Product Management Newsletter #4
Welcome to this week’s edition of our Product Newsletter - a weekly edition highlighting top community discussions and learning resources for product managers.
We will cover
Top Discussions
Question 1) Looking for tips on how to run a better weekly retro
Any advice on running better weekly retros? We have a standard “What went well? What did not go well? What are we going to commit to?” dialogue, but I’m wondering if there are ways for me to be more effective in driving this discussion than literally reciting each question.
- Lawrence
Discussion
A] I’ve seen retros which is used well by engineering managers I’ve worked with before when running retros. basically helps put the retro session on a set of rails with prompts to stimulate better discussion. you could also roll your own approximation of what this does with something like Miro. hope that helps!
- Marco
B] Isn’t weekly too early? I don’t know the context, but I feel like if this is for your Engr teams, then most likely, in a week the number of things they could accomplish will be interjected by a lot of noise and so a retro, IMO would be very surface-level. As in the team will not get an opportunity to really introspect. Again, I don’t know the context and it could very well make sense to have a retro or a pulse-check weekly depending on:
But once the canyon of discovery is passed, a weekly retro is too soon to assess and correct courses. But to answer your question literally, we do something from this tool: The free trial version has been used very effectively. They cycle thru several variations of retro - anywhere from the traditional start-stop-continue to mapping the team’s pulse check - motivation, pride of ownership, etc.
- Samantha
C] Whether or not this is your first time running a retrospective meeting, here are 5 best practices to help your team find strengths and weaknesses in your current processes.
I think that because of the new challenges we’re facing, now is a better time than any to run a retro, and so whether or not this is your first time running one, here are my 5 top tips to make sure that your retros are a success:
-Carolyn
Question 2) How do you optimize your time for your goals?
PM with three years experience here, curious about the hacks fellow PMs uses to invest their time well. I’ve seen plenty of PMs whose days are driven by Slack – constantly in respond mode. Always a long list of tasks, processes to follow, delivery calendars and firefighting. I’m talking about weeks when you’ve worked like mad and wondered where it’s all going.
Question: beyond filling out and burning down tasks as they emerge, what’s your approach for aligning your schedule with the goals/habits you want to achieve or maintain over weeks or months?
– Jesus
Discussion
A] TLDR is that product role shouldn’t be split, it requires both strategic and tactical decisions every day. But in short – if you look a the product career ladder at any company that we would consider good or strong at product, none of them have a role called product owner.
– Jesus
B]?I worked at a start-up so my answer is to do it all! Half-ass everything! My current role is at a big company but a brand new zero-to-one product.
I have a running list of my to-dos. I have a template for each item that includes: the task, dependencies (internal teams, external influences, etc.) my own contribution, time approximation to complete my contribution, urgency versus importance, and management’s idea of its priority. I even lay out each and every internal team and if there are no dependencies on that team, I mark it as N/A, but it makes sure I check that box so I don’t miss anything.
I keep this all on a sheet with tabs for each area I own. I check at the beginning of my day and the end to make sure I can not only update statuses, but if I have some time in my calendar, I can schedule a time to knock out a small task.
Been working for me for the last 6 months or so and it allows me to unload some of the thoughts from my busy brain and easily access them if someone asks what’s going on with a certain task.
– Rob
C] I try to adopt an OS approach to first determine the nature of the project, this reduces the need for me to shift the priorities mid-week.
– Karan
领英推荐
Question 3) Need help interviewing Group Product Managers
I will be interviewing for a Group Product Manager position. I will be inheriting 3 PMs.
What are some questions interviewers ask about to understand your management & leadership skills? What are good reading materials for this interview process?
Example: How did you motivate your team through the covid pandemic?
– Marco
Discussion
A] This is written from the perspective of the other side of the table, but I think it’s an excellent series in terms of breaking down what hiring managers look for from certain interview questions.
It’s not PM-focused but some of the content might be relevant to the broader leadership questions you’re thinking about.
– Karan
B]?I think that as you go up the hierarchy then the questions asked and the type of interview become very different per company.
So my advice would be to get the most insight about the company and the person interviewing you. The company:
Job posting?– Read every bullet in the job posting very carefully. Find the bullet that is not generic. The one that looks like it has the “touch” of the hiring manager. Think of stories from your experience where you covered that bullet successfully and find a way to weave it into the interview
The person interviewing you:
Their posts/social media?– Search for anything that person wrote, especially around the product. Get a feel of what they value.
The approach in the interview should be that you two are already working together. If by the end it feels like you two are colleagues then you increased your chance for sure.
– Nathan
Top Learning Resources
The ladder of evidence: Get more value from your customer interviews and product experiments
One of the best signs of an effective product team is a regular cadence of customer interviews and product experiments. But it’s not enough to simply check the box on these activities; we need to make sure that we do them effectively.
A guide to seed fundraising
Startup companies need to purchase equipment, rent offices, and hire staff. More importantly, they need to grow. In almost every case they will require outside capital to do these things. The initial capital raised by a company is typically called “seed” capital. This brief guide is a summary of what startup founders need to know about raising the seed funds critical to getting their company off the ground.
The unusual guide for raising seed and series A capital
As a founder, you’ve embraced the life-changing decision to set out and tackle the difficult obstacles on the way to building a valuable, enduring company. At Unusual, we decode the lessons of the masters and make them available to tomorrow’s founders to increase their likelihood of success.
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