PITA 006

The Technology failed us edition, where the Icebreaker was replaced with frantically shifting platforms mid-call.

TOPIC 1:

How is your team measured?

• Measuring the team or measuring the outcomes?

• Process based - cycle times, return rates, deployment rates - how well is the machine working? A separate use case than Outcome focus

• Shape Up book

• Are you achieving what you set out to for each period?

• ProdPad - good for idea realisation

• Somehow, no one mentioned OKRs

TOPIC 2:

What "new" disrupting products shall we start developing now?

• An open-source alternative to Zoom that works

• What problems do people have that will stay after this?

• Media brand that isn’t optimized for clicks, is non-partial

• Non-technical solutions for social welfare

• Education 

• Voice tech, nothing to do with Covid-19, Alexa integration (and similar), improving existing products

• Hiring solutions - good candidates vs bad, onboarding

• Better use of printers

TOPIC 3:

Sensible ways to do competitor research

• What is Blue Ocean Strategy | About Blue Ocean Strategy

• Wardley mapping

• Is it worth doing? Do we know why they’re implementing a feature? Better to understand USERS than FEATURES?

• If there’s a dominant player, ignore everyone else - just try and take share from them

• Strategy = a Plan + Competitor analysis

• Porter’s 5 Forces

• SImple spreadsheet, profile of competitors, reviews & feedback, media scandal coverage, learn from mistakes, tke what they do well & do it better

• Marketing analysis - colours, messaging, etc

• Conferences and talks that they have done

• Talk to customers who have left (them and you)

• Try to understand: what is their unfair advantage?

• Tools to Help Product Managers Think Strategically and Commercially: State of Product Meeting

TOPIC 4:

What does leadership mean in product management?

• You’re not technically a leader, but need to be able to lead

• You have to be able to step away and trust the team to do what needs to be done

• Leadership Without Authority By Aeneas McDonnell   Authority isn’t always given. It’s what you build

• People, Processes & Prioritisation

• Hard to identify which decisions are made by product people - and specific ones which are made better by people with more experience - maybe Stakeholder management, understanding what the goals are, communication

• The Product of You by Melissa Perri

• Do you solutionize or take the time to really understand the situation first?