1. How to survive as a
product manager
The enemies and allies in different environments

2. Photo: Kaptain Kobold , http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaptainkobold/3273951718/
Environments

3. The START UP
environment
Founder
Engineer
Designer
Marketing
VC/Angel
First customer
Photo: crisis_crs, http://www.flickr.com/
photos/33774513@N08/4737480125/

4. The GROWN UP
company environment
Executive Management, VPs,
Directors
Product Managers
Product Marketing Managers
Engineering, QA
UX, Research, Design
BI, Sales, Community,
Finance, Customer Support, ... Photo: Brent Moore, http://www.flickr.com/
photos/brent_nashville/4781919499/

5. How to survive
in the enterprise
environment?
I have no clue - left after
three month, realizing I don‘t
have the power to do things
there.
Photo: Lee LeFever, http://www.flickr.com/
photos/leelefever/5095425212/

6. Photo: Joe Shlabotnik, http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik/305410323/
Enemies and Allies

7. The Founder
Characteristics How to cope with him
In most cases the There often is no
founder is the natural other product manager
product lead - deep in the beginning
knowledge about
Try to get insights
market and customers from real customers
Either strong in besides the founder
business and Learn from the
marketing or founders market
engineering (weak on insights
the other side)
Establish processes
Photo: Dunechaser, http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/134672123/

8. The Engineer
Characteristics How to cope with him
The engineer has a Develop some
strong opinion about engineering knowledge
the product
Show him real users
„Users are f*** i*** using the product
that just don‘t get it“
Protect them from
„Product Managers outside disruption
(Marketing, UX, etc)
are just a hurdle in Give them time for
getting things done“ experiments
Photo: RobethK, http://www.flickr.com/photos/39066002@N05/3595313340/

9. The Tester
Characteristics How to cope with him
This species often only Integrate them in
exists in the more your communication
grown up organization workflow with the
They seem to slow engineers
things down, but
Make your priorities
actually they help you
clear to them
don‘t release shit
They tend to know your They are edge case
app in even more detail explorers - use this
then your developers knowledge to simplify
your application
Photo: mattdwen, http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattdwen/4673123229/

10. The UX Person
Characteristics How to cope with him
Don‘t miss them in Share a desk with
your team him (figuratively)
They ask probing Give them the
questions, better freedom to define
be prepared (5 the details
Whys)
Share market and
Eye and ear to business details
your customers with him
Photo: Jordan Cooper, http://www.flickr.com/photos/jordoncooper/427503420/

11. The VC/Finance Guy
Characteristics How to cope with him
He asks probing Know your numbers
questions about
numbers How much
Sometimes don‘t How many
understand what How long
you do
Have a story
He eats numbers prepared to foster
understanding
Photo: dunechaser, http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/2363484670/

12. The Marketeer
Characteristics How to cope with him
He tells the world Make him an integral
about the product part of your roadmap
communication
He tends to dream up
Have always a positive
things that doesn‘t
attitude towards him - he
exist yet is just trying to help you
get new/active customers
He knows how to
measure and will Prepare copy and
produce numbers marketing texts with him
about people to speak with one voice
Photo: dunechaser, http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/6042982955/

13. The Customer supporter
Characteristics How to cope with him
He has to deal with Fix the top things that
stupidity and ignorance produce the highest
on both sides amount of tickets
He knows things about Go work with him from
your software you don‘t time to time
want to know
Review his standard/
The better he knows
automatic answers
your plans the better he
will help keep your Invite him to review
customers happy meetings and parties
Photo: dunechaser, http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/6042982211/

14. The Sales Person
Characteristics How to cope with him
Deep insights on Prepare sales
market and material with them
customers
Provide them with
Want to dictate useful numbers to
functionality that support sales
they can sell easily
Regular outlook on
roadmap planning
Photo: dunechaser, http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/103294155/

15. The Customer
Characteristics How to cope with him
Diverse Know some of them in
person
Depends on your
continent (market) Talk to them directly
Most of the time they
are eager to help
Involve UX - Dealing
with them is time
consuming
Photo: dunechaser, http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/103294209/

16. The Product Manager
Characteristics How to cope with him
Communicates strongly and
regularly Speak out your mind
Thinks big
Have arguments not
Simplifies: get 80% for 20%
opinions
Prioritizes: Quick wins vs platform
investments
Executes: nothing can stop him
shipping his product
Understands tech and design
Convincing rather than commanding
Endless positive
Photo: dunechaser, http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/134672102/

17. Photo: cjdc, http://www.flickr.com/photos/wiredforsound23/5341870566/
Survival tactics

18. Build Allies
Whom How
Make your production team Share instead of keep
your ally
Talk to people without
Your peers as well
having something in
Look for people in areas mind
you are weak
Have an open ear and
You can‘t be successful
without support from c-
help even if it‘s not
level your turf
Make your customers your Go to lunches and
ally brunches

19. Communicate
Whom How
Talk about what you Shared backlog and board, no
hidden agenda (asana, trello, jira,
do and why you do it post its on a reachable wall)
inside and outside of Show in big letters how you
doing on KPIs
your company
Present regularly what you have
done and what you plan to do in
Talk about your the future
plans and visions Blog inside and outside the
company
Even more Speak at conferences
Engage in your community

20. Trust and respect
Whom How
Trust and respect Know your shit
the people you are Talk with people not about
them
working with
Respond fast
Trust and respect If you are emotionally
your customers touched, wait a day
Don‘t interrupt people
Divorce from people
that exploit that Be available and on time
Do stuff according to what
you said

21. Photo: LEGO Bro, http://www.flickr.com/photos/lego_bro/7055702973/
Skills

22. weak strong
Customer knowledge
Tech knowledge
Market knowledge
Team collaboration
Stakeholder management
Product vision
Product discovery
Product optimization
Product evangelism
Financial knowledge
Leadership skills
Time management skills to be
UX knowledge as is
Source: http://www.svpg.com/developing-strong-product-owners, From a session with Marty Cagan

23. What's a typical day like for
a product manager at Asana?
Ideal world
Other: Repro Bugs,
comm w/ team/others, Customer research
presenting to board
18%
25%
Personal Development Work with team
5% 18% (Brainstorming, Reviewing prototypes,
Recruiting 5% discuss ideas, ...)
Project management 15% 15%
High level thinking PM/Backlog work
(Vision, explore strategic ideas, Roadmap) (prioritize, write stories, write blog posts and
best practices, ...)
Source: http://www.quora.com/Asana/Whats-a-typical-day-like-for-a-product-manager-at-Asana

24. Product Management
vs. other roles
„Product managers are responsible for what the
product should do; other roles are responsible for how
the product does that.“
Jonathan Korman
http://de.slideshare.net/jefflash/user-experience-and-product-management-two-peas-in-the-same-pod

25. Questions?

26. Thank you!
Karsten Rieke
post@karstenrieke.de
@komplettsystem
http://www.rules.io

27. More sources
Boxes and arrows: Transitioning from User Experience to Product Management
http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/transitioning-from
http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/transitioning-from26
Jonathan Korman: Where do product managers fit?
http://www.cooper.com/journal/2004/09/where_do_product_managers_fit.html/
http://www.goodproductmanager.com/
http://www.svpg.com
http://www.quora.com/Product-Management/What-distinguishes-the-top-1-of-
product-managers-from-the-top-10
http://www.quora.com/Google/What-makes-someone-a-great-product-manager-at-
Google
http://www.quora.com/Asana/Whats-a-typical-day-like-for-a-product-manager-
at-Asana