20: Women in Product On Collaboration Across Disciplines

In this episode of the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, marketing professor Jeff Shulman and The Product Management Center advisory board member Soumeya Benghanem welcome Geetika Kapoor (Microsoft), Kavita Kamani (Microsoft), and Angela Argentati (Zillow) to talk about collaboration across disciplines. The discussion revolves around accountability in making decisions, the best frameworks suitable for Product Managers collaborating in different disciplines, and staying curious about the people you work with and the issues you’re trying to address for your customers. 

This episode is in collaboration with the Women in Product Women in Product’s Seattle Chapter. Women in Product is a welcoming community where women in products are inspired, connected, and celebrated. 

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
• 02:06 Why is collaborating with other disciplines an important topic
• 08:05 PMs are coordinators that run the entire project
• 10:46 Who makes the final decision on a product? 
• 15:00 Accountability from every member of the team
• 18:39 The RACI model and driving clarity
• 22:08 RACI matrix may not work for all product teams
• 23:33 Working backwards document is the best tool for collaboration
• 32:52 Get a clarity on what your customers really need
• 37:20 Reach out to your network to fill in critical roles
• 43:13 Agile approach with a working backwards document
• 47:41 Develop curiosity about the other person you’re collaborating with
• 49:31 Make people aware of their blind spot to help solve conflicts
• 52:17 The biases of any single discipline you’re working with