The Everyday Innovator Podcast for Product Managers

Listen to the Interview for Product Managers and Innovators The topic of this episode is crisis management — meaning a crisis that threatens the reputation of a brand or product. When a crisis happens that involves a product, the product manager is expected to help with the issues. Also, as you take on more leadership responsibilities, it becomes more likely, if a crisis occurs, that you’ll be part of the team helping to manage the problem. No organization wants to be in a crisis, but when it happens, people who know how to respond are highly valued. To learn more about managing a crisis, I spoke with Jim Parham. Jim is the Chief Operating Officer at Hirons, an advertising and public relations company based in Indianapolis. He is also a lead Crisis Communication Manager and fondly known by customers and employees as the Professor, in part for his deep thinking as well for teaching part-time at Indiana University. He brings a background in journalism and senior leadership of large organizations, including serving as VP of Marketing. I hope you are not involved in a crisis management situation, but when it happens, knowing what Jim shares will help you be proactive instead of reactive. Summary of some concepts discussed * [2:30] What is crisis management? First, a good example of a crisis is what has occurred with United Airlines lately and some high-profile incidents with customers on their airplanes. A crisis is short or long term damage to an organization. When such a crisis occurs that impacts the organization’s brand or product, a crisis manager works quickly to develop responses for internal employees, external customers, and media and journalist. It is also common to coordinate with the organization’s legal counsel. It comes down to handling the crisis as effectively as possible.   * [5:51] Why should product managers know about crisis management? When a crisis occurs, if it involves a product, there will be many questions for the product manager and others involved in developing the product. The product manager will be involved in the crisis management.   * [9:29] What do crisis managers do for an organization? It’s not about spinning the situation. You can’t always make lemonade out of lemons. It’s  about explaining what happened and putting the pieces together in a responsible and factual manner.  You have to deal with the responsible parties involved and communicate the facts appropriately.   * [11:38] What are the qualities of an effective crisis manager? You have to exercise independence and emotional neutrality. A crisis  manager shows up to work with people who are having their worst day and need to sort it out and make sense of it. You must be a careful listener with the ability to accurately assess a situation that may be changing minute by minute. Written and verbal communications is a must because the crisis manager will be sending messages to employees, media, and others impacted by the crisis as well as conducting press conferences. You must also be a diplomat to deal with the various parties involved who are demanding information and answers. Another capability is knowing what to focus on and when – separating the wheat from the chaff. It is not uncommon to have the wrong information at first and you don’t want to share incorrect information. You also need to understand the current communication channels including the use of technologies and social media.   * [16:10] What qualities do a product manager need to help with a crisis? It’s the abilities to remain neutral and not be defensive about the situation. Information needs to be shared clearly and factually.   * [18:31] What are the keys to handling a crisis? In the past a crisis manager may have tried to control the information that is shared.

Listen to the Interview for Product Managers and Innovators Much of the advice we’ve been told about being successful as a product manager and innovator is logical, earnest… and downright wrong. My guest, Eric Barker, explores the science of success. In his book, Barking Up the Wrong Tree, Eric reveals the science behind what actually determines success and—most important—how you can achieve it. Eric also has a popular blog by the same name as his book, Barking Up the Wrong Tree, that also shares science-based answers and expert insight on how to be successful. Much of the insights can be summarized as: Know yourself and pick the right pond. This means knowing your strengths and working in an environment where you can frequently use your strengths. This and more is summarized below and discussed in the interview. Summary of some concepts discussed * [4:08] When should product managers play it safe and when should they break the rules? First, people need to get to know themselves and align themselves with the right role. If you are a constant rule breaker, find an industry, company, and role that allows you that freedom. Also, from the book Little Bets, we know that low resource, quick commitments that can be tested is the right way to approach innovation. Instead of committing to one thing that we don’t know will be successful or not, make several small commitments that move the needle forward and allow you to assess what is likely to work.   * [9:19] How do product managers find the resilience to keep going and not give up? Resilience is important because a lot of people give up on projects that have long term potential. Three ideas are well-established in the literature. * First is optimism. When you are optimistic – when you believe things will work out – then why not follow through. If you believe you will win, then you’ll take action. Optimism is composed of three Ps – personal, pervasive, and permanent. When you see that you did a good job for what you are personally responsible for, that things are working out for everything you are doing (pervasive), and that it is going to continue (permanent), we feel good. When the opposite is true, people get a feeling of futility and when that continues we call it clinical depression, feeling there is no point to continuing what we are doing. Recognize the positive elements to reinforce the three Ps and argue against negative thinking. * Second is making work a game, which must have four characteristics. The game – the process you are going through — must be winnable. It must have novelty so it feels new at times and you don’t get bored. It must also have clear goals. Finally, it must provide feedback on your progress. * Third are the stories we tell ourselves. We turn the events of our life into stories. If the stories you tell yourself involve persistence and not giving up, you are more likely to have resilience.   * [17:55] What is more important to product managers – what they know or who they know? The research studies are consistent that having a large network is powerful in getting promoted, getting employed, and being successful. However, there is also research that shows that the more extroverted you are, the worse you are at your job. If you are focused on networking, you are not developing your individual skills. There needs to be a balance between the two. Focus on alignment by asking what your role requires and what your skill sets are in networking versus individual proficiency. Product managers need to know the people who are influential in getting things done. You don’t want to build these relationships when you need something – you want to build them ahead of that time. Take the time to meet the people you will need to help you before you need the help.  

