As I mentioned in my product philosophy document, I believe that product management is a craft that can be honed. And since it's a craft, there's a set of actual tools that product craftswomen and craftsmen can use in their daily practice.
This document is my personal, ever-growing collection of the ones I believe in and use in my practice.
Many of them are things that seem pretty obvious when you read about them, but trust me that the gap between talking the talk and walking the walk is huge and it's not so easy to actually use them and remember about them regularly. They're simple, but they're not easy.
Key point: Always make sure that people understand the "why" before talking about the logistics ("how").
Case study: "“One of my clients is a head of operations, and she was trying to get the rest of her executive team to fill in some wins for the week so that they could share this out with the whole company. She led with the logistics - and didn't really get much of a response from the leadership team, which makes sense, right? Because this totally sounds like one of those things that's another item to check off on your list … Whereas what she could have done is start by selling folks, selling the other executives on why are we doing this? Well, we're doing this because this is a chance to shine a light on your team members who are doing amazing work. This is going to motivate your team, right? So sharing why this is helpful and useful and how this is in service of you and your team versus like 'oh this is a favor that you're doing for me to fill out this form'"
"I think that you should always do a little bit of selling even for situations where people have generally bought in, because most of us have a lot going on and we're not actively thinking about whatever you're talking about. So even though I agreed to something 2 weeks ago, by the time you're telling me about it again, I thought about a billion other things since then. So reminding me of why are we talking about this? Why does this matter? And then getting into it and framing that conversation up front is way more likely for us to not get stuck in a cold start and not kind of go two steps back, one step forward.”
“You can frame a conversation and sell a bit at the beginning very concisely. So I'm not talking about spending 15 minutes out of a 30-minute meeting selling. I'm talking about 1 to 2 minutes, even a couple sentences, and then transitioning into the main thing you want to talk about.”
Tactic:
- If you start something new, always start with explaining and discussing the why - if people disagree with the why, they won't buy into "how" either. Needless to say, that implies you actually know the "why" yourself.
- Assume that people always need at least a little reminder of the why, even if they understood and agreed to it in the past.
Key point: Every email, Slack message, or document is worth spending a bit more time on. These “small” interactions compound into your overall work quality and reputation. It's also always worth it to spend at least a few minutes to prepare to even a most chill meeting.
Tactic: Spend a few more minutes crafting your message—clarity, completeness, and anticipating needs/questions will pay off in less back-and-forth and better perception of your work.
Key point: Always anticipate the most obvious objections to your proposal or argument.
Tactic:
- Before you share an idea, pause and think: What’s the most obvious objection someone might raise?
- Address it proactively in your communication.
- This is both an empathy-building and self-clarification exercise.
Key point: Avoid overstating your confidence ("This will work") when it’s a hypothesis, and avoid being overly meek if you have strong evidence. Both overconfidence and under-confidence can be damaging. It's okay to say that something is just a veeery loose idea that you don't have the evidence to back up yet.
Tactic:
- Clearly communicate whether something is a gut feeling, hypothesis, or fact.
- Back up recommendations with first principles, logic, data, or examples.
- Share your thought process along with the conviction level to allow others to align or disagree meaningfully.
Key point: Don’t get so attached to your idea that you ignore context or organizational priorities. Always do what's the best for the company.
Tactic:
- Frame your recommendation in the context of current company goals and what’s important to your stakeholders.
- Adjust your pitch or proposal if it’s not aligned with top priorities.