General Product Management
What is product management anyway?
You can google "what is a product manager" and get hundreds of responses - most referring to "building products and solutions" and/or "setting product strategy and roadmaps." If you weren't in product or didn't work directly with a product manager, would these definitions make any ounce of sense to you? Very few are in plain language or easy-to-understand for the average person, but at least most adults have some frame of reference whereby they could make some educated guesses.
How would you explain your job if you assumed that no one had a frame of reference? (Think of it like the game "Taboo" - you can't use the words "product" "strategy" "roadmap") How would you explain it to a child?
Watch the video below for a quick snack about what my kid thinks about product management:
This isn't my first bike rodeo
"What exactly is a bike rodeo?" you may ask. A bike rodeo is an event that helps teach kids about bike safety and road etiquette through a closed loop bike obstacle course with components that emulate real life situations.
When is product management like a bike rodeo?
Roundabouts = iterative development. It can be slow and daunting to start, but once you start and keep doing it, the faster you can go.
4-way stops = solution alternatives. Don't get caught in analysis paralysis of your options: any choice is forward progress.
Hand signals = stakeholder communication. Be transparent and true to your intent so you can avoid confusion and accidents.
Learn more about Bike Rodeos from Safe Kids Worldwide.
Watch the video below for a quick snack about the parallels between bike rodeos and product management:
When BAU feels like a bummer
I've often found myself in situations where my team was in a "must do" situation for business as usual (BAU) work. With one team I had inherited, the backlog involved so many maintenance needs that I was mandated to reprioritize the backlog to fill the majority of our sprints with BAU tickets. This can be incredibly demoralizing for a product team (we all sign up for this to develop new products, right?).
What I've learned in these situations is that your team takes a cue from you. If you treat it like a bummer, then it is a bummer. One tactic I've employed is to tie the BAU work to business objectives, which helps build team momentum and morale by tangibly demonstrating how we're impacting business outcomes.
Watch the video below for a quick snack about what I learned from theater about adopting a new outlook on BAU work:
Why autonomy matters
If you've read any articles about best practices in building product teams "autonomous" is one of the primary characteristics of a healthy product team. Why autonomous product teams? In theory, autonomous teams aren't constrained by dependencies and can therefore move more quickly. This means that the team must be constructed in a way that includes the necessary cross-functional expertise and skills on the team in order to remove the need for cross-functional dependencies. Not only does autonomy allow teams to move faster, but it can also be motivating to teams when they aren't restricted by bureaucratic red tape or need to beg-borrow-and-steal for resources in order to make progress.
Watch the video below for a quick snack about what I learned about autonomy from my daughter: