The Clever PM (PN)

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

Saying No Without Saying No

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One of the biggest challenges that many new product managers face is that they want to make sure that they’re making a good impression on their stakeholders, and they don’t want to say “no” to any request coming in.  They don’t want to be viewed as a blocker of progress or as an unsympathetic ear that only does what they want, come hell or high water.

Similarly, one of the biggest challenges that established product managers face is the realization that with limited resources, limited time, and limited patience, the company expects far more from the product and the product manager than they can ever deliver.  And these unreasonable expectations only get worse as more and more people push for more and more features.

But I’m here to tell you, there’s a way to manage expectations and to turn down the opportunities that others present to you without coming off as a dictator or as a blockade to getting things done.  That is the art of saying “no” without every actually saying “no”.

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Are You a Leader or Just a Manager?

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A very long time ago, I stumbled across a wonderful book entitled Getting Things Done When You Are Not in Charge by Geoffrey Bellman.  While the entire book has great tips, tricks, and advice on how to lead and achieve through influence rather than position power (a challenge that all Product Managers face daily), one chart in particular has stuck with me, and it’s something I’ve actually posted on the wall everywhere that I’ve worked.  Bellman presents a very clear distinction between the definitions of Leadership and Management, presented in a format much like that of the Agile Manifesto, where leaders value those attributes on the right more than those attributes on the left. [Read more…]

Leading Through Influence the Clever PM Way — Part 2: Effective Facilitation

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In part one of this series, we discussed the concept of “social capital” and how important it is to build, manage, and spend it in the process of leading through influence.  In this installment, we’re going to extend the scope of the discussion to a highly effective way of building your social capital in an organization, as well as to build the trust and respect of your peers and senior management team.

Facilitation is the process by which an effective product manager brings people together and drives them toward a common goal, and in doing so establishes themselves as a hub around which the spokes of the organization turn.  When performed effectively, good facilitation is almost imperceptible to those involved in a meeting – people enter, engage, and leave with an understanding of what’s to be done next.  When done poorly, or not at all, the company and management devolve into a morass of pointless, lengthy meetings that go off on wild tangents and never deliver any meaningful progress.

Which sounds more familiar to you?

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