PITA 047
Topic 1: How do you tell, from the outside, whether a company has good product process/discipline/philosophy?
I ask about a hard decision they made, and how they made it - looking for courage. Did they make the harder decision, or the short, quick wins?
Tell me about a time when an external customer request disrupted your strategy… When you had to pause your team’s plan to accommodate something external… Diagnoses what tradeoff decisions they make and how they make them
How do you define success for this role? What’s better? - helps me diagnose expectations and any mis-alignment
How does your roadmap get developed? Drill into detail.
Do they ship relevant, useful things?
Topic 2: Kanban Boards for Product Management work, pros & cons?
Trying to make measurable how I spend my time - and ensure that I’m making progress, especially when I feel blocked
Alternatives to using my calendar
Depends on what you’re good at
Weekly, track the top 3 things you spent time on and sense-check - are you on track?
Now/Next/Later can be useful
Topic 3: What's stopping you/your team from being more successful?
Stakeholder management - communication so that they get the info they need in a way that works for them, while still having the time to ship
Alignment around how we work - vision for the product set, so teams go off in their own directions, no coherent long-term vision
Culture - top-down, autocratic. Leads to empowerment issues
Lack of clear strategy
Over-delegated to people who needed a lot more guidance
Optimising my sales funnel
Changing the environment is key
Mark Dalgarno ‘s blogs are great on this topic
Topic 4: Making the transition from 'doing' product to a more strategic/Head of role, when a company doesn't know how to do that…
Melissa Perri’s chart on how to spend your time at different levels:
Move from counting in weeks to counting in quarters
High Output Management by Andy Grove
What problem am I solving? Who is my main stakeholder and what am I solving for them?
Multipliers, by Liz Wiseman - making sure you’re supporting the people on your team, so that they can succeed
Develop your coaching skills - and knowing when to coach & when to mentor
You’re only as strong as the weakest person on your team -
