking feedback, helping others with feedback / views, etc.
Find alternative data sources: All the data isn’t always available, neither should lack of data stop you. Instead, look for alternative sources such as secondary research, benchmarks, guesstimates, etc.
Manage your failure anxiety: Doing things is a good way of reducing anxiety. So pick simple tasks / low hanging fruits, learn on the side, go through your own past work, share your learning journey
How much tech knowledge is required for being a good PM
This is something I had written a while back and quite a few people had found it useful then and over the period (1000+ reads). It essentially covers the following ideas:
Different companies, different flavors; from good to know to must know
What kind of questions can one expect in a tech round of PM interviews?
What do they really want to gauge?
What should I study if I am a non-Comp Sci person entering into the PM role?
You may also try Deepak Singh’s book - Tech Simplified
Other interesting reads:
Career Moats 101 (Dense, valuable essay)
Active vs Lazy Thinking (Thought provoking piece)
The IC’s Guide to Driving Career Conversations — 25 Tips for Purposeful Career Planning
I am doing a thing:
On 6th Feb (5 PM IST), I am talking at Scaler’s Tech Tale series, about how large sale events manage the last (and perhaps the most complex) leg of online shopping - PAYMENTS. Join here.
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