Listen to the Interview for Product Managers and Innovators Have you noticed leaders in your organization sound and look different from other employees? It’s not always true for all organizations, but leaders often talk differently — they are optimistic when they speak, they ask insightful questions, and they tend to focus on what is most important. To explore the topic of what leaders sound like – also known as, how to talk like a leader, I spoke with Tom Henschel, a professional actor who is now an executive coach. He works with clients primarily on achieving the look and sound of leadership. He’s a communication skills coach and has been running his company, Essential Communications, since 1990. Before that, Tom got his start as a professional actor after attending The Juilliard School and going on to perform in over a hundred plays and episodes of television. He was also a successful director and university teacher. He also has a monthly podcast, “The Look & Sound of Leadership,” which is a permanent member of the “What’s Hot” business podcast section on iTunes. Summary of some concepts discussed * [3:22:] How did your experience as an actor help to equip you as a communication coach? Behavior has meaning. When you raise an eyebrow or a fist when you are talking to someone, it has meaning. The person you’re talking to is going to have a reaction regardless what is in your heart to communicate. In the workplace people can forget that behavior has meaning. I call it acting on the corporate stage. Your audience is around you all the time. From acting I learned the importance of been intentional – understanding your intentions in a scene. The same applies to the corporate environment. I often ask executives what their intentions are — for example, what they want from a meeting or a discussion. Behavior has meaning and your intentions need to be clear. This is especially true for product managers who often do not have any real authority and must use their influence to gain support from others.   * [7:04] What is the look and sound of leadership? It is the name of my podcast as well as the brand of my work. It is my coaching. It is simply the idea that your look and your sound has meaning and will impact your effectiveness. I’ll illustrate it with an example. Phil was a senior leader at an aerospace company. He was fantastic at having the look and sound of a leader. He was leading a billion dollar project. When I meet with Phil, I ask him what are we talking about today. He might respond with, “There are three things I want to talk about – a conversation with my boss, an issue about my staff meetings, and something with one of my direct reports.” That kind of sorting of information and clarity is a great way to sound like a leader. That is the look and sound of leadership. Some people are great at it and others are terrible. Product managers must communicate with others, especially leaders, in ways that make sense to the person they talk to, helping them understand the bigger picture. Sorting information like Phil does is a useful communication tool and part of looking and sounding like a leader. I call this tool Sorting and Labeling.   * [13:55] How do you use Sorting and Labeling? It involves four parts: (1) headline, (2) sort, (3) labels, and (4) transitions. Refer to the infographic below. The headline tells people what you are talking about. For example, “what I want to talk about is giving a successful presentation.” Pause after the headline to make it stand out as a headline. Next is sort, which usually means using numbers. For example, “I have one item we need a decision on …” or “ I have three items to discuss, first…” Next are the labels for each item you wish to communicate. For example, Phil used the labels of a conversation with his boss,

Listen to the Interview for Product Managers and Innovators This is your home for making your move from product manager to Product Master so you can BEAT the competition. There are four levels, which spell BEAT, toward product mastery — Build your base, Earn professional certification, Apply deep dives, and Transform the organization. The fourth level — transform the organization — is the topic of this episode. At this level, product managers go from building better products to building a better organization. This is a role product managers are uniquely equipped for and are the best resource for organizations that truly want to improve.   Someone who has helped several organizations be better, specifically those in health care, is Dr. Gene Beyt. Gene is a medical doctor who now works with organizations as a healthcare designer, educator, artist, and creative director. He has a simple mission — to put human needs and well-being at the center of all that we do.   Summary of some concepts discussed   * [3:34:] How are product managers uniquely equipped to transform the organization? The position of a product manager provides three advantages. (1) Product managers are system thinkers who have a holistic view of the organization. (2) They have a strong sense of the culture of the organization, understanding the expected norms and routines. (3) They have gained relationships over time that span the organization, which enable them to navigate politics and have a powerful perspective. * [7:18] What is a positive business? Much of the research in this area has come out of the University of Michigan. It’s a fundamental idea that an organization that is human-centered and customer-outcome focused and chooses affirmative business practices will have greater beneficial impacts to employees and customers. It is a business based on positivity. Such organizations typically have a general good as its aim, with a positive impact on the community and the environment while pursuing profit. The research of such businesses indicates that the outcomes of performance and profitability usually exceed expectations. The bigger picture is to help humans thrive and flourish, and in the process, such businesses achieve higher performance. There is a current movement to create “B-Corps” which is a public business entity that has the charter to do good first while maximizing profit. * [13:44] How do you apply Design Thinking for organizational improvement? In a traditional organization where there is a fair amount of control, the common path to improvement is through reducing variation. Plan-Do-Check-Act cycles and Lean tools are used to reduce waste, improve profitability, and hopefully improve customer satisfaction along the way. From the perspective of the healthcare industry, there are four areas to consider. Real improvement cannot be achieved without re-designing these areas. They are (1) the patient experience, (2) patient outcomes, (3) cost, and (4) the workforce that tends to be burned out and disengaged. What Design Thinking does is turn around the normal problem-solving process. Instead of first focusing on a solution, you start by gaining an empathetic understanding of those affected – the customers (patients) and the employees (care providers). When employees are taught Design Thinking and they use it to solve problems, you see real change in the culture and improvements across the four areas. * [24:15] What is Positive Change Leadership? Positive Change Leadership is used concurrently with Design Thinking. Fundamental to the definition is the understanding that at one time or another everyone in the organization is leading other people and everyone is a follower. The idea is that leaders are making a change towards a positive business. My work in this area began by asking what a wise leade...

Listen to the Interview for Product Managers and Innovators   I love hearing how companies are creating successful products that provide customers value, which is the topic of this episode. Gordon Stannis, the Director of Design and Strategy at Twisthink shares their approach to developing innovative solutions for their Fortune 500 clients. Gordon started his work as an industrial designer and then moved into product development and management roles. We discuss the process Gordon uses for creating innovative products, and he shares the product journey of a tool for competitive swim coaches as an example of the process.   Summary of some concepts discussed   * [2:26] How has product design changed? 15 years ago clients told us what they wanted and we would design a product that met their needs. Today we design user experiences, services, and products as an integrated package after first discovering unmet needs of customers. The creation of tangible products has shifted to the creation of services. * [4:12] What is your approach to designing products? First, we align our language with our clients. We need to be chameleons and use the language our clients do. We understand them and their needs. We use the analogy of bridges half constructed because we build bridges between where clients are with their product needs and where they want to go. We embrace failing as part of the design process, and we plan to fail a lot during the front-end of product design so we don’t fail on the back-end. Failing simple means we are learning. When we fail we learn knowledge that competitors are unlikely to have. Failure Lab is a useful site that showcases the learning from personal stories of failure. * [13:52] What are the steps in your process? What is interesting is how the process has changed over our history. 15 years ago clients provided marketing requirements documents. We haven’t seen those in years – no one has time for such documents anymore. Now we identify the “hill” the client wants to pursue. This is investigated during the initial discussions with the client. This is like therapy sessions – you could call it innovation counseling to discern where they want to go and why they want to go there. This is the first step. * [15:57] What is the next step? At some point during the innovation counseling sessions, someone will share a magic sentence that becomes the North Star for the project – a clear sentence that describes where we are heading. For example, in one session the North Star statement was “we want to use design technology and strategy to allow a coach to be a better coach and an athlete to be a better self-coach.” This example became a product used by 13 USA Olympic swimming champions. We then build plans to support the North Star. * [17:33] What comes after the North Star? We have to understand the market and develop a great depth of empathy for the customer. We hang out with the customer in their environment. Continuing the example, we hung out at pools where high-end competitive coaches work, to understand what they want to accomplish and the challenges involved. From this, we create a picture of what would be valuable to customers. * [19:12] What do you do with the understanding of the customers’ problem? We fast forward and do pre-design. This is not a real solution design phase but a quick and intuitive view of what elements of a solution could look like. For the swim coach challenge, we took our understanding of the problem and made simple prototypes and a product video showing the prototypes in use. We had the opportunity to attend a swim coach tradeshow to get feedback from coaches. We created a fake company and had a booth at the show with our simple prototypes and product video. We told coaches we could collect 10 metrics from a swimmer an...

Listen to the Interview for Product Managers and Innovators My discussion is with Dave Oventhal, who has spent over twenty years in various product development and marketing positions, including product planner, product marketing manager, and product manager, and has led product management teams in various industries. He has extensive experience conducting qualitative and quantitative research and has been directly involved in hundreds of product development projects. He has served as a chapter president for the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) — an organization I also recommend to product managers. And, he has a doctorate in business administration with an emphasis in strategy and innovation.   Summary of some concepts discussed: * [2:23] What is your work at Kawasaki Motor Corporation? I get to play with a lot of toys – motorcycles, jet skis, and more. My group is responsible for product management, data analysis, business planning – all the product planning/product management activities. My specific role in the group now is market research and I’m also overseeing product management activities for the Jet Ski line of products. * [4:22] What is an innovation ecosystem? Innovation is turning ideas into value. An Ecosystem is a community of interacting people and their environment. So an innovation ecosystem is building the organizational culture to include innovation. * [6:12] Who should be involved in creating an innovation ecosystem? Ideally, it is senior or executive leadership. It needs to come from the top down. CEOs and executives often talk about the importance of innovative solutions and new products. To change the status-quo, senior leaders need to be behind the effort. * [12:26] What are the four steps to creating an innovation ecosystem? * Get commitment from leadership. Senior leaders must champion the effort and lead from the front. * Teach core skills. Conduct workshops that teach problem-solving, creativity, and decision making. Get everyone understanding what it means to improve the organization’s innovation ecosystem and get them moving towards the goal. * Put the plan into practice. Create metrics to gauge progress and access which groups are moving towards the goal and which need further help. Make it part of performance reviews. Recognize that it is a long-term change. * Experiment and test. Kawasaki Motors is full of former competitive racers, including me, and we all know the phrase go slow to go fast. You have to do the right things first and learn the basics before going faster. This means taking the time to experiment, assessing what is working, and making improvements to better move towards the goal. * [38:00] What would you tell a new product manager that you wish you had known when you started as a product manager? Learn from more experienced product managers. Understand how the work in the organization is getting accomplished. Also, get involved with a product management group. The Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) is an excellent one I’ve been involved with. Take your profession seriously and be part of an association. Also, consider professional certification, including PDMA’s New Product Development Professional (NPDP) certification. Useful links: * Connect with Dave on LinkedIn * Dave’s website * Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) website * Information on the New Product Development Professional (NPDP) certification   Innovation Quotes

I am a student of approaches for innovation – how ideas are conceived and turned into valuable products and services. However, my guest introduced me to a new line of thinking — an approach to innovation I had not previously been exposed to and for that I’m thankful. I now have another tool in my innovation toolbox and you will too after hearing Scott Bowden share how innovations throughout history can provide modern ideas and help solve problems we face today. After spending nearly 20 years at IBM, Scott is now traveling the globe to investigate and share how historic innovations provide lessons for the modern-day innovation practitioners – you and me. Scott shares several examples of historic innovations and I hope you find them as interesting as I did. Practices and Ideas for Product Managers and Innovators Summary of some concepts discussed: * [2:10] History can be a great tool in solving day-to-day problems encountered in innovation. * [2:44] Three different ways of solving innovation problems are: (1) using mimicry for incremental improvements, (2) finding aha moments that lead to breakthroughs, and (3) applying analogies from other disciplines or fields of study. Historical innovation is a use of the third approach – applying analogies. Exploring examples is a good way to think about historical innovation. Six examples follow. * [5:38] Example 1 – James Watt was a struggling engineer trying to create a more efficient steam engine to pump water out of the coal mines in England. While taking a walk, the idea of a new condenser model came to him, which became successful and launched the Industrial Revolution. The innovation tool is to step outside of your normal routine and give your brain an opportunity to think about the problem differently. * [6:50] Example 2 – Masada is an ancient fortress in the desert region of Israel built on a high plateau with an elevation of about 1300 feet. The innovation was how they engineered a water collection and delivery system. Part of the system involves servants who would lift the water from cisterns to the higher levels of the fortress where it was needed. It is an example of how a manual step may be used, at least temporarily, to solve a technical challenge. * [10:04] Example 3 – Medinas consist of tight alleyways and random walkways laid out in a maze-like manner. They are common in Morocco and seen in Indiana Jones and James Bond movies. They served as a security feature of a city. If an enemy was able to breach the walls of the city they would find it difficult to navigate through the Medina, giving an advantage to the residences. A modern implementation of this idea could be seen in computer security that organizes information in a Medina-manner so if the firewall was breached, it would still be difficult to find meaningful information. * [14:30] Example 4 – The Inca Civilization was an empire in South America that existed around the 1400s. One of the most famous sites is Machu Picchu, set high in the Andes Mountains in Peru. It is a rock Citadel with incredible rock drop-offs on three sides. It may have been constructed as a university to aid them in the future expansion of the civilization into the unknown jungle. If so, it would be an example of taking smaller known steps that help to construct a path to something that is unknown. * [19:14] Example 5 – The Inca Moray is a site of agriculture terraces used for seed research. Each terrace is about 8 feet tall with only three or four steps from one terrace to the next. Because the steps are so tall, they are difficult to walk up and down but they are spaced in a manner that makes them easier to run up and down. The innovation analogy is to consider how speeding up or slowing down a step or set of activities can impact the solution.

Lean Startup or Stage-Gate? More often organizations are not choosing one or the other but taking the “and” option and integrating both into their product processes.  The challenge is how to get them to play nice with each other and gain the benefits of each without losing something in the process. To discuss this topic I turned to a well-experienced product manager and innovator who mentors young entrepreneurs as well as large companies, showing them how to put Lean into practice and align it with other methodologies, including Stage-Gate. My guest is Mark Adkins, president of Smart Hammer Innovation, a management consulting business that helps companies apply best practices to Innovation Management. He is also a part-time professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Medical Innovation. Mark shares how Lean Startup works best in the front end of Stage-Gate, enhancing an organization’s product process.   Practices and Ideas for Product Managers and Innovators Summary of some concepts discussed: * [2:17] Mark’s first experience as a product manager earned him and his organization the Outstanding Corporate Innovator award. Not bad! * [9:40] Several product managers recognized the need for a faster way to find and test breakthrough ideas. This was pre-Lean Startup. Mark’s company formed a group called Innovation Ventures that operated outside of a stage-gate process to explore ideas in an environment with fewer constraints. * [10:00] Mark mentors students at the University of Pittsburgh in the Blast Furnace program for entrepreneurs. He uses Eric Ries’ Lean Startup materials and Alex Osterwalder’s Business Canvas/Value Proposition materials (see episode 123 for an interview with Alex Osterwalder). He has also applied the materials in large organizations. The breadth of experiences has provided important insights. * [11:25] An example is Mark’s engagement with a large company he has worked with for the last year and a half integrating lean startup methodology as pre-stage gate (or stage 0) process. The company had a very solid stage-gate process but lacked breakthrough product development. Adding Lean improved that. * [15:31] Big companies struggle with the concept of “fail fast.” What is important is that learning takes place. When you’re doing your early customer investigation, thinking of value propositions, or considering product concepts, you’re in the early stages of innovation and your sole metric is based on asking, what am I learning? * [18:47] The standard stage-gate processes are: (1) scope, (2) business case, (3) development, (4) test & validation, and (5) launch. Add a zero stage for Lean. * [24:46] Stage 0 is built around Lean and is where a Learning Plan is created and conducted. A Learning Plan is an iterative loop of: * Ideation – create or discover ideas * Experimenting – designing experiments to test assumptions * Customer discovery – get out of the office and talk to customers about the idea * Business model canvas – create a one-page business plan to analyze the feasibility of the idea * [26:00] The idea is evaluated for feasibility using the areas of technical, clinical (for medical products), organizational, and financial. * [27:40] Keep turning the crank, moving through a Learning Plan, creating a new one, and moving through again, until you know how to solve a specific customer problem in a specific way that creates value for the customer and your organization. * [29:26] In addition to Eric Ries’ work,

As product managers and innovators we are often at the center of change because our work involves creating something new, which itself is change. Further, we need to persuade and influence others to change their perspective and embrace our ideas for building better products. Sometimes the change is small, like a new feature to a product, while others it is large, like acquiring another company. Adding change management tools to our product management toolbox is wise, which is why I am bringing you the one and only creator of the Change Planning Toolkit. He also wrote the book, Charting Change: A Visual Toolkit for Making Change Stick. And, he is a recurring guest. Back in episode 024 he discussed five keys to developing an innovation culture. His name is Braden Kelley. In addition to being a speaker and executive trainer, he has helped numerous organizations increase their revenue and cut their costs through the creation of innovative strategies, organizational change, and improved organizational performance. I am glad to welcome Braden back to discuss change with us. Practices and Ideas for Product Managers and Innovators Summary of some concepts discussed: * [3:26] People don’t automatically resist change. They resist change they don’t like or don’t want. If they want the change, they will support it. * [5:53] Change is definitely not easy; 70% of change efforts fail. That’s why Braden created the Change Planning Toolkit. As an innovator, he was being tasked with change initiatives and needed a toolkit to be successful. The Toolkit is based on what we’ve learned from Agile, Lean Startup, and change management methodologies. * [13:26] The framework for effectively dealing with a change initiative is called Architecting with Change and begins with Strategy and ends with Change Maintenance. See the figure below.   * [18:23] Using a tentative approach to making a change can be dangerous. For example, a leader sharing that we’ll try something new for 6 months and try something else if it doesn’t work may result in employees waiting out the 6 months for things to return to normal. * [20:26] There are 8 change mindsets in organizations that can be harnessed for success: (1) mover and shaker, (2) thrill seeker, (3) mission driven, (4) action oriented, (5) expert minded, (6) reward hunger, (7) team player, and (8) teachers. * [24:33] Even with good planning,  not everyone can be turned into a supporter. Those involved in a change can be characterized as (1) strong supporters, (2) tepid supporters, (3) disaffected, (4) passive resisters, and (5) passionate resisters. * [28:33] Creating and conveying a compelling vision of the future after the change is critical to the success of the change. This quote sums it up well, “Nobody cares what’s over the horizon unless you send back some pictures and a map of how to get there.” * [30:45] The chance of success greatly increases when you get the right people involved from the beginning and they are involved in building the plan. Those that will be impacted by the change should contribute to the plan.   Useful links: * Change Planning Tools * Disruptive Innovation Toolkit, including the Experiment Canvas * Braden’s book, Charting Change: A Visual Toolkit for Making Change Stick   Innovation Quote “True innovation requires that you consciously leave the breadcrumb trail behind for others to follow and come join you.” – Braden Kelley  

I met my guest at a Product Camp and learned that we shared a perspective about innovation and product management processes. He sums up this perspective as being “anti-dogma.” There is a good deal of dogma around processes and too often processes are applied blindly without knowing the details required to use the process wisely in a specific situation and culture. In this interview, we discuss the issue of process dogma as well as a toolbox approach to the work a product manager does. My guest is Chris Spagnuolo. Chris is a product management and innovation consultant who works with organizations of all sizes to deeply understand their portfolio and product challenges and help them design opportunities to improve. He has led cross-functional, collaborative, agile product teams at organizations of all sizes and successfully founded three startups. He avoids dogma and instead focuses on generating insights through deep understanding of the organizations that he works with to identify a sustainable, adaptable journey for them to achieve their goals.

  In this episode, we are talking about sales people and how product managers can improve their work with sales people. For some product managers, sales professionals are a source of tension, maybe because they overpromise and make product commitments without first coordinating with product management. For other product managers, sales professionals provide access to customers and help arrange problem-discovery interviews. They are an ally to product management. Regardless of your working relationship with sales professionals, there is room for improvement. To explore this topic you would be hard-pressed to find anyone better than my guest, Keith Hawk. Keith has incredible street cred for this topic as he worked in a technology support role early in this career, working with sales professionals and product management. From there he served as the Director of Technology Support, Director of Marketing, VP Customer Support, and recently retired from his long-term role as the Senior Vice President of Sales for LexisNexis, a multi-billion dollar organization with over 10,000 employees. Keith has a very rich background in the information industry and he has played a broad role in the development of LexisNexis as a company. He is also the author of the book Get-Real Selling: Your Personal Coach for REAL Sales Excellence, which greatly influenced my thoughts on the function of Sales. Practices and Ideas for Product Managers and Innovators Summary of some concepts discussed: * Business-to-Business sales is about one thing – helping to make other people’s businesses more successful. Aspects of this include helping them help their customers, improving the economics of their business, and improving the personal quality of their lives. * A poor sales person can be thought of as a bag diver – a walking, talking brochure that is just spitting out product features until they find a feature or a product someone cares about — reaching into their bag of brochures over and over. * 3 things a good sales professional wants from product managers are: * Availability – open communication to discuss opportunities that may require a new product feature or an entirely new product. * Interaction – product managers that can interact with customers and understand how customers actually use products and feel their challenges. * Formalize – define the relationship between Sales and Product Management and schedule periodic collaboration to share successes and opportunities. * When a sales person overcommits with a customer, promising a capability that doesn’t currently exist, a big girl, big boy talk is needed between Sales and Product Management leadership. Ask if this was our money, would it be in our best interest and the best interest of the customer to create the new capability. A foundation of expectations – values and standards to live by – should exist between Sales and Product Management. * Product Management and Sales leadership need to set ground rules for customer discovery meetings and general interactions. * Product managers can have customer discovery meetings with sales people during the early stages of a customer sales cycle, before a sales person has created a recommendation for the customer, without concern of the meeting becoming a sales meeting. * To avoid Sales too frequently engaging product managers to meet with customers, consider if sales engineers are needed. Also, set an expectation between Sales and Product Management for how much of a product manager’s time can be devoted to direct support of Sales, such as 10% of their time.   Useful links: * Keith’s book,

  Back in episode 121 I had the pleasure of talking with Richard Banfield, one of three authors of the new book Product Leadership. Then, in episode 125 I spoke with Martin Eriksson, who also is a co-author of the book. So, it seemed only proper that I make this a true trifecta by interviewing the third co-author, which is Nate Walkingshaw. I was especially eager to do this after Richard told me that Nate is the smartest product person he knows. Nate has some firm opinions on product teams and how to structure teams to work well. You may have seen his thought-provoking post on Mind the Product titled, “Agile Died While You Were Doing Your Standup.” In our discussion, we touch on concepts from that post but dive deeper into team structures and needs for modern product teams. Nate has started successful companies in the medical and fitness markets and has had many product experiences. Later he became the Chief Product Officer for Pluralsight, the largest providers of online technology learning, where he built a user-centered product team. In 2016 his role expanded to Chief Experience Officer where he oversees Development, Content, and Product Marketing.   Practices and Ideas for Product Managers and Innovators Summary of some concepts discussed: * Nate’s new book, Product Leadership, is now available. It is the first book focused on product leadership for product managers. * Software as a Service (SaaS) has forced teams to change. The feedback loop between users and developers is now “end-of-the-day” – hours, not days. * Siloed teams won’t work today – product teams must be fully integrated. * Corporate strategy and technology strategy must be aligned. * The three key elements for teams that increase velocity are: * Vision – is there a clear vision for each product team and are they connected to the vision? * Strategy – do team members know the product strategy and how their work fits into the strategy of the team and the organization? * Autonomy – do team members have the freedom to explore the execution of the strategy for the team? * Velocity also increases when team members experience first-hand how customers respond to using the product and to changes when they are made. Web collaboration tools are used with customers for real-time interactions. * Compensate teams, not individuals, for meeting objectives. Useful links’ * New Book – Product Leadership: How Top Product Managers Launch Awesome Products and Build Successful Teams * Pluralsite—technology training and where Nate is Chief Experience Officer   Innovation Quote “In a world of change, the learners shall inherit the earth, while the learned shall find themselves perfectly suited for a world that no longer exists.” ― Eric Hoffer   Thanks! Thank you for being an Everyday Innovator and learning with me from the successes and failures of product innovators, managers, and developers. If you enjoyed the discussion, help out a fellow product manager by sharing it using the social media buttons you see below.

  This is a listener suggested episode, which I love doing. I enjoy receiving requests from listeners asking for specific topics to explore. Several people have had questions about B2B product management. A B2B company sells its products to other organizations while a B2C company provides its products to consumers. To explore this topic, I asked Jeff Lash to join us. Jeff is a recognized thought leader in product management, with over a decade of experience in the development of Web-based products and SaaS systems. His product management career includes both new product launches and major turnarounds of existing product lines, as well as creation of the product management role into organizations. He has significant expertise in customer understanding, new product innovation, agile product management, user experience design, and product development processes. He is a Vice President at SiriusDecisions, a research and advisory company for B2B organizations. While the focus of our discussion is on product management for B2B companies, there are tips and practices B2C product managers will find valuable too.   Practices and Ideas for Product Managers and Innovators Summary of some questions discussed: * How does B2B product management differ from B2C? The B2B product group is like a smaller business in a larger business. B2B product managers are generally responsible for an entire product while a B2C product manager may be responsible for a portion of a product, for example, the Search capability of a product. While there are many similarities, I’m starting to see some trends in differences, such as with the importance of user experience design. Also, B2B product managers are more involved in enabling and helping the sales team be successful.   * How do B2B sales models impact product management? Direct or indirect sale channels are part of the B2B product manager’s tools and responsibilities. Product Management is interlocked with the Marketing and Sales function of an organization. Product managers can get overloaded by Sales and sucked into helping too much with questions and customer calls instead of doing the work of product management. Organizations that excel have balance. They have clear responsibilities for product managers in terms of how they support Sales and well-communicated ground rules. Also, Product Marketing exists as a function to transfer knowledge of the product to rest of the organization. We see alignment between the executives responsible for Product Management, Marketing, and Sales.   * How do buying roles impact product management? This is a key difference with B2B product management compared to B2C. In a B2B environment, there are multiple buyers, such as Decision Maker, Champion, Influencer, and GateKeeper, in addition to the actual users of the product. Product managers need to address personas for each of the roles involved in the buying process and also help Sales understand these roles and vice-versa.   * How can product managers avoid the “one-off” practice that some B2B organizations find themselves in – customizing a product for each customer? Organizational culture is a key influencer to this situation. Some cultures permit sales professionals to write new product capabilities into customer contracts and then product management has to find a way to satisfy the expectations created by Sales. This is a poor practice. Executives need to be in alignment and have a clear means of addressing specific customer requests. One technique is to have an agreed upon percentage of product management and development resources to respond to requests from Sales. For example, 20% of the roadmap is set aside to be sales opportunity driven. Also, when new product functionality is needed to “close” a deal or keep a customer,

A brand new book for product managers and innovators hits physical and virtual shelves this week. It's titled Mapping Innovation and my guest, Greg Satell, is the author. We talk about some of the concepts from the book and other writing he has done, including while there is no one-way right way for companies to innovate, there are patterns, as well as a framework for different types of innovations and skills needed for each. Greg has several international business experiences building and managing media businesses. He last served as the SVP of Strategy and Innovation at Moxie Interactive, a leading marketing services organizations. Lately he has been writing and speaking about innovation and I'm glad he is speaking with us, in this interview.

  You are not alone as a product manager or innovator if you have had to explain your job to people you work with. It’s not uncommon. While your role is vital to the creation of successful products, it is not always understood by others. It can also be a lonely role because of that. Even though product managers frequently collaborate with others, they don’t often interact with other product managers – people who actually understand their job along with the joys, frustrations, and pains it brings. What is a product manager or innovator to do? My guest has the answer, and it is one I have experienced and valued myself – participating in communities of practice. My guest is a co-author of the book, Product Leadership, which was the topic of episode 121 with one of the other co-authors. He started his career as a web designer and developer but found his real talent was translating between design, development, and business people. After several startups in his native Stockholm, he has led product teams at Monster, the Financial Times, Huddle, and Covestor in London and Boston. You may recognize him as the founder of ProductTank, a meetup for product managers, and co-founder of Mind the Product, a blog and training resource for product managers. His name is Martin Eriksson. Our discussion covers why product managers need to be part of a community of practice and, if you are not already, how to join or start one. Practices and Ideas for Product Managers and Innovators Summary of some questions discussed: * Please share an update on your Product Leadership book.  It’s being released next week, at the end of May. Details are available at Productleadershipbook.com. We interviewed 75-100 product leaders to understand the challenges with product leadership and how to overcome them. We are discussing the book at some upcoming meetups as well as the Mind the Product annual conference in June in San Francisco.   * What is a community of practice? If you look at established professions like Law, Engineering, or Project Management, you find strong professional groups where people come together to learn from each other and explore what is new. That is a community of practice. It may take the form of a meetup, professional association, or another form of group.   * Why do product managers need to be part of a community of practice? Product managers can feel a bit alone on the job. We may be the only product manager on a team. You don’t have anyone to complain to about the work and bounce ideas off of that also understands the role. You can feel like Engineering is ganging up on you, Business Leadership is putting undue pressure on you, or Sales is ignoring you.  You need get out of that environment at times and talk to peers in similar situations and know that you really are not alone. You need a tribe of your own to be part of.   * What should product managers expect from a productive community of practice? Product managers need to be curious and always learning. The pace of change in industries and technologies requires product managers to be learning and striving to stay in front of the meaningful changes. The ability to learn from your peers is the most important aspect of a community of practice. You also get to hear about the challenges others are facing. It’s important to know that you are not alone and that others encounter similar issues.   * What are opportunities for product managers? One group that has been around is Product Camp. It’s a one-day unconference, generally with no set agenda that self-organizes shortly before the conference or even the morning of the conference by the attendees. Product Tank that I started has more than a 100 locations around the world. It is a fairly standardized format, with meetings taking place in the evenings after work ...