Good Product Manager/Bad Product Manager
Tom Evans
CompellingPM
@compellingpm
Copyright 2014. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 1
“Being a good product manager is so hard that most product managers at most companies fail
to be good -- and instead are bad.”--Ben Horowitz and David Weiden
Copyright 2014. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 3
Good PM v. Bad PM
Good Bad
Based on knowledge & confidence They think that….
Owns success of productToo many factors outside their
control
CEO of ProductMarketing resource for
engineering
Drives the what & why Defines the how
Grows the business Builds bells & whistles
Tells the story Presents features
Defines their role Others define role
Copyright 2014. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 4
Reference: Ben Horowitz, 1996
Bad PM = Product Janitor
• Instead of working on the critical things that will make a big difference for your product and thinking strategically, the product manager [& product marketer] end up doing thankless low-level work that is not appreciated (and many times not necessary.)
Brian Lawley, 280 Group
Copyright 2014. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 5
What Makes a Bad PM?
Copyright 2014. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 6
Bad PM Session Notes
Copyright 2014. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 7
What Makes a Good PM?
Copyright 2014. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 8
Good PM Session Notes
Copyright 2014. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 9
How Do We Transform?
Copyright 2014. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 10
Discover Value
Create Value
Communicate Value
Deliver Value
Capture Value
Transform Session Notes
Copyright 2014. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 11
What Are You Going to Be?What Will You Do Different?
Copyright 2014. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 12
Thank You!
Tom Evans
CompellingPM
@compellingpm
www.compellingpm.com
Copyright 2014. The Lûcrum Group, Inc. 13