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“You’re not as competent as you think” 5 lessons from Ken Chin on navigating a product career (CPO, Spark Networks)

Everything wrong with the product management job market. And how to fix it

Andres is a freelance writer and digital marketer with a background in engineering and a keen interest in the latest technology advancements. He currently helps tech companies and startups tell their stories by turning their complex ideas into easy to understand material. You can reach out to him on LinkedIn

Andres Phillips

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The majority of product organizations are not led by people with product backgrounds. In this <a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/producttank-about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ProductTank</a> London talk, Ken Chin, Director of Product at Farfetch, explains why dysfunction is a problem in many companies and provides three examples of dysfunction. They are:</span></p>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Strategy</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Planning</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Execution</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Watch the video to see his talk in full or read on for an overview of his key points.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">Strategy</span></h2>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">Unintended Consequences of Strategic Alignment</span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Alignment is essential if you want to execute a <a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/category/product-strategy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">strategy</a>, but it takes enormous effort to align an organization as well as extensive communication. Unfortunately, there’s often an over-commitment to the strategy in which key risks and assumptions are overlooked, resources are fully committed, and product roadmaps are locked in. It can then be potentially dangerous for leaders or individual contributors to challenge the strategy.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">Group Think</span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Groupthink occurs when the desire for harmony leads to irrational decision-making. What happens if the strategy or the execution of that strategy turns out to be wrong? As the product manager, it is your job to talk with leaders about risk. </span></p>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">Four Big Product Risks</span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">There are four major risks for any product: </span></p>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Value: Do customers want it?</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Usability: Can users use it?</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Feasibility: Can we build it?</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Viability: Is it good for business?</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As the product manager, you can talk about managing risk through customer or product discovery or adopting lean startup principles such as experimentation, prototyping, and testing. </span></p>
<h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">Planning</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Planning involves prioritization &amp; roadmaps, and there are a few different ways this gets done in an organization. Oftimes, the big rock analogy is used, which is effectively a static snapshot in time. However, a better analogy is the highway approach, which considers that organizations are dynamic and complex. Since organizations are dynamic, they are delivering value continuously, there is a fixed capacity, and some vehicles are more important than others. However, when product managers take the same big rock approach to the highway, they end up with over-committed roadmaps. </span></p>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">Optimize for flow (continuous delivery of value)</span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In order to cope with the built-up traffic, organizations need to have an optimal flow rate and prioritize traffic in the fast lane. The space between the cars has value. When it comes to prioritization and roadmaps, it is managed by introducing force rank prioritization, implementing organizational work in progress limits, breaking up large vehicles into smaller batch sizes, including some uncommitted capacity or space between cars, and having managed dependencies. </span></p>
<h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">Execution</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When considering your roadmap and prioritization, focusing on “getting stuff done” like delivering code or software can be appealing. But it’s also essential to think about the underlying reasons for doing an activity. </span></p>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">Choosing the right outcomes</span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">For many companies, there is a focus on activities and outputs instead of outcomes. This can be seen in feature roadmaps, feature factories, a focus on delivery dates, or a lack of product discovery. However, if you’re using OKRs correctly as a product manager, it’s crucial to describe the end state you’d like to achieve and make your objectives customer-focused rather than focusing on activities or metrics. Then, key results can be used to measure progress and outcomes. However, these key metrics should be balanced with health metrics that don’t go down. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The key takeaways from this talk are that dysfunction can arise in an organization in different forms due to the behavior of the people, fear, and a lack of trust between different teams. But, it is possible to overcome it by having the right conversations with leadership. </span></p>
<h2>Enjoy more ProductTank content</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/producttank-about/content/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ProductTanks</a> are informal meetups, created by Mind the Product, to bring local product people together and to enable speakers to share amazing product insights. Today we have ProductTanks in more than 200 cities across the globe and there’s probably one near you.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/producttank-about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Learn more about ProductTank</a> – find your local meetup, explore more ProductTank content, see the latest ProductTank news, and discover ways to get involved!</p>

core/freeform

Product Management

It’s the Strategy, stupid – Andrew Martinez-Fonts (VP Product, Honeysales)

LLM workflows for product managers: 3 key takeaways (Niloufar Salehi, Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley) – ProductTank SF

How to survive the next phase of tech – Jonty Sharples (Product and Strategy Consultant)

Transformed: Moving to the product model by Marty Cagan

Product teams in flux – Pendomonium+#mtpcon roadshow: Berlin

AI in practice at Berlin’s leading companies – Pendomonium+#mtpcon roadshow: Berlin

Product teams in flux – Pendomonium+#mtpcon roadshow: Amsterdam

Product teams in flux – Pendomonium+#mtpcon roadshow: London

What’s next for product management in 2024? Nichole Mace (SVP Product and User Experience, Pendo)

Organizational behavior and dysfunction in product management by Ken Chin

Andres Phillips