Model to Execution and Back
I’ve been working so hard over the last 6 months to get a process and model in place for how things are working, and now that it is, it’s all a matter of working stuff thru and executing. Then you really find out what the weaknesses are in what you’ve devised.
Change / modification is necessary, and maybe you stuff to flesh out a plan for where you see you’ll need help, resource-wise, within the next 6-8 months or so.
One of the first places I started was my product model. Yes, I keep linking back to that damn post, but it really created a strong foundation, and is helping us drive toward common goals and explain things much more clearly.
Essentially, that model was devised as a result of doing a portfolio analysis. I needed something quick that helped me, and I was hoping everyone, understand the technology and the products.
From there, I was able to move a little bit of that communication forward. We continue to work hard on building out good documentation - product guides communicating business value, user manuals (where applicable) for detailed instruction, API references for developers, release notes, and even training are all things we’re building on.
The next logical step is to a) get a roadmap in place and b) start the scheduling if that’s not already happening. Both of these may take some time, especially if they are first-time things in the company. It’s tricky to get all of the knowledge extracted and down on paper from all the different people that hold it.
Part of that roadmapping process was creating some formalized product plans - product objectives that were tied to company objectives, formalized pricing, and marketing plans. I started really driving the “cross-functional” aspect (yeah, with 20 people — kinda funny) more here because this is when folks have to really start getting involved with their part.
Marketing had all of their plans, but they needed to be in tune with the roadmap / current product analysis in order to fine tune them. Then, they can go into the product plan. Objectives all have metrics associated, which finance needs to be aware of - especially if you want to do product P & L’s. Fine for the big boyz, but for me, a little too much at this point. I like my spreadsheets.
There are bound to be breadcrumbs. However, my philosophy is to recognize them, but not force them. You’re probably working on a million other things already that are just (if not more) important than the crumbs. If you have a loving / caring founder, they are aware of them too. If they are important, you will hear about them more than once.
I hope this doesn’t sound crazy, because I’ve been quite aware the entire time I’ve been doing this what the next steps will be. However, there are a few things that have surprised me because I haven’t done this 8-20 times before.
1) False starts. You know you need to get something done, but my mis-interpret the correct time to do them. That’s OK — just back off slightly until it’s the right time. If you try to force roadmaps where they haven’t been forced before they will suck.
2) You know what needs to be done. Product Management is billed as strategic, but there are a lot of details to manage. Especially when you get into dev scheduling and so on. Work with people, and don’t let detail management disguise itself as YOU feeling like you need control over everything. Like forcing roadmaps or scheduling process, it will cause things to dismantle. And you’ll probably be out of a job.
So, next steps? Well, now that my foundation / framework has been put in place over the last few months the fun can start. Not that this hasn’t been fun.
Communication, especially in a startup, is SO important. I can’t stress that enough, and yes, it’s a very valuable lesson I had to learn. You are in the driver’s seat here as PM’s folks. If you are concerned about communicating detailed roadmap and release dates to Sales, you must get over this. Make sure your standardized contracts are in place to catch dates / slides that may have a tendency to slip in there.
Everyone is going to make mistakes - including you. Just learn, fix them, and keep charging ahead.
In addition to communication, I have found pricing to be challenging, especially in a nascent market. You don’t really have a baseline. BUT, you need to get this done and not let it scare you. Monitoring (and the metrics / objectives set during product planning) will guide you to market dominance. Just stay focused and don’t wildly vary all of the place. Keep referring back to your vision.
Sales. As a PM, you have to get on the phone and do some sales. Whether these are leads from trade shows you’ve gone to or whatever, but just start talking to people in the market. This is the next big thing for me - gathering that data to make sure a) our roadmap hunches are correct and b) our pricing is picking up.
Oh, and of course, getting product out the door. For some reason, I know all the steps we have to go through, and with my team I’m working on crystallizing those now. Just because I didn’t take the Blackberry or MacBook Pro to market doesn’t mean I don’t know how to do this - and the same goes for everyone.
For example, on Jan 5 we shipped a rev to one of our key products. This past week we shipped a new utility that works with two of our products to make our client’s interaction time with our stuff more streamlined. Next week, we are shipping another product rev, and will do so the week after that with something different.
“Shipping” involves a lot of moving parts. If you are the first PM in a team that hasn’t had a PM before, you are going to face some interesting challenges. But don’t let that get in the way of you understanding the components that need to work in order to get an effective product (or even something small as a utility) out the door. After all, you own the roadmap and have put the marks in place that determine success.
Make sure you get the stuff out there you are responsible for and communicate.
All you senior PM’s and PM directors - an additional layer is added to your workload of recognizing opps in creating ties across all of your products. Heh. This is also something next on my list, but I know takes some time - but, now the foundation is place (see - way before in this post) it’s SO much easier to bring multiple PM’s together.
And now….time for lunch.
