The Clever PM (PN)

Tips, tricks, and hacks that help you to be a better, more clever, Product Manager.

Being an Agent of Change

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One of the most important parts of being a Product Manager is becoming an agent of change in your organization.  Unless by some absolute miracle you’re working for a company that has everything figured out, has no conflicts at all, and is able to go from theory to strategy to tactics to release smoothly every single time, you will need to learn to spearhead change in your organization.

And being an agent of change is a scary thing – you’re asking people to follow you into the unknown, to take your research and your knowledge and your experience as the stepping stones to a better future.  You’re putting your personal and professional reputation on the line, in the hope that the light that you see at the end of the tunnel is not a train heading in your direction.

It’s scary — but it’s also what separates a great Product Manager from merely a good one.

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Tending Gardens & Herding Cats: Maintaining a Healthy Rapport with Your Development Teams

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Several times in my career, I’ve joked to someone or another that my next job title will be “Senior Cat Herder” rather than “Senior Product Manager” — and for good reason.  Cats, for all of their cuddly cuteness, are independent problem solvers, much like most of the better developers that I’ve worked with.

Add to the problem the fact that as a Product Manager we typically don’t have any direct authority over our development teams — while we can prioritize the work that they’re charged with doing, and we can (sometimes) influence the way in which they build their solutions to the problems that we’ve stated, we lack the kind of direct management influence that lends itself to “control” over those teams.  And, when a Product Manager who doesn’t have such authority oversteps his or her boundaries, and becomes a directive manager of those development and testing teams, it’s almost inevitable that it backfires, amidst charges of “micromanagement” and “you’re not my boss!”

And, ultimately, they’re right – you’re not their boss.  You’re their colleague.  Like it or not, you’re a fellow cat, not some pack leader of a wolf clan.

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