57: Tips for Product Managers Setting Goals

In this episode of the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, marketing professor Jeff Shulman and The Product Management Center advisory board member Red Russak welcome Ben Waddle (Expedia Group) and Shivam Goyal (Tellus) to talk about how PMs can properly set goals. A good PM must know how to set goals and be able to identify how the team can achieve it, whether it’s too ambitious or difficult to reach, and the right percentage goals the team should be hitting. Goal setting is a good skill for a PM because it motivates you towards your outcome and gives you clarity on what you want to achieve.

Support for How to Succeed in Product Management is brought to you by Apptentive, which enables product managers to measure shifts in customer emotion and gather actionable feedback across the mobile customer journey. To learn more, go to Apptentive.com/UW.

What to Listen For:

• 00:00 Intro
• 04:46 Why is goal setting important?
• 05:55 What happens when you’re not effective at setting goals
• 06:43 Know the reason why you’re setting a goal
• 07:26 Goals should be outcome oriented
• 08:18 Making sure everyone is aligned on the goal
• 09:21 Being specific is important
• 11:05 Anti-goals
• 13:23 The problem with setting a super ambitious goal
• 15:54 What is the right percentage of goals you should be hitting?
• 23:03 Who should be involved in goal setting
• 26:00 Technology for goal setting
• 32:53 Use a system that you are comfortable with
• 35:41 Does remote work change how you communicate towards goals?
• 38:21 When to abandon a goal
• 43:22 A good goal before COVID
• 46:53 Final thoughts