What’s Required of our “Product Managers” – update 1
Posted on February 25th, 2010 by Paul McArdle – 1 CommentThis is the 2nd post on the topic.
The first post was made almost 2 months ago, and remained incomplete whilst I focused on higher priority issues (such as the recruitment of our GM DDD WCW). In the meantime, we have had several conversations internally with respect to the implicit responsibilities of the position.
This post is intended to be a starting point, from which further refinement can be made once our GM DDD WCW has started with the company.
(A) Perspective
We are currently in the process of recruiting our General Manager for Discerning, Developing and Delivering What the Customer Wants (Needs).
This person (a.k.a our GM Software) will hold ultimate accountability for the following KPI:
The ongoing upgrade of our existing products (and development of new ones) such that they collectively deliver at least 20x the value they currently deliver to clients.
This fits with our vision for growth in client numbers.
To deliver on this measure, the GM Software will be responsible for 5 key aspects of the Product Development process:
1) Growing our development team towards approx 25 people over the course of the next 10 years – and growing the capability of everyone in the team;
2) Understanding what value our clients (and potential clients) need to receive through our software;
3) Determining (via business case analysis) the best way to deliver on these requirements – with a focus on both short-term cash flow management, and longer term value (i.e. rejecting the “tyranny of the OR”)
4) Making some major architectural decisions with respect to changes to the way our software (and support systems) operate, in order that we can deliver on our vision; and
5) Streamlining our software development processes (including a transition to a more agile-based development methodology).
The reason these requirements are listed here is because:
1) The refinement of the structure of the development team (and hence the responsibilities of each person in the team) will be the responsibility of the GM Software – hence what is listed here may well be changed, over time;
2) It is logical that some of the responsibilities above will continue to be cascaded down to the individual Product Managers.
(B) pre- GM Software
The position of “Product Manager” might be equally termed:
Manager for Discerning, Developing and Delivering what the Customer Wants with respect to a particular product
With this responsibility, your focus will be on maximising the value we deliver to clients through this product – whilst at the same time steadily increasing the value we generate for ourselves, over the longer-term.
A few key points to note about this statement:
1) All three aspects of the role are important;
2) The focus is on the customers need, not the product.
For instance, the “needs position” of our NEM-Watch product is clarity – hence our Product Manager for NEM-Watch is a Manager responsible for delivering Clarity. All decisions taken about the product should be taken with reference to this “needs position” – NOT the current codebase, or incarnation of the product.
3) The extension of this is that the Product Manager needs to be proactive in reframing the incarnation of the product (over time) such that it can maximise its satisfaction of that particular need.
I currently see Product Managers (responsible for the ongoing development of “mature products”) as very different beasts compared to Prototype Managers (who would be responsible for testing out prototypes designed to meet new customer needs.
These two roles will require a very different type of person (in my view) – for instance:
1) the Product Manager will have a focus on incremental innovation (which can be process-driven to some extent, in my view) whereas
2) the Prototype Manager will be responsible for discontinuous innovation (which is a more creative pursuit that can be stifled by a focus on process).Given where we are currently at, the following is a further details of the role, broken down into the following sections:
1) Responsibilities (i.e. what you are tasked to deliver).
2) Measures (i.e. how you will be measured).
3) Capabilities (i.e. what you will need in order to deliver) .
Part 1) Responsibilities
Your responsibilities would be as follows:
(A) Product Development
You will accept responsibility for the ongoing development of your product.
Your primary focus will be on growing (each year) the value we deliver to clients through this product. This will be done by:
1) Maintaining our high retention rate for the product;
2) Providing greater value to existing clients; and
2) Continuing to facilitate the attraction of new clients, by the enhancement of the value we deliver through the software.VALUE = BENEFITS – COST
Notes:
1) The focus is on benefits, not features.
2) Cost to the client includes our licence fee, but also other costs they incur by virtue of our software.(B) Because of our Small Team
Because of the small size of our team currently (we’re still a start-up) you will also be asked to accept some responsibility for:
i. Project Management
You will be entrusted with the responsibility of managing certain software development projects. You will do this, using our evolving Agile software development methods.
You will continue to play a role in the ongoing evolution of these methods to ensure we continuously improve the value we deliver to clients
Because we have Self-Managed Teams as a Core Value, as a Project Manager, you will act more as a facilitator than as a top-down authoritarian.
ii. Coding
At the current point in time, you will also be required to do coding work, in conjunction with our other programmers.
(C) Ancillary Responsibilities
We’re a small company, and will remain this way (relative to our expanding client base). As such, it is required that everyone will accept personal responsibility for making a positive contribution to the business in ways such as the following:
i. Personal Learning Plan
As with all our other people, you will accept personal responsibility for preparation, and implementation, of your personal learning plan – such that it is aligned with our Core Value of “Life-Long-Learning”.
ii. Working ON the business
As with all our other people, you will accept personal responsibility for applying yourself to work ON, and not just IN, the business.
iii. Time spent as our Rostered Support Guru
Everyone in our Product Development Team is expected to take their rostered turn to work as our Rostered Support Guru for a month.
