As a Product Manager (PM) I´m responsible for the Aftonbladet.se as a product, the user and customer experience. I have a lot of responsibility but not a lot authority…
As a PM, I have to talk with a lot of stakeholders that all have a great interest in the development of the product. These stakeholders are a great asset for me and together we create the way forward. My biggest challenge is to get everybody to pull in the same direction, in order to create the best product possible for our users and customers. If you tell me, that means a lot of bureaucracy and budget tweaking, you will be disappointed. I´m not a spreadsheet ninja and I have no intention in becoming one, simply because I do not think spreadsheets will help us creating the best products. I know that passion is fundamental to creativity. Passion is what makes someone to run the extra mile. I have a very clear KPI, that is how many people comes to me and say:
“wouldn’t it be cool if…”
Interactions such as that give me an indication of the culture and atmosphere in my teams.
My focus as a PM is to point out the road forward, inspire everyone to work on the biggest challenges we face, and enable everybody to do the best work they possibly can. Technology enables us to jump dimensions in creating a better experience, that is why I love it so much.
We needs to minimize short-term, “firefighting” measures, and instead focus on preventing the fires, with modern kick-ass technology, long-term visions on how to develop our business, and a deep understanding of our users and customers.
Process
With process you can create a routine, and in a routine many people find comfort. Process, if done right, also facilitates communication, giving us more time for creating great stuff.
However there is always a risk of becoming too dependent on a comfy and cosy process: that will take away the focus of solving problems. When someone says to me:
“We did all the right things, shame that it did not work…”
I know that the process has taken the place of the product as the most important thing. This is pretty much what IBM did with the epic RUP #fail.
In the agile manifesto the first point is:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
I think that point is the most important one of them all. The process itself will not solve the problems, it should not be a religion, it is just there to make things easier. The process should simply be a minimal set of rules that enable teams to solve the right problems.
Content in this case is the work being done in the development teams.
The team
Software development is a team sport and you’d better be a team player to be successful.
Neither managers or the stockholders should micromanage a team, the team needs to have the freedom of working, that´s how a product becomes successful. Managers should only really provide bigger, more interesting problems for the team to work on.
Working in a team where it feels important to deliver great things, and where everything needed to do so is available is an amazing feeling. That is the environment a PM should strive to create, together with the team.
Many people stress the importance of ideas: my view is that they are important, but they are just a seed. And anyone can come up with an idea, the hard bit is the execution. That requires craftsmanship, very hard work, passion, dedication and perseverance.
The idea that someone talked about in the beginning of the journey will always develop into something else that is much better along the way. It is impossible to see the end of the road when you start the trip. And a team with a variety of skills, backgrounds, preferences, gender identities and ages will bring the best results is a strongly held belief of mine.
