118 / Empathy, Transparency, and Intentionality in Product Management, with Devan Goldstein

Success as a product manager requires finding the right balance between solving user problems and meeting rigid business demands. For Devan Goldstein, a Group Product Manager at Trello (an Atlassian product), “product management’s fundamental accountability is to ensure that the business gets what it needs out of the teams it has put in place to do the work.”

That means making sure users are getting what they need out of the product such that, in a perfect world, what they need is something that drives product market fit.

“It can’t be something they need that doesn’t create a sustainable business,” Devan says. “It can’t be something they need that is ancillary to the business’ reason for existing.”

How do we get there? Devan Goldstein believes we solve this challenge by adopting a service orientation, aiming above all to help users, the business, and the team.

“Having this sense of omni-directional caring and empathy – not just for users, which is the one we talk about the most, but for your partners, for the teams that work with your partners, and for your stakeholders – helps us understand how all those overlapping needs intersect as inputs to the strategic and prioritization decisions we have to make,” he adds.

Tune in to hear Devan’s comments on the critical traits that all product managers should possess in this episode of Product Momentum:

• Empathy for both your users and co-workers.
• Intentionality in your day-to-day interactions; nothing happens by accident.
• Integrity and humility, even when they might compete.

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