More often than not, people’s perception of Product Management is usually centred around the definition, management and prioritisation of software features and functionality. While that is largely true, it is also one of many things that a Product Manager needs to focus on, given limited time and resources.
This session aims to provide an unfiltered view of how Product Management looks like in the context of Enterprise Cloud Applications development, the challenges confronting Product Managers, and the tradeoff decisions to be made in order to overcome these challenges.
All this, while shipping a working product with each release that will surprise and delight the end user.
Strategize a Smooth Tenant-to-tenant Migration and Copilot Takeoff
Product Management in The Trenches for a Cloud Service
1. Product Management in the Trenches
Lennard Low
Senior Manager, Strategic Programs & Products
Oracle Labs
#ISSLearningFest
2. Agenda
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2
Release
Walkthrough
Welcome to the daily
grind!
1
Introduction
& Overview
Are you sure you
want to do this job?
4
Lessons
Learnt
Reflect and improve
for the next evolution
3
Challenges &
Tradeoffs
Ain’t gonna be
sunny everyday
6. #ISSLearningFest
Market & customer
definition
Requirements definition
& product roadmap
Sprint grooming,
planning and execution
Product evangelist &
champion
Competitive intelligence
and analysis
Problem definition &
value proposition
Coordinate marketing
activities, field collateral
Product
Manager
Collaboration with other
product groups
Management updates
and internal approvals
Usage and adoption
tracking
Collaboration with
product stakeholders
Collaboration with
external partners
11. #ISSLearningFest
Credit: Josh Elman – “A Product Manager’s Job”
Market & customer
definition
Requirements definition
& product roadmap
Sprint grooming,
planning and execution
Product evangelist &
champion
Competitive intelligence
and analysis
Problem definition &
value proposition
Coordinate marketing
activities, field collateral
Product
Manager
Collaboration with other
product groups
Management updates
and internal approvals
Usage and adoption
tracking
Collaboration with
product stakeholders
Collaboration with
external partners
12. Communication is at the heart of everything
that a Product Manager does
(or doesn’t do)
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13. Challenges
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Task Prioritization
• Development priorities
will always shift!
• No “one size fits all”
approach when it comes
to prioritization
• The greater alignment
you have with your
stakeholders, the less
challenge you will have
with prioritization
Stakeholder Alignment
• Both internal and
external stakeholders
• Everyone has their own
interests to consider
• Your job is not to find
common ground, but to
show why alignment is
in their best interest
Internal Approvals
• Something that you
can’t avoid, regardless
of organization size
• The devil is always in
the details when it
comes to approvals
• Some of these details
may turn into product
requirements
Time Management
• Everybody wants a
piece of you!
• Every request coming to
you will be “urgent” or
“high priority”
• Self-pacing and finding
the point of balance at
work is crucial for any
product manager
15. Lessons Learnt
#ISSLearningFest
What doesn’t
1. Blindly following theory and whatever
methodology that is in fashion
2. Taking a combative or “my way or the
highway” approach
3. Not flexible when it comes to changes,
especially when it’s a roadmap change
What works
1. Preserving team cadence and autonomy
should always be top priority.
2. Trust your Dev counterpart and build
psychological safety within the team
3. Help your fellow product manager. Don’t
just focus on your own product silo
