Reach Out
A comment a relatively new product manager named Jeff Wright just left on one of my previous posts just gave me an idea.
If you are out there, in the field - new to product management or not - and want to chat about questions or situations you have, I’m happy to offer help however I can.
Seriously, don’t be shy. Either e-mail me or call my cell - 416-725-9747. I’ll do my best to help out however I can and answer your questions.
I know especially for a lot of early PM’s out there, you might feel as though you don’t have anyone to really turn to in your organization for guidance or assistance. I’m no Steven Haines or Steve Johnson or any of those gurus, but like I said - I’m more than happy to have a chat and hopefully help you out.
Giving Effective Feedback
I’ve seen several posts written, and written several myself, about gathering effective feedback when you are in product management. But what about everyone else that’s interfacing with product? How can you give PdMs good, solid feedback on a consistent basis?
First, lets take a quick step back - why do we encourage anyone and everyone to give feedback? Isn’t it the PdM’s job to identify the ways to make the product better?
it’s true that one of the core tasks of product managers is to gather and filter input, make decisions based on it and/or make recommendations to senior management about directions to take or priorities to pay attention to. But, there’s one important thing that everyone in an organization should always remember - it’s everyone’s job, all the time, to help make products the best they can be.
Many PMs will tell you that they’d rather receive what someone thinks to be a crappy idea than no ideas at all. Ensure there is in fact a reason for the suggestion and it does provide value - or, at least, you think it does.
I will always try to ask, “what do you recommend?” (or more simply, “why?”) when receiving ideas / notes / feedback to ensure I’m capturing the full thought, and that one is actually there. I want to be sure I get an entire notion or idea - not just cut it off and only take a potentially negative criticism. If a PM in your organization is blindly accepting things like, “this doesn’t work” or “I don’t like this,” they aren’t doing their job.
They need to dig deeper to get the entire request. This is why it’s important people interacting on the front lines (with real users) are trained to inquire and gather that feedback properly. Many times, users will just write a 1/2 finished idea without even realizing it. They may written at a time of frustration or being super happy while using the product; but in many cases they will leave off the “why?”
The “why?” is the most crucial part, because it’s what tells product manager’s what’s actually important to the user giving you the request. If that’s not there, it’s all very binary - a thumb’s up or down would suffice.
This doesn’t just go for product feedback, but delivering feedback in general; especially when managing others. One of the best lessons to help someone that may be more junior (or, depending on how you look at things - less jaded) learn is how to deliver proper feedback. Whether that’s a product idea, making a PowerPoint deck look better, etc… The earlier people get comfortable with the practice of actually explaining why they are saying something, the better. But, I digress.
Product manager’s should always be willing to listen to feedback. And those that want to provide it to them should make sure they have these critical elements in their delivery. Heck, anyone should feel comfortable even asking their PdM if they are providing their ideas to them in the most effective way possible. That should help clear any confusion / misinterpretations up pretty quickly.
