This is the version of my talk, Be a Great Product Leader, given at Zynga on Feb 22, 2016. It includes six lessons on product leadership from my time at eBay & LinkedIn.
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Full Circle:
World-Class Product
Original meeting with Reid Hoffman turned in a four
hour conversation on what world class product
meant in a Web 2.0 world (circa 2007).
Most people start or join new companies because
they think âwe can do it better this timeâ. They
come to build a company.
These are the top 5 lessons Iâve personally gained
over the past two decades about product
management for modern consumer software.
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What Do We Demand of
Product Managers?
Strategyâš
What game are we playing & how do we keep score?
Prioritizationâš
What are the steps from here to there, and what
order do we do them in?
Executionâš
For this phase, whatâs the list of what has to get
done, and are we on track?
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Product: Results Matter
In the end, we judge product managers by whether
they âwin gamesâ
The role itself can give limited authority. Like a new
coach, the team will let you deïŹne the plays initially.
But in the end, you have to show the team wins.
Product leaders donât play the game, but they are
judged by the record of their products.
They cover any gaps. No excuses.
Responsibility, often without authority
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Prioritization: Three
Buckets
Metrics Moversâš
These pay the bills. In the end, software that doesnât
justify itself will lose the ability to fund itself.
Customer Requestsâš
If you donât listen to customers, they will lose faith in
you and eventually hate you.
Delightâš
If you donât delight customers, you wonât inspire
passion and loyalty in your users.
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Canât I Have All Three?
Itâs not impossible, but itâs extremely rare.
Very often, metrics movers are not requested or
delightful.
Very often, customer requests will not move your
metrics or delight people.
Very often, delight features will not move your
metrics, and by deïŹnition, are not requested.
Great products, however, combine all three. In agile
processes, releases intersperse all three regularly.
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Understanding Virality
One of the key insights of our growth strategy from 2008.
Extensible to literally all engagement features.
Key measure used by applications on social platforms. This is
an extremely useful frame.
Two questions: what features let members touch non
members? How does a new customer today lead to a new
customer tomorrow?
At the heart of virality is an exponential based on branching
factor and time. In an m^n equation, m is the branching
factor, n is the cycles in a time period.
Rabbits make lots of rabbits not because of big litters, but
because they breed frequently. ânâ matters more than âmâ.
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Find the Heat
There are two sides to boosting engagement: lowering the
friction of reaching out, and increasing the desire to
engage.
Itâs easy to focus on the ïŹrst and ignore the second, but
social software depends on capturing the real nuances of
human interaction.
Heat is a placeholder term for emotions that drive action,
both positive and negative. Emotion. Passion. Desire.
Ask yourself the hard questions of what strong emotions
drive the actions in your products.
Example: Apply with LinkedIn
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Simple is Hard
For some reason, people are talking a lot about
Steve Jobs these days. Inevitably this concept
comes up.
Itâs true in design, itâs true in metrics, itâs true in
prioritization, and itâs true in strategy.
Whatâs the one thing you want the user to do?
Whatâs the fundamental use case your feature
addresses for users?
Example: Mobile First design
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Final Thoughts
We can be our own harshest critics. In the mirror
we see every ïŹaw, every mistake, every
imperfection.
Behavior matters. Values matter.
Be a Great Product Leader.
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