Connecting the dots - stepping stone to flywheels and value loops

830am. An office in Bay Area. A mid-level PM is chatting up with a couple of new PMs by the side of office pantry. Top exec walks up and starts preparing her brew. Overhearing the conversation about value that PMs add to the business, she steps in and says 'PMs should help connect the dots in the company'. Profound, thinks the PM lead. 'Let me find them dots' - think the newbies. PM lead, trying to build on connecting the dots point, goes about explaining that role of PMs is like translators and gears in the business. Different part of business move at different speeds and often speak very different languages. Getting them to talk to each other and work with each other is something that PMs need to focus on. Two intriguing conversations in a few mins - a great start to the day.

But, as is the PM DNA, once the intrigue sets in, it needs to be addressed. PM lead in the morning conversation reaches out and gathers a group of PMs working in different business functions and businesses. Now, true PM fun is on in a 20-seater meeting room in the corner with bright sunshine from the early evening sun filtering through the floor-to-roof glass walls.

Alex, one of the newbie PMs in Catalog team, excitedly asks about what's this dot that they are supposed to connect. Comments follow, 'is it a data point', 'does it have something to do with individuals', 'is it a point in time', 'how to identify this dot', and so on. Smarts in the room are at their wit's end but, in true PM ways, get down to defining the first part of problem statement. Using the collective intelligence from their very diverse roles and functional areas, here's what they summarize for the 'what's a dot': Dots that PMs need to connect are, at the most fundamental level, primarily 'insight tokens'. It could a data point, an internal or external event, a step in the business process, feedback from customers, competitors intelligence input, statement made in a white-boarding session, results of an experiment, etc.

Well, putting a What before Why was definitely an exception the group made. But, finally the Why did come up. 'Why should we connect the dots' - asked Lili, a PM from Search Backend team. Group decided to look at the problem solving methods and practices for their area and swiftly came up with the list of 'Why' for connecting the dots:

1. Help understand and define the problem in all its dimensions. While a thorough feasibility, viability, and desirability analysis can help, there is no substitute for multi-faceted problem understanding.
2. Help identify value levers across business and mechanism to move those levers: Biggest value levers are hidden in unexpected parts of the business and surfacing those is a primary responsibility of PMs
3. Define the most optimal solution spanning across the tech/org boundaries: Even if not for the first version of the solution, it helps keep the best option on the roadmap and ensures that first version are ready for eventual better solves
4. Amplify the value and set off the flywheels: Flywheels are commonly used mental model for aligning the organization and are fundamentally constructed by connecting the dots.

Pete, a PM from ads team, chimed in that showing low relevance ads in prime real estate of search results creates opportunity costs for business and these costs should be included in calculating the margins. Mayur, Catalog PM lead, chimed in asking if we ensure that ads are always for the best quality items? Chang from Search shared how Search selects the most deserving items and that approach could be used by ads team as well. Room lit up with the dots connecting quickly - like A Beautiful Mind.

Couple of smart folks were perplexed. If is so obviously valuable, what makes it so darn tough? The ads example had opened up everyone's minds and list just rolled out with Mike from Customer Experience team taking the lead in jotting the list on colorful post-its scattered on the whiteboard getting the last rays of the evening sun.

1. Silos are the biggest barriers. These not only prevent dots from being visible outside the organization but eventually end up suppressing these within the org as well.
2. Dots look different color, shape, and size based on the vantage points: Nearly impossible to find multiple teams looking at the dot and aligning with ease. To make it worse, dots appear and disappear shortening the window of opportunity to detect and connect those
3. Not all dots are worth connecting: Trying to connect each and every dot is as bad, if not worse, advice as 'PM is CEO of the product'
4. Data to form hypotheses around the connection: Without data, theoretical connections rarely stand the test of time, esp. when confronted with classic org barriers and efforts required to sell the connections across those barriers
5. Solutions to connect the dots: Not all connections are straight forward and might require specialized knowledge and tools to connect

With why and parts of what getting a bit clearer, Matti from iOS team took the lead in helping put together how to connect the dots. Emphasis was clearly on people and data as fundamental enablers and catalysts for the next steps. In classic PM style, team decided to put together a Crawl, Walk, Run approach and defined the Crawl for this new approach.

1. Invest time to understand each other's area. Include business and other functional leads in conversations. Look into each other's dashboards and integrate the data flow, wherever missing and feasible. Understand impact from own work on metrics for upstream and downstream systems
2. Identify one truly connect-the-dots opportunity every quarter and build solution to address it: Doesn't matter the scale or complexity, just getting it started in some form was decided as P0. Might potentially need a x-team pod to solve the tough ones
3. Intermittent pauses while sprinting ahead: Run hard and then even harder. But don't get blindsided to the bright flashing or fading dots even if those don't matter to your goals and objectives
4. Don't manufacture dots: Classic trap of 'have a hammer, find me a nail' to be avoided at all costs. Vicious cycles can get triggered fast while building virtuous loops
5. Define goals and objectives that will be impacted by the new connect-the-dots approach: The toughest part, clearly. Alignment will define how fragile or strong the connections will be.

As the sun finally set and team set out for drinks to celebrate an enlightened evening at a nearby Mexican grill, it was very clear to everyone that connecting the dots can create and destroy, build and dismantle in equal measure. Failure to connect the dots inflicts delayed/sub-optimal business outcomes at best and destruction of business value at the worst.