Cauvin

The Responsibilities Product managers lead the process of making strategic decisions about what should go in a product and how to market and sell it. Ideally, they base these decisions on in-depth knowledge of the market - prospective buyers and users, the problems they face, and the competition - and apply sound marketing principles to make the decisions. They build a shared understanding of the market, the business model, and the strategy among members of the team. Talent, not Industry Experience But how can a hiring manager identify a product manager that will excel at performing these duties?  As Buckingham and Coffman advise, the most successful managers select candidates based on talent, and not so much for experience .  Thus the typical product manager job posting that lists experience in the industry as a prerequisite is misguided.  Read more on the topic of industry experience and product management . What Is Talent? According to Buckingham and Coffma...

Recently, I've noticed a number of product managers on social channels claim that product managers "own" the products they manage.  On the surface, this claim seems rather innocuous and uncontroversial.  But the claim bothers me, for several reasons. Let's examine why anyone would make such a claim.  I can think of a few reasons.  (I'll get to the notion of "product owner" in agile development later.) First, a single point of accountability simplifies how we conceptualize the product management role.  It's understandable that product managers are tempted to find a simple definition of product management.  The responsibilities of the role vary greatly across different companies, and few people can articulate concisely what a product manager is or does.  So it's nice to boil it down to ownership of the product.  But what does it really mean to own the product? Second, many folks in the product management community are familiar with the deba...

Recall the advice of Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman: hire people based on talent, not so much for experience, intelligence, and determination . Talent is defined as “a recurring pattern of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied”. So, what are the talents that great agile team members share? Here are some possibilities: focus – sets goals and uses them every day to guide actions discipline – imposes structure onto life and work reflection – examines past choices and learns from experience adaptability – quickly adjusts practices to achieve goals strategic thinking – plays out future alternative scenarios cooperation – interacts with others constructively Note that, when a person possesses them, talents span every aspect of a person’s life and do not merely manifest themselves in a particular job or work environment. How would you add to this brainstorm of possible talents that great agile team members share?

Does your company suffer from product paralysis? Product paralysis occurs when progress halts on improving or innovating a product. At some point, you've probably experienced: A product team can't agree on major product decisions, so they concentrate on minor bug fixes and enhancements that have little or no market impact. Bold product decisions are made (often by members of the team that just happen to wield the most influence at the time), but the decisions come under fire and are put on hold shortly thereafter. Team members don't buy into product decisions, so they undermine them, stall their execution, or just aren't motivated to be productive in executing them. The most effective product managers - to the extent that company executives empower them to do so - employ three approaches to prevent product paralysis: Base product decisions on market understanding and marketing principles . Teams will not buy in to major product decisions unless they can make a compe...

In their Bloomberg piece, "Why Innovation Is Beginner's Luck" , G. Michael Maddock and Raphael Louis Vitón write that companies emphasizing industry experience in their hiring practices do not, as a general rule, innovate well. On a related note, I've written before that industry experience is a poor substitute for the ability to learn markets . And don't forget Buckingham and Coffman's observation that the best managers hire for talent, not for experience . If you are hiring for innovation, the first bit of advice from Maddock and Vitón is: "Stop hiring leaders from your industry. Ask recruiters to look for a specific problem-solving ability instead of industry experience. Find leaders who have created the results you want in a unique way. For example, if you are faced with disintermediation issues—and all service companies are—look for experts who have tackled disintermediation. It's likely better that they know nothing about sump pumps or ...