Communication &
Storytelling for
Product Managers
Christina Wodtke
Author Radical Focus, Pencil Me in
Lecturer, Stanford University

Housekeeping
• Break at 3:00
• End at 5
• Please be present for each other
• Slides and supplementary materials https://bit.ly/2KZVlNB
• Signs for needs
• Louder
• Slow down
• Jargon

Interview Each Other
• Get into pairs
• 2 minutes of A answering B’s question
• 2 minutes of B answering A’s question
• Round table: short introduction of who is at each table, 30 secs each

Q&A
What questions do you have? What goals for today?

Why
Story?

Goals
Objective: Learn to communicate my needs
effectively and build coalitions that allows my
product to thrive
KR: Marketing is excited to promote my product
Has 3 solid plans to promote
KR: Team Members enthusiastically work toward
our shared goal
Show up on time for meetings and contribute
KR: Boss understands my value and rewards it
I get a raise/bonus

Two kinds of Communication
Part 1: One to One Part 2: One to Many
Good for coalition building
Time consuming at first; but
builds strong ties that last
across jobs
Good for reaching many, but
builds weak ties
Upfront work, but the deck can
go with you… until the projects
over

CAMP
Context,Architecture, Mechanics, Poetics

Poetics
What do you want people to feel?

What change do you seek?
After our meeting, ____________ will feel _____________ and will want to
support the product by _______________.
Grateful
Joyful
Relieved
Free
Peaceful
Loving
Hopeful
Purposeful
Connected
Confident
Curious
Enthusiastic
Healthy
Spiritual
Prosperous
Inspired
Motivated
Secure
Thrilled
Amused

Context

Research
• Who in your organization matters as you struggle to move things forward?
• Who is that person, as a person? Who do they care about? How do they
spend their time?
• How do they communicate?
• What do they value?

Influence Map

RACI
R = Responsible (also Recommender)
A = Accountable (also Approver or final approving authority)
C = Consulted (sometimes Consultant or counsel)
I = Informed (also Informee)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_assignment_matrix

4 Types of buyers
• The Sponsor Buyer (Their reputation depends on your success)
• The User Buyer (Your decisions affect them)
• The Detail Buyer (anyone who can derail the success of the project)
• The Financial Buyer (person who can give a go/no go)

Others?
• Execution Team
• Bosses of matrixed team members
• Technical Partners
• Promotion platform owners
• Business Partners
Can any of these veto your work? Can any make you successful?

Share and compare

Culture is Context

Erin
Meyer’s
Culture
Map

Cultural
Shearing
Layers

“The problem is that we tend to
assume that our framing represents
the truth, rather than merely
presenting a subjective “map.”
In truth, however, each frame offers
its own image of reality.”
Edmondson, Amy C.
Teaming: How
Organizations Learn,
Innovate, and Compete in
the Knowledge Economy

Me You
Cultural Gap Analysis
Pick a person from your influence map. On each line, mark where you think you
are and where the person you wish to influence is.

Hierarchal Leading Egalitarian
Top-Down Deciding Consensual
Points of Conflict

Direct Negative Feedback Indirect
Confrontational Disagreeing Nonconfrontational
Points of Conflict

Low Context Communicating High Context
Concept -First Persuading Application-First
Points of Conflict

Task-based Trusting Relationship-based
Linear Time Scheduling Flexible Time
Points of Conflict

Discuss with tablemates
• What is the biggest gap?
• How can close the gap?
• What hidden dangers may there be in getting this wrong?

Values

POWER: Social status and
prestige, control or dominance
over people and resources
Me
My Boss
Peer I want to influence
Very important Somewhat
important
Matters Matters
somewhat
Doesn’t matter

ACHIEVEMENT: Personal success
through demonstrating
competence according to social
standards
Me
My Boss
Peer I want to influence
Very important Somewhat
important
Matters Matters
somewhat
Doesn’t matter

HEDONISM: Pleasure or sensuous
gratification for oneself
Me
My Boss
Peer I want to influence
Very important Somewhat
important
Matters Matters
somewhat
Doesn’t matter

STIMULATION: Excitement,
novelty, and challenge in life
Me
My Boss
Peer I want to influence
Very important Somewhat
important
Matters Matters
somewhat
Doesn’t matter

SELF-DIRECTION: Independent
thought and action - choosing,
creating, exploring
Me
My Boss
Peer I want to influence
Very important Somewhat
important
Matters Matters
somewhat
Doesn’t matter

UNIVERSALISM: Understanding,
appreciation, tolerance, and
protection for the welfare of all
people and for nature
Me
My Boss
Peer I want to influence
Very important Somewhat
important
Matters Matters
somewhat
Doesn’t matter

BENEVOLENCE: Preservation and
enhancement of the welfare of
people with whom one is in
frequent personal contact
Me
My Boss
Peer I want to influence
Very important Somewhat
important
Matters Matters
somewhat
Doesn’t matter

TRADITION: Respect, commitment,
and acceptance of the customs and
ideas that traditional culture
or religion provide
Me
My Boss
Peer I want to influence
Very important Somewhat
important
Matters Matters
somewhat
Doesn’t matter

