What's the best way to find and keep top product development talent?

As a C Suite executive, the first ask is to define the vision of the product. What's the value proposition, what's the customer benefits, what's in it for us? - These are a few questions that must be clear in the C executive's mind. This must be clearly cascaded to all the organization members, so they are able to understand the vision and work collaboratively. Also, it must be clear that we don't get excited with a technology and create a product just to showcase the use case. Keep in mind that "simple" solutions bring revenue than expensive tech! Once this vision is registered, these team members generally act as ambassadors to hire & retain talent. Setting up the culture is more important than anything else.

Product development requires and actually encourages creative thinking. A clear vision and values serve as the anchors while a product development talent explores outside of the box.

Hiring for fit is incredibly important. When my current team has an open product manager spot, each final round candidate gets scheduled for a 45 minute lunch with the core members of the team. This allows us to dig into their personality, figure out how they would handle tough situations, and ultimately determine if they fit the team culture. Surprisingly, we always seem to find out the most useful information during this lunch.

System engineering talent is the way to go! We must have people who are able to look at end-end - a 360degree purview rather than shortsighted bandaid approaches! If people are flexible with the right attitude and eagerness to learn, then past baggage can be discounted during hiring process! These are potential people who can deliver. Traditional, multi-round interviews must be scrapped and new approaches of identifying talent with the right attitude must be implemented!

A product development talent is valued based on his creativity and ingenuity. His experience and achievement could provide a glimpse of his potential in these areas. In the absence of these, interview questions focusing on actual challenges can help assess a talent’s potential in product development.

As the CEO of a small tech company, I have seen that 99% of keeping product developers is the same as retaining any other employees. One aspect of this is investing in learning and development, as stated above. But even more important is the posture behind that investment. Good companies invest in learning and development, but only insofar as it benefits the company. Great companies invest in learning and development with a vision to equip their people for success in all future endeavors, whether they stay with the company or not. A healthy culture, in which product developers are seen, valued, and tasked according to their unique gifting, is a culture that will produce less turnover and more engaged employees.

Challenges that keep product development talents on their toes contribute to their engagement. Most employees who pursue this track finds fulfillment in creating something new or improving something existing. Therefore, it is important that product development talents continue to learn and grow in their field of expertise.

Continuous learning, creating a knowledge / best practice sharing forums, creating a library of solutions - are some aspects that will ensure that people are motivated and make them learn and adapt! Gen Z talents are tech hungry and continuously rotating them with newer projects based on new technologies will help them satisfy their tech craving!

One thing I have always found helpful is not to let your team be managed by yourself. Instead, let them manage themselves and help them feel the empowerment and confidence.

People like when they are made accountable! It's proven that people with more accountability deliver better. Brooding over the shoulder and micromanagement will not work! Appreciation & recognition when deliveries happen on time or during effective customer escalations management, will do wonders! The people who are accountable and responsible must be mentored continuously, so that they are confident of being backed! Empowerment is just not speaking in meetings, all stakeholders must be communicated of who is accountable and responsible - this is effective empowerment.

DEI - Diversity, Equality & Inclusion cannot be just a HR jargon and must be pushed into the organization's DNA. This will create a healthy competitive environment without politics and will drive the creativity and innovation for the organization. It helps the employee and the employer!

Navigating Food Industry Product Development as a team member and manager, I've learned key retention strategies. Start with Purpose—align PD with business goals and individual aspirations. Honor team preferences, celebrate launches, and instill guiding principles. Care for your team's safety to foster growth. Retaining PD talent isn't just about strategies—it's cultivating a purpose-driven, celebratory, and supportive culture for innovation.

Finding and retaining talent is all about providing the correct incentives for people. Give A-players a lot of ownership and give them equity in the company. More often than not, this results in high engagement and people want to stick around, not jump ship.

Creating future leaders with consistent mentoring, allowing them to take decisions thereby grow, will ensure that the talent pool created is retained!

Clarity in departmental strategies is key, particularly in Product Development. Beyond the products themselves, it's crucial to foster a secure team environment and outline the department's future. I've found success in focusing on 3 pillars: - Execution/Operational Excellence in PD. - X-Collaboration/Process in PD - Team Development as whole team capability building Communicating these strategies effectively to the organization is vital for alignment and transparency. Implementing these methods in the past led to engaged, motivated teams and attracted top talent, contributing significantly to our Product Development's success especially by "make it happen" mindset.