Main Takeaways: - Start with the problem and the customer - How to effectively use quantitative and qualitative feedback to build your case - Adapting your communication based on your audience - Adapting your communication based on where you're at in the product life-cycle

1. www.productschool.com
PMs & the Art of Storytelling by Amazon &
United Airlines Sr PMs

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5. PRODUCT MANAGERS & THE
ART OF STORYTELLING

6. Hello!
I am Elly Newell
SENIOR PRODUCT MANAGER
I am Amy Rohan
SENIOR PRODUCT MANAGER

7. Media Specialist
Technical Product Architect
Product Manager
Senior Product Manager
ABOUT ELLY
Director of Product Management
Senior Product Manager

8. Business Analyst | Mobile App
Project Manager | Card Reissue Strategy
Senior Product Manager | Digital Collections
Senior Product Manager | Account Experience
ABOUT AMY

9. WHAT WE’LL COVER TODAY
• Value of storytelling
• Developing your content
• Packaging and delivering your story

10. VALUE OF STORYTELLING

11. STORYTELLING IS CRITICAL TO PM SUCCESS
• Defining a problem
• Pitching a solution
• Launching a
solution

12. STORYTELLING IS CRITICAL TO PM SUCCESS
• Defining a problem
• Pitching a solution
• Launching a
solution
• Advocate for your customers
• Earn trust with leadership and
stakeholders
• Accelerate adoption

13. STORIES ARE A POWERFUL TOOL
• Engage your audience

14. STORIES ARE A POWERFUL TOOL
• Engage your audience
• Streamline information

15. STORIES ARE A POWERFUL TOOL
• Engage your audience
• Streamline information
• Can be repurposed

16. DEVELOPING YOUR CONTENT

17. “
17

18. WORK BACKWARDS FROM THE CUSTOMER
• Who is the customer you are solving for?

19. WORK BACKWARDS FROM THE CUSTOMER
• Who is the customer you are solving for?
• What is the problem AND opportunity?

20. SUPPORT WHY THE SOLUTION MAKES SENSE
• What’s the most important customer benefit?

21. SUPPORT WHY THE SOLUTION MAKES SENSE
• What’s the most important customer
benefit?
• Why is it important that you solve this
problem right now?

22. SUPPORT WHY THE SOLUTION MAKES SENSE
• What’s the most important customer
benefit?
• Why is it important that you solve this
problem right now?
• How do you know the customer needs or
wants this?

23. EXAMPLE
Streaming service PM looking to make my customer’s “binge-ing”
experience more enjoyable

24. EXAMPLE
Who is the customer?
The customer we’re looking to solve for is an active streaming user
who watches multiple episodes of the same show in a single in a
sitting. They want to passively ingest this content with minimal to no
distraction from the service or interaction from their end.

25. EXAMPLE
What is the problem and opportunity?
Streaming service viewers are not interested in watching the opening
credits of a show, especially when they are watching multiple
episodes of a single show in one sitting. We have an opportunity to
decrease user frustrations and increase the hours of TV viewed by
resolving this issue for our customers.

26. EXAMPLE
What’s the most important customer benefit?
The most important customer benefit is improved usability of our
service. We want to make it as easy as possible for viewers to engage
with our streaming service. In allowing viewers to skip the intro and
start the show immediately, we remove the user intervention of
needing to fast forward to the correct spot.

27. EXAMPLE
Why is this important now?
With more and more companies releasing streaming services, it’s
important that we solve for the areas we know impede our viewers’
engagement. During user studies, we’ve found that this is ranked as
#X in terms of largest user frustrations. To solidify ourselves as the
top streaming service for viewers, we need to prioritize usability,
along with content.

28. EXAMPLE
How do you know your customer needs or wants this?
We find that X% of viewers fast forward through the credits. This
number increased to Y% when a viewer watches more than one
episode of a show in one sitting. We’ve also found that this is the Z
ranked complaint in customer surveys.

29. PACKAGING AND DELIVERING
YOUR STORY

30. START WITH THE BASICS…
DON’T WORRY ABOUT MAKING IT PRETTY.
Our initial
outline for
this webinar

31. TRY A PRACTICE RUN
• Can you tell your story
without relying on notes or
slides?
• Would you pass “The Linda
Test’?

32. It’s okay to tell a story
that you don’t know
the ending to yet.

33. • Who do I need to get buy-in or approval from in order to move this
idea forward?
• Who is going to be part of the working team to help drive the
solution and execution?
GETTING READY FOR THE PITCH….
WHO NEEDS TO KNOW MY STORY?

34. https://www.digitalclaritygroup.com/sales-success-knowing-audience/
GETTING READY FOR THE PITCH….
WHAT DO THEY NEED TO KNOW?

35. GETTING READY FOR THE PITCH….
CREATE SUPPORTING MATERIALS
• Product memo
• Slides
• Live demo/prototype
• Video

36. GETTING READY FOR THE PITCH….
CREATE SUPPORTING MATERIALS
• Product memo
• Slides
• Live demo/prototype
• Video
• Who is the customer you are solving for?
• What is the problem AND opportunity?
• What’s the most important customer
benefit?
• Why is it important that you solve this
problem right now?
• How do you know the customer needs or
wants this?
Don’t lose track of
your storyline when
creating materials

37. READY, SET…
STORY TIME!
• Be confident
• Showcase your passion
• Use conversational
tone
• It’s okay if you don’t
know everything
Photo by Christina

38. What are your experiences
with successful
storytelling?
Share in the comments below!

39. Wait, this seems like a lot
of work. Is it worth it?

40. Wait, this seems like a lot
of work. Is it worth it?
YES

41. KEY TAKEAWAYS
Storytelling is critical at every point in the product
lifecycle
1

42. KEY TAKEAWAYS
Storytelling is critical at every point in the product
lifecycle
Start with the customer and works
backwards
1
2

43. KEY TAKEAWAYS
Storytelling is critical at every point in the product
lifecycle
Start with the customer and works
backwards
It’s okay to tell a story that you don’t know the ending to
yet
1
2
3

44. KEY TAKEAWAYS
Storytelling is critical at every point in the product
lifecycle
Start with the customer and works
backwards
It’s okay to tell a story that you don’t know the ending to
yet
Tailor your message to your
audience
1
2
3
4

45. KEY TAKEAWAYS
Storytelling is critical at every point in the product
lifecycle
Start with the customer and works
backwards
It’s okay to tell a story that you don’t know the ending to
yet
Tailor your message to your
audience
Successful pitches are the end result of prep and
conviction
1
2
3
4
5

46. THANK YOU

47. www.productschool.com
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and
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