Product Thinking Dear Melissa - Answering Questions About Navigating Your Role as a Product Manager
Nov 24, 2021
Melissa dives into the essential role of UX researchers in product discovery, sharing when they should be involved and how PMs can handle research independently. She tackles maintaining strategic alignment during turbulent times, emphasizing clarity in direction and outcomes. Navigating a new CPO is also a hot topic, with advice on relationship building and understanding decision-making shifts. From evaluating emerging tech through strategic lenses to addressing common product manager dilemmas, this conversation offers invaluable insights for product professionals.
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Leverage UX Researchers For Big Studies
- Partner closely with UX researchers on large discovery efforts and let them lead interviews when possible.
- Share segments, questions, and review synthesized insights so you can keep building while they gather evidence.
Bring Researchers In When Risk Is High
- Use researchers to refine questions and recommend methods beyond interviews like card-sorts or targeted tests.
- Bring them in when the risk of learning the wrong thing is high to avoid wasting time and getting bad results.
The Missing Middle Breaks Strategy
- Rapid, frequent company-level strategy changes often mean leadership is operating at the wrong level.
- Missing the 'middle' layer linking company objectives to product initiatives causes product teams to 'swirl' and kill products arbitrarily.