Strong Product People

Can they describe their now? What will they deliver over the next four weeks? Can they describe their next? What will they be working on over the next five to 12 weeks? Can they describe a long-term vision? Can they articulate the bigger opportunities for their products, and when and how they will pursue them?

So, it’s a good exercise to go through, even if you’ve been managing your people for quite some time. And if you explain to them why you are doing this, and that you want to invest more of your time in their personal growth, they usually like this exercise.

After you have created your narrative, ask your PMs or yourself the following questions: Does this help us make better decisions sooner? Does this help us focus on the critical business problems? Does this help us to explain our “not-to-do” list? Does this help everyone understand where we are headed? Does this give us a purpose and a meaning?

1. Define your PM essence. These are the personality traits you’re looking for in your product managers. Keep in mind that, since they are hard to change—they’re usually already baked into someone’s personality—they’re most useful in the hiring process. Here are the components of PM essence that I personally look for: Curiosity Emotional intelligence

So, be very human. Show your fears, doubts, and vulnerabilities—along with the passion and joy you feel when things go right. Show your people that you care.

In my world, there are only three types of meetings. The first type is the update meeting where someone is giving me an update on something or I am updating someone. An update meeting can be a standup, a 1:1, or a more formal meeting such as a quarterly update. The second type is the brainstorming meeting where we actually get creative—coming up wi

In other words, the best leaders don’t push their people to do things—they provide the conditions that draw employees into the work they are responsible for of their own accord, fully engaged and inspired to give the very best of themselves every day.

Step 2: Create a strategy for success. Once you’ve agreed on the goal for your coaching, then the next step is for you to help your PM come up with tactics to put it into action—a strategy for success. As

Step 1: Gain clarity. The number one thing coaches do is help the people they coach—their coachees—gain clarity.

Identify the 1–3 critical issues or hard problems you want and need to tackle. Then create a vision and strategy narrative based on the issues or problems you have identified: