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Product is Hard - Marty Cagan

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Anthony Marter
Anthony Marter

Marty talks about the hard parts of Product Management - People, Process, Product and Culture. For more detail about the talk, see our Meetup page here: https://www.meetup.com/ProductTank-Auckland/events/248013722/ Want to sharpen your Product Management Skills and network with awesome people from the Auckland Product Management Community? Then join us at ProductTank Auckland: https://www.meetup.com/ProductTank-Auckland/

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Product is Hard An Open Discussion of Difficult Product Topics 1 Marty Cagan, SVPG About Me 2 The Silicon Valley Product Group was created to share senior level experience and best practices with technology companies
People Topics 3 People Topics 4 • As a PM, what do I actually get to decide? • PM vs. Product Team • PM vs. VP Product • PM vs. Stakeholders • PM vs. CEO
People Topics 5 • I’m in meetings all day long and finding no time to work. Four Hour Per Day Reality People Topics 6 • We can’t find enough engineers or designers locally. • Remote Employees • Contractors • Agencies
People Topics 7 • We want diversity on our teams, but we get so few resumes. • Won’t happen on it’s own. • The talent is out there. • Start early. Process Topics 8
Process Topics 9 • Why haven’t I seen the term “Dual-Track” much? Objectives Discovery Delivery Process Topics 10 Also Known As: • Build The Right Product vs. Build The Product Right • Fake It Before You Make It • Move Fast and Don’t Break Things • Build Things That Don’t Scale then Build Things That Do Scale • Customer Development vs. Product Development • Design Sprints vs. Delivery Sprints • Continuous Discovery and Continuous Delivery
Process Topics 11 • My engineers think Dual-Track is really just Waterfall. What really defines Waterfall? • Requirements drives design which drives code • Result is output • All risk is at the end Process Topics 12 1. Tackle Risks Up Front 2. Define Collaboratively 3. Outcome not Output Objectives Discovery Delivery
Process Topics 13 • Why isn’t conventional (aka “Single Track”) Agile sufficient? Process Topics 14 Objective • Value • Usability • Feasibility • Viability • Scalability • Reliability • Performance • Maintainability Discovery Delivery
Process Topics 15 • My engineers just want to build. • They should be building ~90% of the time • Don’t shelter them from the ugly • Even 15 minutes a day of updating learnings Process Topics 16 • We’re in a regulated industry; how can we do experiments? • Leverage opt-in techniques • Lower expectations on level of confidence • Lean more on qualitative learning
Product Topics 17 Product Topics 18 • Our execs are addicted to roadmaps. • Outcome-based Roadmaps
Product Topics 19 • Jared Spool says everyone is a designer. WTF? "Anyone who influences what the design becomes is the designer. This includes developers, PMs, even corporate legal. All are the designers." - @jmspool on Twitter, March 1, 2017 • Requirements vs. Constraints Product Topics 20 Constraints come from everywhere: • legal • pricing strategies • competitive landscape • sales channel capabilities • government compliance • privacy laws • marketing strategies / brand promise • financial budgets • security / data protection • partnership contracts • time to market considerations
Product Topics 21 • Our technical debt has overwhelmed us. • Needs to be treated as a business continuity issue • Dial up engineering capacity and down product and design • Pick your battles Product Topics 22 • If OKR’s are so great, why are they so painful? • It’s really a cultural change • It’s about truly empowering teams • It brings to the surface hidden issues and conflicts
Culture Topics 23 Culture Topics 24 • Our culture is getting more risk-averse as we grow. • Realize there’s much more to lose • CEO of the Product concept much more important • Business Viability risks become more serious
Culture Topics 25 • My engineers just aren’t excited about what we need to do. • Bring them to see users and customers in person • Share the full business context • Encourage them to invent and not just build Culture Topics 26 • My CEO tells me what to build and to just “trust him.” • Be smart and pick your battles • Do your homework • Be transparent and generous with your learnings • Use prototypes and data
Culture Topics 27 • Is it even possible to really change culture? • Product culture vs. company culture • Culture lives in middle management • Be patient but persistent Learning More: 28 cagan@svpg.com www.svpg.com/articles www.svpg.com Subscribe to the free newsletter Read the articles Continue the dialog Read the book:

