Product Talk with Matt LeMay

Last week, I attended a session on Product Management delivered by Matt LeMay. Here are a few insights from the session.

1. Outcomes over output: We often focus on the speed and delivery of the output called feature factories. But there is no guarantee that due to this, there would be any improvement in the business which in turn harms the product and business. Output v Outcomes depends on How we define Outcomes. Outcomes are measurable changes in user behaviour leading to high impact, e.g.: value, revenue, growth etc. The future will be moving from output v outcome to impact first. For product teams to be successful, their success must be aligned with the business's success. The most important question we need to ask is, "What are the measurable conditions that must be met for the business to be considered successful at a specific point in the future?"
2. Empowered teams: The concept of empowered teams has certainly defined the last five years of product discourse more than any other concept. The teams that are closest to the work should manage work. Those who understand the product best should be making decisions about the product.

Empowered and accountable teams will drive success in the future. Accountability to impact, accountability to specific goals. If empowered teams are not accountable to specific business goals, they go from building what executives want to guessing what executives want.

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Even though we need empowered teams, we need direction from executives to drive in that direction. Because if we haven't been told what success looks like,? we can't succeed. In the past, there was this notion that product teams could just manage output and outcomes and the impact was the realm of the executives and everyone else which probably doesn’t work anymore.

We have to ask this one question to ourselves: Does our work contribute meaningfully to the success of the business in a way we can easily and consistently describe?

3. Frameworks and standardisation:

Product management is a fundamentally connective role. Great product managers know how to thrive in the messy middle. To thrive in the messy middle, product managers need connective skills.

1. Communication means that you create clarity. When things are uncomfortable, it's often because people are saying the same thing, but meaning different things.
2. Organization: Good product managers seek to make themselves obsolete. They want to set up their team for sustainable success.
3. Research means living in our users' reality. The best product managers keep one foot firmly planted in their users' reality.
4. Execution:? As a product manager all efforts should be in service of outcomes.

To summarise, in the future of product management, focus on outcomes over outputs is essential. Product teams need to align their success with the broader business goals, ensuring they drive measurable impact. Empowered teams, with clear direction and accountability for results, are critical for achieving this alignment.

As product managers, our role is inherently connective, requiring us to excel in communication, organization, research, and execution. By fostering clarity, setting our teams up for sustainable success, understanding our users, and prioritizing outcomes, we can effectively navigate the complexities of our work.

The key question we must continually ask ourselves is: Does our work contribute meaningfully to the business's success? By striving to answer this affirmatively, we can ensure that we are not just building features, but delivering true value that drives growth and long-term success.