The Perspective of a...

Product Manager

Stefano Cadario

"Convince me your idea is relevant to the product specification that we have agreed on. Have data or a clear justification for the changes you ask, as doing work in one area means saying "no" to work somewhere else."

When trying to persuade others, most people don't understand other people's perspectives.

This means they are unable to make a compelling argument to persuade their audience.

We are featuring people and their jobs to promote understanding, collaboration and easier working relationships.

Role:

We are the people between the engineering team and the customers. We define what needs to be done on the product and what needs to be prioritised based on the input from the customer. We also make sure that this product is delivered to the customer and we are responsible for its success. While product marketing is responsible for delivering the product message, the Product Manager is the person who defines what the marketing message is and the value proposition, and who the target customers are. In this role, you need to make sure you are only working on the most important thing – and a lot of the time that involves saying “no” to others.

Who Needs Your Buy-In and Why?

As a Product Manager, the Engineering Team need my buy-in and through me they understand the customer insights. If the team have an idea – they need to know if it is worth pursuing. They also need to know if the problem it is solving is a one-off or whether it is a problem other customers are having too.

How Can People Get Your Buy-In:

The Engineering Team need to convince me that their idea is relevant to the product specification that we have agreed on. Ideally, there should be data or a clear justification for the changes as doing work in one area means saying "no" to work somewhere else.

Whose Buy-In Do You Need and Why?

I have to get buy-in from 3 different areas: the Engineering Team, Management Team and the Customers themselves.

An example with the Engineering Team would be if I want to add a feature the customer needs but it might be difficult in a technical context. We need to show the Engineers that it works towards solving the customer problem, otherwise they can become demotivated or uninterested in making this addition. We work together to establish the direction of the ideas that need to be implemented.

When gaining customer buy-in, we would need to show them that the product is fit for their problem and convince them that it solves it. Dealing with the mass market, we have to win their confidence that we will deliver what we promise.

We have limited resources and multiple products, and Management have the role of choosing where to allocate resources. If we have an idea for a new product or revolutionary feature, we have to persuade them that this will be a big benefit to the company. When making big product decisions that will require additional resource allocation: like changing business model, new purchases, and additional engineers – we may need Management approval.

Do you work in tech or engineering?

Would like us to feature your work perspective?

Please contact us here: poppy@geekwhisperer.co.uk