Practical tips that guide you from first-time product manager to leader

"How do I prove my value as a product manager?" This is one of the most common questions I get. Heck, I've asked myself that question throughout my career. Still do. It's often articulated in different ways: How can I get more empowerment? How can I convince my boss / leadership / execs to "let go"? How can I get engineering to follow my ideas? How can I get sales to not just see me as "technical"? How do I help my boss understand my impact? How can I grow from being an order taker to a...

The 4 Levels of Product Leadership Growth Read on my website / Read time: 5 minutes 20 years ago, I learned a hard lesson. That a product will never grow past the growth of the product leader. A product goes through 4 levels of product growth. And if we, as product leaders, don't grow past these 4 levels, WE will be the ones holding it back. The levels are: If you're a leader, it's absolutely crucial you know what level you're at. Because that will define where your primary energy needs to...

Unlocking Product Success:5 Key Drivers Read on my website / Read time: 5 minutes Today, I'm going to give you a crash course in marketing and finance - two things most product managers ignore. Every product has performance drivers - the metrics that have a material impact on the success of our products. Unfortunately, most product managers - and product leaders - focus on lower-level local metrics (usability and heat maps) and process metrics (sprint velocity, burn down) and ignore the true...

Long-Term vs Short-Term Read on my website / Read time: 5 minutes One of the most classic challenges for product managers is balancing the long-term vs. the short-term. Innovation vs. existing product. Strategic initiatives vs. short-term fixes and enhancements. Here's an email I received recently that typifies this: In case the screenshot is difficult to read... “ I'm working on a brand new product that is a strategic initiative for our company. We are too early to know any revenue/cost...

Is Your Current RoadmapProcess Healthy? Read on my website / Read time: 5 minutes In 2017, I joined a startup as head of product and I'll never forget my first meeting with the CEO. "Shardul," he said, "We have to double revenue this year. But I don't see a path to do it. That's why you're here." "Our biggest challenge is we have no product roadmap," he lamented. "Product Management and Engineering have different ideas on what to work on next... "No one knows what is coming when... Sales and...

How To Play The Game Read on my website / Read time: 5 minutes I see a lot of bad advice on how to be a good product manager. > Be Agile (with a capital 'A'). > Get a certification. > Go deep on technical skills. > Have a "product mindset". > Develop "product sense". 🙄 I've written earlier about the 6 most critical skills for a product manager. The purpose of this article is to share my honest perspective on what is required to be an insanely good product manager. By insanely good I mean one...

The 6 Most Critical Skills for Product Managers Read on my website / Read time: 5 minutes "What technical skills should I learn to earn the respect of the Engineering team?" Too many product managers invest their time, energy, and cash in developing technical skills or perfecting their agile/scrum knowledge. To a certain degree, this is understandable. We consider Engineering and Design key partners. We need them to help us develop products for our customers. We spend a lot of time with them....

Succeeding as a Product Executive Read on my website / Read time: 5 minutes Today, I'm going to talk about what it takes to succeed as a Chief Product Officer. Maybe this is a role you're new to or one you're aspiring for. This is THE BIG job. The biggest in product management and indeed in the commercial success of any product. If you're a first-time CPO or aspiring to get there, you need to understand what it takes to succeed in the role. Unfortunately, most first-time CPOs struggle or fail...

How to Get the Most Out ofYour Execs Read on my website / Read time: 5 minutes This is for the pro product folks out there... Would you believe that out of all the folks who have reported to me across all the companies I've worked at in the last 24 years, only 6 of them sent me consistent updates? Sounds crazy, right? From VPs to Directors to individual contributor product managers. Sure, since they reported to me, I would follow up with them and we had our regular 1:1s and team meetings. But...