Monday
Oct082007
Do Agile Product Managers need to be experts in everything?
Monday, October 8, 2007 at 06:31PM
At last month's BarCampBlock , several folks asked if agile product managers needed to be experts in UX (user experience, aka UI or UED) in order to get great products shipped. This questions comes up periodically, so here's a long-ish story in response:
Many years ago, I was interviewing for the job of VP, Engineering & Product Management. I felt the job was a perfect fit: they needed my particular blend of skills, I felt that I could do a really great job, and I had connected well with just about everyone I had met. Net? I really wanted that job.
Unfortunately, so did a few other highly qualified candidates. The race was on. And I vividly remember how I convinced the CEO to hire me.
He asked: "What's the primary job of the VP?"
"To not be easily fooled," I replied.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean that I'm not the expert in every area. Oh, sure, I think I'm pretty good at certain areas, but let's face it - there are too many technologies, too much stuff going on in the company. And yet, I'm responsible for giving you, the rest of the exec staff, our customers, our Board, and our shareholders reasonably accurate projections of what we're going to ship, when we're going to ship it, and how much money it is likely to make. I can't let my product managers get away with asking for products that don't meet customer needs, I can't let engineering create schedules that are grossly inaccurate, and I can't make huge mistakes in our financial modeling. To do this, I can't be easily fooled. Oh, I'll get it wrong sometimes, but I'll get it wrong less than the other people interviewing for this job, because I'm going to be the one who spends more time with our actual customers than anyone else".
I got the job. And while I wasn't an expert in every area, I'm extremely proud of the accomplishments of my teams. And I was fooled a few times, but not many.
So, don't ask if your Agile Product Managers need to be UX experts, or Scrum experts, or technical experts, or financial modeling experts. While Agile Product Managers are expected to know a little bit (OK, sometimes a lot) about a lot of things, they aren't really expected to be an expert in any one thing... except for knowledge about their customers, how their product meets their needs, and how they'll create a long term, sustainable, and profitable offering.
For anything else? Don't be easily fooled.
Many years ago, I was interviewing for the job of VP, Engineering & Product Management. I felt the job was a perfect fit: they needed my particular blend of skills, I felt that I could do a really great job, and I had connected well with just about everyone I had met. Net? I really wanted that job.
Unfortunately, so did a few other highly qualified candidates. The race was on. And I vividly remember how I convinced the CEO to hire me.
He asked: "What's the primary job of the VP?"
"To not be easily fooled," I replied.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean that I'm not the expert in every area. Oh, sure, I think I'm pretty good at certain areas, but let's face it - there are too many technologies, too much stuff going on in the company. And yet, I'm responsible for giving you, the rest of the exec staff, our customers, our Board, and our shareholders reasonably accurate projections of what we're going to ship, when we're going to ship it, and how much money it is likely to make. I can't let my product managers get away with asking for products that don't meet customer needs, I can't let engineering create schedules that are grossly inaccurate, and I can't make huge mistakes in our financial modeling. To do this, I can't be easily fooled. Oh, I'll get it wrong sometimes, but I'll get it wrong less than the other people interviewing for this job, because I'm going to be the one who spends more time with our actual customers than anyone else".
I got the job. And while I wasn't an expert in every area, I'm extremely proud of the accomplishments of my teams. And I was fooled a few times, but not many.
So, don't ask if your Agile Product Managers need to be UX experts, or Scrum experts, or technical experts, or financial modeling experts. While Agile Product Managers are expected to know a little bit (OK, sometimes a lot) about a lot of things, they aren't really expected to be an expert in any one thing... except for knowledge about their customers, how their product meets their needs, and how they'll create a long term, sustainable, and profitable offering.
For anything else? Don't be easily fooled.
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