Thread by @sriramk

⏰ 🧵 a summary from last night's product conversation with @aarthir @stevesi @aparnacd @manikgupta @shishirmehrotra

// On what PMing is:
- It’s nebulous. You wear many hats.
- PMs make sure the right products get built right at the right time for the right customer.
- You lead teams by influence, not authority, and responsibility lies on your shoulders

.@shishirmehrotra "It’s the guy at the toaster company that makes sure the toaster gets built, that it gets built on time, and that it gets out to the right customers. "

Also use the PSHE framework - PSHE: Problem, Solution, How, Execution. More senior, you formulate more.

.@aparnacd PMs need to operate by a “Do no harm” principle, especially when there’s product-market fit. Good PMs are masters of prioritization. “You need to care about what you're building. Product management is a contact sport.”

. @manikgupta “responsible for doing the right things and doing them right.”
PMs need to lead their teams by influence, not authority. They need to coordinate a well-functioning team. If things go well, it’s thanks to the team. If they fail, it’s on you.

// On having a great product review

You don’t need to have all of the answers. Be willing to ask.
Get the people who know in the room.
Make sure the goal and expectations for the meeting are clear. You’re not making a decision, you’re leading the team.

Taking notes is essential. Document the decisions made. Make sure everyone is clear on the conclusions.

A great meeting is one in which every team member felt they contributed, owned a piece of the solution, and is now ready to get back to work and do their part.

. @stevesi "Rookies think they need to have all the answers coming into a meeting. This is all wrong. They need to find out the answers. Don’t act like the expert on engineering when you have an engineer right next to you. Important to know what you know and know what you don’t"

. @shishirmehrotra "“Design your meetings like you design your apps.”

Recommend the book "Gamestorming". Games are different from play in that they require the development of rules. Structure your meetings intentionally, drawing on principles of game design for inspiration.

. @aparnacd "Taking notes is essential. Document the decisions made. Make sure everyone is clear on the conclusions."

. @manikgupta "A great meeting is one in which every team member felt they contributed, owned a piece of the solution, and is now ready to get back to work"

. @aarthir Reviews can be redundant. The goal of the review is to get everyone aligned before the meeting even begins. Make the review pointless. Work the room before you get in. It’s okay if people wonder what the point of the review was due to it having all been worked out.

// What happens if an exec tries to derail a review with a separate option

. @stevesi "You shouldn’t come in thinking there are a limited set of options. Another will magically appear. That situation is a failure. “

// On embarrassing product launches

@manikgupta At Google Maps, they had a tool that was like Wikipedia for maps where they crowdsource map data. MapMaker. Somebody created a giant statue of Android...(won't spoil the rest of the story here ;) ).

@stevesi an early demo of auto-formatting rules functionality that could format the whole doc at once. It took 10 seconds to process a letter that BillG wrote and all it did was convert the word “Sincerely” to italics.

// On patterns and anti patterns

@aparnacd

- A pie-growing attitude is healthy. The development of a pie-slicing attitude spells trouble.
- Don’t assume that if you build it they will come. Define the metrics so you’re not setting yourself up for failure.

// on the best product decisions they've seen

@shishirmehrotra

@manikgupta

// On when to hire your first PMs

@shishirmehrotra "Not until engineers start demanding it"

@manikgupta "Try and groom potential PMs internally"

@stevesi "CEOs always try to find “mini-me’s” but there may not be room for two of someone within a company."

And that's it! Thanks to @TomJWhiteIV for help with this and to everyone who sent in questions/comments/DMs. This was a very exciting episode and we plan on having this group back for sure!