Prioritization, Complexity, Cost of Delay and other Musings

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Business Impact, complexity, cost of delay, Governance, prioritization, stakeholder, Weighted Shortest Job First, WSJF

In the vein of paying attention to when coincidences converge, I’ve had enough conversations recently whereby I think it is time to revisit the topic of prioritization. Not all of the conversations have been the same … with some focusing on roadmaps, others focused on organizing backlog, and a few delving into managing conflicting goals … but all to one extent or another dealing with prioritization.

It has been nearly 5 years since my last post on the topic (which really surprised me). And having reread it for the first time in awhile, it does a good job of hitting on one perspective of prioritization … the relative impact to the business. But what it didn’t touch upon, however, are some of other perspectives we as Product Management Leaders need to keep in mind (complexity, stakeholders, governance, etc).

So, let’s take a fresh look and add to where my previous post left off.

Difficult Journeys, Hard Decisions, Uncomfortable Environments

Lessons with leadership come in all shapes and sizes, and generally there are stories involved. Think about it. Whether it was an important life lesson you’ve learned, or a great message from a gifted speaker, or perhaps the substance contained within the lyrics of a song…what likely made it stick was the story it was attached to. Consider these interesting tidbits:

• stories influence audiences (their attitudes, beliefs, behavior, etc.)
• facts are 20 times more likely to be remembered if they’re part of a story
• learning which stems from a well-told story is remembered more accurately, and for far longer, than learning derived from facts and figures.

And what makes stories so interesting is this…what has context, meaning, and impact to me may mean nothing at all to you.

Like most of us, I too have stories from my career, each with a leadership lesson (if I was paying attention along the way). Here are three I wanted to share for this entry…each lesson with its own story (or stories) … but more importantly, each tied to a broader story.

Season of Gratitude

As we approach Thanksgiving, I was reminded of how important gratitude is as a foundation for how we approach life … not only our family relationships or those with whom we work, but for personal reasons as well!

No pun intended then when I say I’m thankful I stumbled across this post titled 10 Great Posts On Gratitude. Pick a few of the articles to focus on, or read them all … but I hope you will be encouraged by the messages they bring!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Thanksgiving Day will soon be here
It comes around but once a year
If I could only have my way,
We'd have Thanksgiving every day.
- Anonymous

5W1H, 3?s, and GTM

Hopefully the not so difficult cypher in the title got your attention!

One of the things I’ve noticed of late relative to a variety of sources, be it LinkedIn discussions, looking at job descriptions, or even consulting engagements … Go-to-Market (GTM) has become a hot topic of late.

So in keeping with the Latin theme from last month’s post and the Socratic Method, I decided to pursue the topic using the 5W1H approach for general questioning and probing.

Really, there is no shortage of input to the subject if you were to Google ‘Go-to-Market’, but I thought I would take a stab at aligning thoughts around my Interpret, Inform, Influence framework.

Latin Leadership Perspectives

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ask right questions, elenchus, gravitas, presence, socratic method

So what do Product Management, Leadership, and Latin have in common? Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but as is usually the case, I had a confluence of articles, entertainment, and discussions over the past several days all relating in some way to Latin.

Filling the Void

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leadership, Product Management, void

“We become aware of the void as we fill it.”

– Antonio Porchia – Italian Poet

I’ve seen pictures and heard stories of an incident from when I was really young in Germany. Like less than 2 years old. It takes place in the bath tub. Probably not where your initial thoughts went either :).

As the story goes, the goal was to give Patrick a bath. The obvious tools were in place … the tub, soap, bath toys, and someone overseeing the process. The problem was, this particular tub was missing the drain plug. Not OK!

Measuring Change

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cost, efficiencies, fourth industrial revolution, impact, KPIs, measurements, metrics, revenue, velocity

As part of a digital learning path focused on Mastering Digital Transformation, I recently started a module titled Foundations of the 4th Industrial Revolution. What I wasn’t expecting as part of this broad overview of the past ~300 years or so was a blatant callout to my post from February dealing with KPIs & metrics.

Everything Goes Back in the Box

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leadership, purpose, servant leadership, serve, significance, vision

So with one of the job opportunities I have been pursuing recently, I had an interesting follow-up conversation with the recruiter after interviews with several of the executives.  The conversation stemmed from a question one of the executives asked me, and my subsequent response.  Basically it went something like this …

EXECUTIVE: So, if [COMPANY] were to hire you, what would we be getting?  Who are you as a leader?

ME: Fortunately, I was challenged not too long ago by a prior President to define my leadership choices, and would be happy to send you a link to my blog where I fully explain my position.  But to summarize, I would say I am a servant leader.

I wouldn’t learn the executive’s response to this answer until a later conversation with the recruiter where she shared he had said “I didn’t know what that meant.” 

A ‘Rouge’ View of Product Management

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costs, distinctive competence, market, P&L, revenue, roadmap, stakeholder, Technical Debt, vision

I was reminded recently of an article I read several years ago titled 4 Big Lies Product Managers Tell Themselves. It is an interesting read where the author discusses the “complicated, ever-changing nature of the profession that requires constant adaptation.”

Let’s start with the idea Product Managers are called to be leaders. Whether you chose the role or had it thrust upon you, it is important to understand your serve an important leadership role within the organization. What comes with the territory, unfortunately, are lies like these we have to watch out for.

Taking it to the Next Level

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CPO, execution, executive leadership, leadership, results, servant leadership, strategy, vision

Several sources recently all converging on the same general idea … when is it time to transition from being a Product Manager to an Product/Executive Leader?

One is an older article from Inc. magazine focusing on 6 Things Really Thoughtful Leaders Do. Another is an article titled So you’ve been promoted to Head of Product. What to start doing now. And finally, a LinkedIn Learning session about Executive Leadership.

All of them share a common thread to each other, but also common themes I’ve consistently shared throughout this blog. These are merely thoughts/tidbits pulled from each source, but this is a topic necessary of much more conversation. I’d highly recommend spending the time with these sources, as well as others in your arsenal, to delve much deeper.