product management vs. product leadership
DESCRIPTION
There's a big gap between product managers and product leaders. In this talk I discuss the difference between the two and offer advice based on my ten + years of managing product managers, how to make the transition.TRANSCRIPT
Product leadershipvs.product management
Anthony Broad-Crawford@broadcrawford
i've launched 11 products throughout my career
i've been a founding member of two global companies
i've helped build 8 patent receiving technologies
cto, ceo, cpo
within3, startupbus, & giveforward
currently CTO @ fooda
i sit at the intersection of user experience, product management, and engineering
i've made a lot of mistakes along the way
i read a lot of the bull$&!t online
i read a lot of the bull$&!t in the books
i listened to a lot of the bull$&!t on twitter
it all said the same thing ..."you are the ceo of your product"
all it had me do was whine about how i never had any control, like a "ceo does"
all i did was blame other parts of the organizations
all it did was make me a $h!@#y product manager
so here's the dirty little secret
i was failing at the "real" job of product management
it wasn't the phrases fault, I just misunderstood it
i see a lot of "up and coming" product managers also misunderstanding this phrase
ultimately, managing a product is about managing the people
it's not about being the ceo of your product
that's how a product manager thinks
a product leader thinks about the people internally and externally to the company
a product leader understands they are just as important as the actual product "ideas" themself
some advice
making everyone happy makes no one happy
making no one happy makes no one happy
data tells the best story
talk through that story in narritive form
people have ideas, listen to them and incorporate them
if someone wants to change priority, ask them why, there's usually a good reason
if sales can't sell your product as is, that's a potential signal the product has a gap
if account management can't manage the account that's a potential signal the product has a gap
don't confuse strategy with tactics
have kpi's for your strategys & tactics
parting thoughts
you are not the ceo of your product
but you are responsible for making your product successful
so hold yourself accountable like a ceo, and lead the company in building a great product
Anthony Broad-Crawford@broadcrawford