A while back I spent a day with my team of product managers to workshop and identify our core product principles. We thought about our past successes, failures, and what we did or didn’t do that contributed to the end result. Once we had dozens of stickies filled out we did some affinity mapping, categorization, and voting on the top items. Then we identified the most important principles and attempted to make them as crisp and clear as possible. The end result is the list below.
I recently referenced these principles to a colleague and realized that others, especially those new to product management, could benefit from them as well.
Create quality solutions
Make our customers’ lives better. Know your target audience, find the main value for them, start with a limited scope, and build upon it. Don’t cut corners - find the right MVP, given business and technology constraints. Find the intersection of highest customer and business value crossed with impact and effort. Keep it simple - abstract complexity.
Be outcome-focused
We focus on outcomes, not output. Ruthlessly prioritize what we do and where we spend time in order to drive the best outcomes for our business and customers.
Be action-oriented
Default to action. Take calculated risks. Avoid analysis paralysis and move forward with 80% of the information that you’d ideally have. It’s the best way to start learning what you need to adjust.
Understand the problem fully
Challenge assumptions. Make sure you fully understand and can define the problem before starting to solve it. Don’t get too attached to a specific solution or problem. Be flexible and continue to pressure test your ideas and assumptions.
Hone your solutions
Do your research, explore multiple different solutions before settling on one, leverage market examples, internal/external experts, and data to understand all use cases to ensure the best possible solution.
Be the rock for your team
Build trust with your team by being collaborative, reliable, organized, helpful, and supportive. Stay in sync as a team and get people bought in and excited about what they’re building.
Be customer and market experts
Don’t lose sight of the customer. Keep up-to-date with their needs - talk to them frequently and keep tabs on the market that is constantly evolving around us and them.
Drive alignment
Ensure goals for a project are clear and there is alignment with stakeholders and leadership by including the “why”, being persuasive, and influencing your teams and stakeholders. Overcommunicate.
Set clear and ambitious goals
Know what you are trying to accomplish and stay focused on the goal. Push yourself to achieve more than you think is possible. Strive for excellence.
Communicate effectively
Know your audience and tailor your messages. Be clear, crisp, and concise when presenting to groups or individuals.
Always be learning
Learn from failures as well as success. Strive for constant improvement - own your gaps and work to remove them. Be endlessly curious. Share your learnings with others.
Be data-driven
Use both quantitative and qualitative data to drive decisions. Ensure we measure what we build and solicit feedback from users and teammates.
Think about go-to-market early
How are we going to get people excited about what we’re building and using it? What impacts will there be to existing customers and workflows? How do we inform and train them?
Involve your stakeholders
Involve internal and external stakeholders early and often. Review designs and ideas with them and get them invested in the solutions. Lean on them for help understanding unforeseen issues. Stay in sync as things change.
Generate excitement
Be passionate about your work and get people excited. Take everyone along for the journey.
Be confident, yet humble
Be decisive, but don’t get married to an idea - accept change. It’s about finding the right solution, not creating it yourself.
Be strategic while tactical
Be able to move between strategic and tactical levels as needed. Have a clear vision for where we are heading and don’t lose sight of it while operating at the tactical level. Think two steps ahead.
Accept that no solution is perfect
Work within the given constraints (or find ways around them) to deliver the best possible solution
