9: Thinking Through Assumptions and Managing the Risks

In this episode of the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, marketing professor Jeff Shulman and The Product Management Center advisory board members Red Russak and Soumeya Benghanem welcome Dontae Delgado (Compass) and Siddhartha Rabindran (Microsoft) to discuss managing assumptions and start ranking them from the top most important to the least important, and build a framework around it to help develop the product. Assumptions, when correctly utilized and tested in the right environment exponentially helps product leaders find success. 

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What to Listen For:

• 00:00 Intro
• 01:42 The importance of managing assumptions and risk management
• 03:46 It’s easy to become comfortable with the flows of the product
• 05:11 Clarity plays an important role in managing assumptions
• 08:44 The different classifications of assumptions
• 10:45 Approach is the most important part of addressing assumptions
• 13:55 Assumption prompts to make assumptions explicit
• 15:52 The build versus buy evaluation
• 19:53 After generating assumptions, start ranking them
• 23:36 Critical path is about the solution and the framing
• 24:25 Proper documentation is key to effective communication
• 27:17 Situations that could happen when assumptions aren’t made
• 29:45 Reference books and resources for assumption management
• 37:04 How do you go about validating assumptions?
• 40:31 The product team considers four important things: product, market, channels, and business model
• 43:42 Producer and consumer framework in critical in managing expectations
• 47:31 Building a culture of domain empathy
• 50:28 Assumptions are an integral part of everything we do
• 54:13 Assumptions are linchpin to product success
• 55:29 Some assumptions, when utilized correctly or incorrectly, either hurt or help the products