In this #mtpcon San Francisco talk from 2023, Natalia Williams, then CPO of HootSuite, reflects on her journey as a product manager, the things she learned in her 20+ years of experience, and how you can leverage these lessons to evolve your company for the better.
Natalia starts by sharing three lessons she’s learned from her mistakes:-
- It’s not all about you: your most important job is to build something that provides value to your customers but product people can fail to recognise confirmation bias. It’s okay to not have relevant experiences with the customer’s problem. As Natalia says: “You don’t need to be a hero”. Ask others so you can find the best way to answer your customer’s needs.
- Be open to feedback: Communication is arguably the most important aspect of making a great product. She suggests some tools to help make communication easier, like the one page one hour pledge.
- Embrace change: Ideas should be dynamic. If your product does not provide a valuable experience for your customers, it’s time to change the experience.
Natalia then suggests some ways to ignite change in your team:-
- Start high-cadence communication: There’s no such thing as over-communication.
- Agree on what good product managers look like: Clarify responsibilities to reduce false assumptions and improve the rate of satisfaction within a team.
- Talk more, silo less: Find ways to build bridges across your organisation. Don’t forget to interact with others outside your bubble.
Watch the original talk: Lessons learned from leading products by Natalia Williams
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