During this month, your singular focus of will be delighting clients who contact us for support, no matter what the product or issue.
iv. Be a Little Bit Remarkable
Yes, you will have the opportunity to create your own weird and wacky job title, as well – just a bit of fun in the interests of becoming remarkable.
This will provide a positive impact on our business – so long as we are actually delighting our clients.
2) Your Performance Measures
It will be expected that you will proactively work with your management to clarify the measures that will be used to assess your performance in delivering on the requirements of the above.
With respect to the areas of responsibility (above) your performance will be able to me measured as follows:
(A) Product Development
For current years, your success will be demonstrated by:
1) First and foremost, by delighted clients using your products (we will investigate measures such as the Net Promoter Score to quantify this);
2) Secondly, you will have grown revenue sustainably with respect to your products (exact metrics to be worked out offline, and in conjunction with our overall business planning).You will have done this whilst maintaining costs at an acceptable level:
1) Our costs (for discerning, developing and delivering);
2) Costs to our clients (software licence fees plus ancillary costs of our software).For future years, you will have a clear Product Roadmap – which will indicate where the next increases in value are to come from, and how they are to be delivered.
(B) Coding
Your code will be subject to the same measures of quality as for our other programmers.
(C) Ancillary Responsibilities
i. You will have developed your Learning Plan, had it approved, and be implementing (with benefits already beginning to be delivered to the company).
ii. Your contributions (in working ON the business) will be noteworthy.
iii. Whilst on Support, our customers will be delighted with the service provided (we still have to develop a method by which to measure this).
3) Your Capabilities
In “The Speed of Trust” Stephen Covey describes capability as a combination of five factors – talents, attitudes, skills, knowledge and style.
These are all covered below – but for ease of reference, I have separated these into “soft” skills (attitude and style) and “hard” skills (talents, skills and knowledge):
(A) Soft Skills
Your Attitude and Style will include the following:
i. Values-Focused
You will share our collective commitment to our Four Core Values:
Value 1 = Openness
Value 2 = Self-Management (and self-managed teams)
Value 3 = Life-Long-Learning
Value 4 = A relentless drive to deliver real Value to our Clients
More about this later…
ii. Mature and Self-Aware
You will reject the “tyranny of the OR”and hence be able to contribute to a business that both:
(a) Delivers sustainably increasing value over the longer-term; whilst at the same time
(b) Delivering sufficient returns, in the short-term, to enable us to continue on this path.
You will be mature and self-aware enough to accept many paradoxes apparent in our business – this is only one of those.
iii. Agile, and Nimble
You will need to live an agile mindset:
(a) Agile (big “A”) in software development,
(b) Nimble (or agile – small “a”), as the needs of the business change as we grow.
iv. Don’t take yourself too seriously
Have a laugh with us - it’s not all serious…
(B) Hard Skills
To deliver on your responsibilities above, your Talents, Skills and Knowledge required fall into these baskets:
i. Understanding of the electricity market
You may not start with us with much understanding – but you need to have the drive and ability to learn quickly about this numerically complex and technically challenging industry.
An ability to explain complex concepts in clear and simple terms would definitely be an advantage.
ii. Able to understand what Customer’s Value
The “customer perspective” will be at the centre of your world (ICT will be a means to an end).
In particular, you will have a special ability to read between the lines at what customers say, and don’t say, in order that you can understand what really keeps them awake at night.
Hence, good communication skills (including empathy for the customer) are essential.
For instance, we expect you will want to share your successes on (and seek interaction through) our “Behind the Scenes” blog – or through whatever medium we choose to use in the future.
iii. Ability to Innovate (esp Incrementally)
You will upskill yourself in all key aspects of incremental innovation – such that you can use these skills to deliver more value to the customer, where:
VALUE = BENEFIT – COST
In other words, you will be able to translate customer requirements to product design.
iv. Business Case Preparation
You will have the ability to prepare a business case on the various options for product design to meet an identified customer need, in order that we can assess the relative merits of prospective designs.
v. High-Level Design
Keeping in mind that the low-level design of the software will be completed by programmers as part of their process of completing User Stories, your role will entail determining high-level architecture with respect to your products - such that they can continue to meet the needs of clients, moving forwards
vi. Customer’s Representative
In our sprints/iterations you will fill the role of the onsite “customer” in the prioritisation of User Stories within each iteration.
.
(C) post- GM Software
Once our General Manager for Discerning, Developing and Delivering what the Customer Wants is in place, one of their responsibilities will be to develop the team, and structure the responsibilities such that (s)he can best deliver on the requirements of the Product Development Division.
Hence, expect to see another updated post about the role and responsibilities of our Product Managers sometime in the future….
[...] has been superseded by a more recent update, which I posted here on the blog on Thursday 25th February 2010.