CONFORMITY: Restraint of
actions, inclinations, and impulses
likely to upset or harm others and
violate social expectations or
norms
Me
My Boss
Peer I want to influence
Very important Somewhat
important
Matters Matters
somewhat
Doesn’t matter

SECURITY: Safety, harmony, and
stability of society, of
relationships, and of self
Me
My Boss
Peer I want to influence
Very important Somewhat
important
Matters Matters
somewhat
Doesn’t matter

Listening
for Values

Tell me about a good day
Power Security Tradition Conformity
Self-
direction
Hedonism Achievement Universalism Stimulation Benevolence

Tell me about a Bad day
Power Security Tradition Conformity
Self-
direction
Hedonism Achievement Universalism Stimulation Benevolence

WHAT
MATTERS?
SHARE!

Write an
argument for
what you want
using one value
Examples: If we launch
this, we will protect out
user’s privacy (safety)
If we launch this, it will
continue our company’s
tradition of excellence
(tradition)
If we launch this, it will
allow us to keep parity
with competitors.
(conformity)

Share with a tablemate

Micro-
stories

Core Story
I tried to achieve Goal BECAUSE
motivation BUT Conflict.

Transition
Hooks
“Little did I know I was
completely wrong.”
“It proved even harder than
we thought.”
“No one suspected then
that the opposite was true.”

Struggle
Yes, But: I was finally able to land a famous blogger for my new platform,
but that day my cofounder quit to become a life coach.
No, Furthermore: Our first coffee store in Shenzen was struggling, and then
we heard Starbucks was opening their first store in a month.

Solution
• “It killed us, but we had to go back to those early
adopters and show them a new product that actually
solved their problems: a mini-hoe coated with
pesticides!”
• “When we did usability testing, we realized color-
blind people weren’t seeing the button. Fixing that
solved the mystery we saw in the A/B test results”
• “We’d thought that people in China wanted a familiar
atmosphere in their coffee shops, but what they really
wanted was a tiny vacation to visit the west.We
redesigned our stores to give that to them.”

6 Stories
With Thanks to Annette Simmons's The Story Factor

Who am
I?
When I was
I tried
It went sideways
But then
Which is why

Why I’m
Here
I always hoped
But life
But then I realized
And I’m here because

Vision
Today this is true
And it sucks because
But what if
And then we’d have a new world

Values
in
Action
I always thought I was
But I faced this
I saw who I really was
And now I adhere/rebel against
that value

Teaching
Stories
When I was
I experienced
I realized what I didn’t know
And that’s why it’s so important

I know
what
you’re
thinking
Name the expectation “Designers
are…”
Admit culpability
Show how that isn’t true/isn’t
bad/can be overcome
Now what?

Share your
Microstories
Give advice, Steal good ideas, make each other better

The Roadshow
Formal Presentations

“The only reason to give
a speech is to change the
world.”
Nick Morgan

Dan Roam

What change do you seek?
After my presentation, ____________ my audience will feel _____________
and will want to support the product by _______________.
Grateful
Joyful
Relieved
Free
Peaceful
Loving
Hopeful
Purposeful
Connected
Confident
Curious
Enthusiastic
Healthy
Spiritual
Prosperous
Inspired
Motivated
Secure
Thrilled
Amused

Architecture

Two Story-Based Approaches
Story Driven Story Decorated
Anecdote #1
Point #2
Point #3
Point #4
Point #1
Point #2
Point #3
Point #4
Point #1
Anecdote #12
Anecdote #3
Story (1-3)

Improv
• Character with a Goal and a Motivation
• Setting/Situation
• Inciting incident (usually first attempt
toward goal, or a motivation to start
trying to accomplish goal. More here)
• Try (character tries something to get to
their goal)
• Fail (something goes wrong)
• Try
• Fail
• Try
• Fail
• Crises (all is lost, the goal will never be
accomplished!)
• Climax (character figures out a way! or
gets rescued)
• Resolution (how is character’s life
changed by this success?)
• Moral of the story is (punchline)

Persuasion Strategies

Langauge

Be Greek
Logos
Pathos
Ethos

Emotional
Appeal

Pathos

Authority Appeal Who are you to make this
change?

Moving
from
Ethos to
Logos

Rational
Appeal
Logic, facts

Stories
• Anecdotes (from your
life or others)
• Fables & Myths
• Vignettes
• Jokes
Activities
• Think Pair Share
• Mini-debate
• Draw & share
• Share a story
Facts
• Studies
• News
• Metrics
Thesis and supporting ideas
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________

Share

BODY LANGUAGE

YOUR BODY
TELLS YOUR
STORY

Images from Amy Cuddy’s research on power poses

READ

WRITE

Context
Architecture
Mechanics
Poetics

Write down three things
you want to do when you
are back to work

Q&A
What questions do you have?

Thank
You
@cwodtke | me@cwodtke.com
www.cwodtke.com
CHRISTINA WODTKE