My adventures in leading great product teams
Ten years ago I graduated in Journalism and Public Relations having been discouraged from pursuing STEM subjects by my country high school. However, a decade on, I am up to my neck in STEM and leading teams packed full of specialists delivering products for our clients, including some start-ups that have gone on to list on the ASX.
I wanted to take this time to reflect on my journey to becoming a product manager and how I’ve been able to harness the skill sets of talented people to create products which bring good to the world and, in some instances, will save lives.
Be curious
Being curious can be daunting when you first start on a new product, or you are new to the industry. I didn’t want to ask questions because I felt there were things I should have already known. Ridiculous, I know. You cannot know everything about everything. It’s impossible!
I soon realized that being curious and asking questions is the only way to truly understand a product and its related industry. You aren’t expected to be an expert in everything. This extends to the specialists you’ll be working alongside to deliver a great product. There will be a bunch of really smart people around you who have been honing their craft for literally decades in some cases. Imposter syndrome is real! But it turns out when people are really passionate about what they do, they love to teach and talk to you about it. So always be curious and ask that question.
Be respectful
After almost a decade in the industry I still apologise before I suggest something to a teammate who is a specialist. As a product manager you are a generalist, you wear a lot of different hats all the time (check out Dolores’ blog post for more on being a generalist). It can be scary to suggest to a seasoned product designer to change or try something different. This is all about building respect with your product team.
Product teams are a mash up of different personalities and skill sets and as a product manager, you need all of them to be able to deliver a great product to market. I’ve found that if you are thinking something like “I wonder if a user would prefer to see this information in a different way?”. Then say it - in a polite and respectful way. Specialists sometimes need rubber duck moments to break through an element of the product they are unsure about or have not yet considered. In turn the team will come to respect your opinion and even seek you out for your opinion. A product manager is the holder of the product vision. It’s our job to guide the team to a successful outcome. Your opinion and ideas are valid, but so are everyone else’s, so be respectful.
Be flexible
I’m not talking about yoga. But yoga is great, definitely try it sometime. As product manager, people will look to you for structure and direction. This can be intimidating. Early in my career I felt I needed to control everything! I never wanted to make anyone unhappy or uncomfortable and that meant adding structure to everything and being everything to everyone. Exhausting right?
There is a time and place for structure. I’m not saying throw all your processes out the window. What I do suggest is taking a step back and consider what you and your product team needs. And this will be different for every product you work on. At Hatchd we aren’t dogmatic about Agile, but we are about being nimble, moving quickly and creating great things. Yes, we do cherry pick elements of different techniques like Scrum to help us deliver stand-ups and sprints, but we don’t need to take 2 hours to plan a sprint just because the Agile Manifesto says so. If we get to the outcome in 1 hour, that’s ok. It’s about getting to the right outcome in the most efficient and effective way. How you get there can change over time and that’s ok. Being flexible is also about listening to your team and their needs. Do we need to have a full preparation session before showing designs we have been talking about daily for the last week? Maybe not. Do we need to do a dry run of a feature demo which uses complex data sets before we show the product owner? Yes!
Process is great and necessary. But it shouldn’t be the only tool in your toolbox. Assemble a collection of different tools to help you guide your product team along the way. And don’t be afraid to change things up. Just because you started daily stand-ups doesn’t mean you need them always. Back yourself and your gut feel, you’ll know when something isn’t in balance.
Be a hype person
You are the glue which holds a product team together. Yes, a team can be autonomous and self sufficient but they do still need you and your skill set as a product manager. It’s taken me a while to realise I have value to bring to the table. Part of that skillset is being the best hype person you can be. Creation of a product isn’t all rainbows and sunshine; there are dark days. Trudging through regression testing multiple times can sometimes feel like a war for the ages. The team’s motivation and passion for a product can hit rock bottom at times, or their confidence in their own ideas about the product may waiver. This is where the product manager needs to step-up. We are the hype person for our team. You want to bring the best out of your team by giving them the opportunity to shine. Yep I said shine. The best thing about my job is allowing incredible people to show their amazing capabilities to clients through a product. This means giving them space and opportunities to showcase their talents - whether that’s supporting them in showing a client proactive and innovative ways of reimagining their product or helping them to feel confident in their expert knowledge even when there are people far more experienced in the room.
A hype person is someone who hypes up a crowd before an artist comes on stage. It’s the role of the product manager to do the same with their product team. We need to be the energy balancer - when times are rough we talk through what can be improved so the team feels heard. Actually implement those things, don’t just be all talk. We need to celebrate our success together and often. Do shoutouts to the team when they have done something incredible. Product work can be so high paced that you forget to stop and smell the roses. Definitely take the time to reflect and take stock of the beautiful product you have created. Guaranteed you’ll get a happier team. Happy team means incredible products.
And the good news is, you don’t always need to be the hype person. If you show your team through your own actions what you’d expect, they will also raise you up when you are down. Corny but it’s true. The best product teams will be filled with hype people who will get others pumped up and feeling their best. We will all take swims in the sea of self doubt. We will be stronger together. So get your best hype person energy in the mix!
Be human
Seems obvious right, well not always. You will be the wrangler of the product team, which has a whole raft of different personalities within it. That’s what makes it interesting and produces great things, do not, and I mean do not ever refer to your product team as resources.
“Oh I need more resources to get this done” - don't! I’ve been a studio manager, I know people are resources which are needed to deliver on things. But let’s not make people feel like battery hens.
First thing I do when we have a new team member join us is that I take the time to get to know them. It’s like building any relationship, you need to understand what makes them tick. And also not just know their work life, get to know the rest of their life. We spend so much of our waking hours at work, this isn’t the only piece of a person’s puzzle. Get to understand that they are really into food or they make Star Wars fan films on the weekend or they play in a metal band or they know how to tap dance! Yes these are all things my teammates are into. Incredible right. Taking an interest in other people’s interests helps connections. Without connections you have nothing. So take the time to truly get to know your team.
Don’t always talk work with the team, yes there’s a lot to get done, always, but we are all human so be human.
Be the product manager
Change can be confronting, and as humans we are programmed to create habits to make us feel safe and comfortable. I am by no means saying I am an expert, but anyone who knows anything about product development knows the only guarantee is that things will always change and evolve.
You would be short sighted if you think you can know everything about everything or that you will remain an expert for long if you don’t embrace the change and grow with it.
This article is simply a reflection on what I have learnt and experienced in my journey to be a product manager, and I know what that means will continue to grow and change.
