This is the Engineering Culture Podcast, from the people behind InfoQ.com and the QCon conferences.
In this podcast, Shane Hastie, InfoQ Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, talks to Melissa Perri, a UX and Product Management expert and founder of Produx Labs.
Key Takeaways
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Put value first – it’s not about building more stuff but making sure we build the right thing for the right people
- Product ownership is about optimising value for the organisation
- Managers need to understand their role in product management
- Identify outcomes and define pirate metrics for success
- Empower teams to achieve the outcomes, not deliver features
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0m:54s Launching an online Product Management school
1m:10s Product Ownership is more than writing user stories
1m:35s Product Ownership includes understanding strategy, prioritization, using experiments to learn about product needs
2m:15s Start with proper education of product owners
2m:40s The importance of understanding the business needs, not just what people are asking for
2m:45s Relating needs back to business goals and outcomes
2m:52s Don’t just “gather requirements” without talking to real users of the product or service
3m:05s Management team whims are not product needs; management needs to let the product owners be OWNERS of the product
3m:15s “Mini CEO” is a dumb concept - product owners don’t have CEO level authority, so calling them this sets unrealistic expectations
3m:32s Management often wants product owners to be decision makers, but don’t support them by relinquishing authority to the product owner
3m:45s Management should communicate the metrics and goals to the product owner and let them work with the delivery team(s) to figure out how to achieve them
4m:20s Product owners told to make decisions but not actually empowered to do so
4m:35s Focus on training the managers on what they need to do to effectively support product ownership and how to communicate clear boundaries and goals
5m:20s A product strategy is not a plan
5m:55s Common approach is for managers to define the features and roadmap instead of identifying and communicating the goals, and trust the teams to figure out the best way to achieve the goals
6m:20s This is an emergent strategy supported by a system of metrics rather than a list of things to build
7m:10s This is a big shift in thinking and approach for many organizations. It is how many successful organizations do work
7m:20s The Toyota Kata improvement approach is founded in a system of metrics. A vision, a challenge and target conditions are set and the teams empowered and supported to achieve the outcomes
8m:00s This continuous improvement approach is one of the foundations for Toyota’s success, and is an approach we should be using
8m:25s Teams and team members need to be supported to work in this way
8m:35s Some people just want to follow a plan; there is a place for them but it may not be in the product ownership space
8m:55s Great product owners are curious, they go out and find out what is the best solution, not just a solution but the very best one to meet users’ needs
9m:10s This only works if management has created a safe environment; it’s OK to learn, OK to experiment and OK to make mistakes (with a limited impact area)
9m:35s When people have a safe space they are open to experimentation and find new and innovative ways of doing things
9m:55s “Release this feature by the end of the year” is not a valid goal
10m:15s Good goals help you further the business and fall into different categories. Use Pirate Metrics which look at the customer lifecycle of engagement with your product.
10m:25s The AARRR Metrics – Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue, Referral
11m:05s This changes the conversation about success by linking the metrics to organization outcomes
11m:25s The importance of making the outcomes visible across the organisation, which is a challenge in some large and complex companies. Product owners and teams need to understand the goals of the line of business area they are working in
11m:50s In many organizations the metrics are not transparent, which makes it hard for teams to align around them
12m:10s We can help to overcome this lack of visibility by training managers to be more effective communicators and how to support their teams
12m:35s In the complex software world no single person can have all the ideas, leverage the knowledge and wisdom of your teams
12m:55s This is most often a symptom of not giving managers the knowledge and support they need to be able to effectively lead
13m:20s Managers are often promoted into their role because they were good at doing the work, but they are not given training on how to manage and lead people- this can be overwhelming and causes a major problem for many organizations
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