How To Succeed In Product Management | Jeffrey Shulman, Red Russak & Soumeya Benghanem
91: Using Design to Drive Conversations
Wed Jul 19 2023Description
The episode covers various aspects of product management, including collaboration between product managers and designers, aligning stakeholders, driving customer-centricity, maintaining brand identity, effective collaboration in design, and prioritizing customer needs. It emphasizes the importance of empathy for customers' pain points, involving cross-functional partners in decision-making, and using design-driven leadership to inspire and align stakeholders. The episode also discusses the role of storytelling, regular meetings, and data-driven decision-making in fostering collaboration.
Insights
Collaboration is crucial in product management
Effective collaboration between product managers, designers, and cross-functional partners is necessary for creating compelling and innovative product experiences. Involving researchers helps address unknowns and gather customer feedback through usability studies or prototypes.
Design-driven leadership inspires stakeholders
Design can help align with stakeholders and inspire them by putting designs in front of customers to transform their perception from experiencing a problem to envisioning a new world. Kickoff meetings at the beginning of the year can align cross-functional partners on the roadmap.
Customer-centricity drives success
Bringing cross-functional partners into customer meetings helps convey the customer's pain points and influence roadmap decisions. Regular one-on-one meetings between managers and team members ensure that stories continue to travel even when not in the room.
Maintaining brand identity is important
Maintaining identity throughout the life of a product or company is crucial. Starting presentations with the core value of the organization aligns with personal values and attracts like-minded employees who align with the organization's core value.
Effective collaboration in design
Best designers collaborate effectively by being curious and proactive in seeking information. Regular meetings where designers present their work and explain their decisions help foster collaboration.
Prioritizing customer needs leads to success
When deciding what features to include, focus on core value and customer pain points. Usability testing and feedback from customers are crucial before building a feature.
Chapters
- Product Management Center at the University of Washington
- Using Design to Drive Conversations in Product Management
- Aligning Stakeholders and Inspiring with Design-Driven Leadership
- Building Features and Maintaining Brand Identity
- Building Relationships and Driving Customer-Centricity
- Maintaining Product and Company Identity
- Effective Collaboration and Decision-Making in Design
- Prioritizing Customer Needs and Building for the Future
Product Management Center at the University of Washington
00:00 - 06:58
- A global hub for knowledge, community, and impact
- Broadens access to information about product management and how to succeed
Using Design to Drive Conversations in Product Management
06:37 - 12:53
- Collaboration between product managers and UX/UI designers is crucial
- Design helps understand customer journeys and solve their problems
- Successful example involves working closely with designers, content designers, and tech leads to iterate on wireframes
- Involving researchers helps address unknowns and gather customer feedback through usability studies or prototypes
- Putting designs in front of customers transforms their perception from experiencing a problem to envisioning a new world
- Effective collaboration with various teams like risk, compliance, policy, legal, and infosec is necessary for large organizations
Aligning Stakeholders and Inspiring with Design-Driven Leadership
12:26 - 19:08
- Design can help align with stakeholders and inspire them
- Empathy for customers' pain points is crucial in driving solutions
- Bringing cross-functional partners into customer meetings helps convey the customer's pain points and influence roadmap decisions
- Design prototypes and wireframes make stories travel and galvanize the organization around a product
- Influencing without authority is important in implementing design-driven leadership
- Kickoff meetings at the beginning of the year can align cross-functional partners on the roadmap
- Aligning KPIs with cross-functional partners fosters collaboration and understanding
- The three-in-a-box model (product, design, tech lead) ensures the voice of the customer is always heard in decision-making
- Having all three roles present in customer interviews allows for different perspectives on product usage
- Regular one-on-one meetings between managers and team members ensure that stories continue to travel even when not in the room
Building Features and Maintaining Brand Identity
18:46 - 25:58
- Product leaders should involve design and tech leads in decision-making for building features
- Meeting with sales leads helps understand competitors' features, pricing, and differentiation opportunities
- Competitive analysis from marketing provides insights for product development
- Understanding why customers choose or reject a feature informs decision-making
- Design-driven leadership will continue to be important for intuitive and seamless user experiences
- Easy-to-use products that tap into users' emotions are crucial for customer loyalty
- Collaborating with designers is essential for solving problems and creating great experiences
- In B2B organizations, PMs can foster relationships with sales leaders to have customer conversations and build delightful products
Building Relationships and Driving Customer-Centricity
25:36 - 32:28
- When starting a new job, build relationships with technical support lead and client success teams
- Technical support lead provides insights into customer problems and introduces to power users
- Partnering with client success teams allows joining them on customer visits and understanding their needs
- Listening to sales calls and observing how they pitch the product helps understand customers
- Bringing cookies for the whole office when visiting a customer creates goodwill
- Creating a customer advisory board requires access to customers, obtained through the technical support lead or recommendations
- Driving a cultural shift towards customer-centricity requires leaders to regularly show how they listen to customers
- Salespeople should share leads with product managers who are genuinely interested in providing value to customers
- Identifying ideal customer profiles is important for customer interviews
Maintaining Product and Company Identity
32:04 - 39:06
- Maintaining identity throughout the life of a product or company is important
- Being hands-on as a company grows may not always be feasible
- Learning from companies like Adidas, Versace, and Gucci on maintaining brand identity across employees and mediums
- Starting presentations with the core value of the organization aligns with personal values
- Core values drive what is built and served to the world
- Embodying core values attracts like-minded employees who align with the organization's core value
Effective Collaboration and Decision-Making in Design
38:41 - 45:21
- Best designers collaborate effectively by being curious and proactive in seeking information
- Transparency and data-driven decision-making are important for collaboration
- Designers should understand the business side of the product and be able to tell the story without the product manager's presence
- Regular meetings where designers present their work and explain their decisions help foster collaboration
- Finance leaders, UI/UX teams, and consumers may have different interests, but it's important to prioritize based on constraints
- The podcast host appreciates the questions asked so far
Prioritizing Customer Needs and Building for the Future
44:53 - 49:55
- When deciding what features to include, focus on core value and customer pain points
- Competing priorities should be secondary to solving customer's immediate needs
- Usability testing and feedback from customers are crucial before building a feature
- Start with one or two key features and iterate on them rather than building everything at once
- Building products for the next generation requires understanding their diverse needs