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Product is Hard - Marty Cagan

  • 1. Product is Hard An Open Discussion of Difficult Product Topics 1 Marty Cagan, SVPG About Me 2 The Silicon Valley Product Group was created to share senior level experience and best practices with technology companies
  • 2. People Topics 3 People Topics 4 • As a PM, what do I actually get to decide? • PM vs. Product Team • PM vs. VP Product • PM vs. Stakeholders • PM vs. CEO
  • 3. People Topics 5 • I’m in meetings all day long and finding no time to work. Four Hour Per Day Reality People Topics 6 • We can’t find enough engineers or designers locally. • Remote Employees • Contractors • Agencies
  • 4. People Topics 7 • We want diversity on our teams, but we get so few resumes. • Won’t happen on it’s own. • The talent is out there. • Start early. Process Topics 8
  • 5. Process Topics 9 • Why haven’t I seen the term “Dual-Track” much? Objectives Discovery Delivery Process Topics 10 Also Known As: • Build The Right Product vs. Build The Product Right • Fake It Before You Make It • Move Fast and Don’t Break Things • Build Things That Don’t Scale then Build Things That Do Scale • Customer Development vs. Product Development • Design Sprints vs. Delivery Sprints • Continuous Discovery and Continuous Delivery
  • 6. Process Topics 11 • My engineers think Dual-Track is really just Waterfall. What really defines Waterfall? • Requirements drives design which drives code • Result is output • All risk is at the end Process Topics 12 1. Tackle Risks Up Front 2. Define Collaboratively 3. Outcome not Output Objectives Discovery Delivery
  • 7. Process Topics 13 • Why isn’t conventional (aka “Single Track”) Agile sufficient? Process Topics 14 Objective • Value • Usability • Feasibility • Viability • Scalability • Reliability • Performance • Maintainability Discovery Delivery
  • 8. Process Topics 15 • My engineers just want to build. • They should be building ~90% of the time • Don’t shelter them from the ugly • Even 15 minutes a day of updating learnings Process Topics 16 • We’re in a regulated industry; how can we do experiments? • Leverage opt-in techniques • Lower expectations on level of confidence • Lean more on qualitative learning
  • 9. Product Topics 17 Product Topics 18 • Our execs are addicted to roadmaps. • Outcome-based Roadmaps
  • 10. Product Topics 19 • Jared Spool says everyone is a designer. WTF? "Anyone who influences what the design becomes is the designer. This includes developers, PMs, even corporate legal. All are the designers." - @jmspool on Twitter, March 1, 2017 • Requirements vs. Constraints Product Topics 20 Constraints come from everywhere: • legal • pricing strategies • competitive landscape • sales channel capabilities • government compliance • privacy laws • marketing strategies / brand promise • financial budgets • security / data protection • partnership contracts • time to market considerations
  • 11. Product Topics 21 • Our technical debt has overwhelmed us. • Needs to be treated as a business continuity issue • Dial up engineering capacity and down product and design • Pick your battles Product Topics 22 • If OKR’s are so great, why are they so painful? • It’s really a cultural change • It’s about truly empowering teams • It brings to the surface hidden issues and conflicts
  • 12. Culture Topics 23 Culture Topics 24 • Our culture is getting more risk-averse as we grow. • Realize there’s much more to lose • CEO of the Product concept much more important • Business Viability risks become more serious
  • 13. Culture Topics 25 • My engineers just aren’t excited about what we need to do. • Bring them to see users and customers in person • Share the full business context • Encourage them to invent and not just build Culture Topics 26 • My CEO tells me what to build and to just “trust him.” • Be smart and pick your battles • Do your homework • Be transparent and generous with your learnings • Use prototypes and data
  • 14. Culture Topics 27 • Is it even possible to really change culture? • Product culture vs. company culture • Culture lives in middle management • Be patient but persistent Learning More: 28 cagan@svpg.com www.svpg.com/articles www.svpg.com Subscribe to the free newsletter Read the articles Continue the dialog Read the book: