Our job description as product managers is rather straightforward: to ensure that all of our software development initiatives thrive. In fact, any team failures or achievements are product management failures or victories.
While the product manager is not the team's manager, they are responsible for all important factors that contribute to the team's performance and must take ownership of that role. Here are five easy things that product managers can do to assure success:
It's critical to establish your definition of success from the start so that everyone is working towards the same goal. It's very likely that the team may strive towards diverse goals if success isn't defined. Determining success also allows for the creation of benchmarks and improvement goals, indicating that the team has a clear understanding of how to succeed.
What factors influence the success of a release? What are your post-launch KPIs for the product? What are your QA objectives? What features are essential? What factors contribute to a sprint's success? What are your sprint objectives, both in terms of narrative fulfilment and non-story objectives? Setting high-level goals, such as completing a certain feature, rather than relying solely on your tales, has proven to be effective for me. This compels the product manager to prioritize what it takes to finish that feature in terms of stories, keeping the team focused on the big picture.
What does it take for a tale to be "ready"? Setting a definition of ready can aid the story-writing process by ensuring that you have all you need for a narrative when a developer picks it up to start working on it.
What qualifies a story as "complete"? Setting a definition of done within the team can assist to establish expectations for when a story is ready to ship – and guarantees that your shippable product meets these criteria.
Capitulating external factors is one of the most prevalent blunders made by product managers. As a consulting product manager, I've seen this happen on many levels: giving in and allowing a feature that just one single client actually wants, adding something or changing a design to please a VP or project sponsor, or lowering the bar to success due to a team weakness.
It's difficult to say "no" to a vice president or a key customer, especially when you don't have management's support, but these small concessions plague product after product, and it's critical to eradicate them.
It's all about the results when it comes to success which means that even if you launch a product precisely how you imagined it, it could still fail miserably. Product managers must be aware of any assumptions they make and conduct user tests to eliminate the most dangerous ones.
Using lean validation methodologies, user testing does not have to be expensive or time-consuming. Certain sites can assist you in finding people to interview rapidly (remotely). Consider using apps to identify people in your region who you can meet in person. Many people will agree to undertake these interviews for a nominal charge ($50-$100 per hour), and you'll gain useful input on your designs as well as a better knowledge of your consumer and the problem you're trying to solve. A simple landing page test can provide you with more quantifiable data for a few hundred dollars in advertising.
Teams are expected to have some spin. There are new libraries to test, new technologies to learn, new team members we don't know how to communicate with, and a slew of other challenges that can hold teams down. A lot of the time, these are assumed to be the responsibility of the project manager or scrum master, but there is a lot a product manager can do to make things move more smoothly:
Participate in product sessions with developers. Developers adore receiving feedback. It is critical that they comprehend why decisions are made and that their ideas are taken into account. Finally, they often offer great knowledge and including them in these sessions increases their ability to construct the solution and make all of the small decisions that are expected of them on a regular basis.
Make certain that duties are well-defined. Because it's not clear who to go to for varied requirements, there's a lot of confusion among young and dysfunctional teams. Make it clear what you can offer and where they can go for additional assistance.
Keep an eye on your team. The most precious thing you have in your team and its goals. Spend your time and management capital ensuring they have what they require, including licensing, work-life balance (burnout is deadly), meeting-free time, technical support, and everything else that may arise.
Don't create unrealistic goals or deadlines for yourself. While motivation is essential, missed deadlines, overburdening developers, and relying too much on estimates without considering unpredictability can all contribute to a climate that is not conducive to success.
The product manager, in the end, should always deliver the product vision. It's vital to remember that most team members are focused on their current project, and it's up to the product manager to keep an eye on the finish line and ensure that the team gets there on time.
Take the time to motivate your staff by showing them the final product. Remind them how important their work is. With roadmaps, you can keep them up to date. Bring findings from past launches to them. Share the findings of your investigation. All of these acts serve to remind everyone of the importance of their work and to keep everyone on track for success.
Finally, the product manager can make any project a success, but they must first define success, avoid making concessions that do not improve the product, remove risks, keep the team on track, and maintain a clear picture of where everyone is going.
Originally published on Prosple India