The Thompson Twin’s 1983 pop song “We Are Detective” tells the playful story of detectives who are being spied on by other detectives, and there are lessons in here for how product management and UX can better cooperate to drive bigger business outcomes.

The lyrics go like this:

Somebody’s watching me
And now I’m nervous, and I shouldn’t be
Somebody’s got their eye on me
Perhaps I should invite him up for tea?

We saw him smoking by the newspaper stand
There’s something odd about his gloved left hand
Saw him again inside the old cafe
He makes us tense; we wish he’d go away

We are detective
We are select
We are detective
Come to collect

Somebody’s after me
He left his footprints by the garden tree
Last night when I got home
I got the feeling I was not alone

Someone is on our tail
We think they’re opening up our morning mail
And now each time the telephone rings
We think of frightening things

We are detective
We are select
We are detective
Come to collect

We dress up in disguise
To get away from all those prying eyes
Our friends all think we’re mad
But we know better ‘cos the spy is bad

We are detective
We are select
We are detective
Come to collect

“Somebody’s watching me, and now I’m nervous and I shouldn’t be”

In product development, there’s often a delicate dance between product management and UX, not unlike the dueling sets of detectives in the song.

Both often see themselves as detectives or investigators, which is not wrong. But, in my experience, sometimes they can see themselves as adversaries — in a low-key battle over who “owns” the user, or what is the “right” definition of success.

Instead of feeling like they’re in competition against one another, they can tackle complex problems more effectively by acknowledging “we are detective” and leveraging their distinct skills to drive the business forward.

“We are detective, come to collect”

An effective way to cultivate an environment of mutual respect and collaboration is to acknowledge that neither side truly understands where the other is coming from and intentionally take action to rectify that:

• Encourage product managers and UX team members to shadow one another so that product managers can learn more about the design process, and UX can learn more about product strategy
• Establish regular feedback loops to discuss progress, share insights, and address roadblocks
• Create shared metrics to align on common goals and objectives

“We dress up in disguise to get away from all those prying eyes…”

Product managers may define success in terms of business outcomes while UX may define success in terms of task success rate and error rates. But more effective teams will realize there are overlapping metrics that help both teams understand the broader picture.

Shared metrics that help align product management and UX typically include:

• Net Promoter Score – Indicates if a user is happy enough with your product or service to recommend it to others (UX) which directly correlates with renewal rate (product management)
• Active Users – Measures the number of users engaging with the product on a regular basis, which helps validate market demand for the product (product management) and provide insights on behavior patterns for optimization and enhancements (UX)
• Feature Adoption Rate – Identifies features that resonate with users which informs roadmap, external messaging and BDR outreach (product management) and future design enhancements (UX)
• User Retention Rate – Indicates the percentage of users who continue to use the product over a specific period of time
• Revenue & Conversion Metrics – Understanding revenue generated from product sales or conversions, as well as conversion rates for key user actions, indicates what to do more or less of in the future.

By tracking and discussing these shared metrics, UX and product management teams can assess the impact of their efforts, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions to enhance the overall user experience and drive business success.

And in that way, they’ll no longer need to dress up in disguise to get away from all those prying eyes, because together they’ll uncover the truths that no single detective could ever surmise.

Unless that detective was Sherlock Holmes. But that’s a whole other post altogether.

Bonus Content

Enjoy the official music video for We Are Detective:

New Around Here?

• Subscribe to receive future updates
• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Follow me on Twitter to share your musical thoughts and PM insights
• Join the product management community on Gartner Peer Insights
• Schedule time with me to talk product

The post Insights From The Thompson Twins On How Product Managers and UX Can Better Harmonize To Drive Bigger Business Impact first appeared on Product Management Meets Pop Culture.

Bonus Content

Entrepreneur Dave Ramsey shares practical advice on how to simplify making more effective decisions:

New Around Here?

• Subscribe to receive future updates.
• Connect with me on LinkedIn.
• Follow me on Twitter to continue the conversation!

The post Two Types of Product Managers first appeared on Product Management Meets Pop Culture.

In the Hostess ad Blown About, the Human Torch’s battle against the villainous Blow Dryer provides a tasty framework for helping Product Managers navigate an ever-changing market landscape.

< SPOILER WARNING >

This article features key plot points from one of these bizarre 40-year-old comic book ads. Actually… the entirety of this bizarre 40-year-old comic book ad is pictured below. So, consider yourself warned!

< / SPOILER WARNING >

Our story ad begins with Blow Dryer attempting to rob a high society party using her supersonic hair dryer.

The Human Torch happens to be flying by and notices the nefarious activity.

Our villainess selects her new target…

… and nearly snuffs out his flames!

Realizing he’s no match for her weapon, Torch pivots his approach. He reaches for the pile of Hostess Cup Cakes, left out in the sun, at this high society party.

He tosses the pastries at her, and she drops her weapon.

She’s so distracted by the chocolaty cake and icing that the Torch is able to capture her and save the day.

“I’ve Got To Get Her Hands Off That Blow Dryer…”

Product managers don’t often face off against supersonic hair dryers — but we often face situations where existing strategies or product offerings no longer align with the evolving market landscape and customer preferences, and we need to adapt.

Because the Human Torch lives in an alternate universe where everyone is head-over-heels in love with Hostess products, his solution is straightforward. No need to gather data or beta test. Just grab a fistful of Hostess cup cakes and you’re good to go.

In our reality, we need to adapt to stay relevant. But we need to be a bit more data-informed.

We need the H.O.S.T.E.S.S. Framework.

The H.O.S.T.E.S.S. Framework

When your product is no longer resonating, this delicious framework provides a proactive approach to adapt and improve:

• H: Helpful Data – Start by collecting pertinent data: Key performance metrics, customer feedback, market trends, competitor behaviors.
• O: Objective Analysis – Look for trends, shifts in behavior, changes in preference by audience segments.
• S: Strategic Reconnection – Engage directly with customers to uncover insights on preferences, pain points, needs. Customer surveys can help with quantitative data. Customer workshops can provide qualitative data.
• T: Transformative Plan – Based on insights gathered, define new objectives, key changes, updated value proposition. Be clear about your intentions and how success will be measured.
• E: Excellent Execution – Collaborate with the team to make prioritized changes based on expected impact and feasibility.
• S: Strategic Communication – Communicate changes to internal teams and external stakeholders. Articulate how changes align with business goals and benefit customers and users.
• S: Systematic Measurement – Continuously gather feedback and regularly assess KPIs to track the impact of your changes. If measurements are not trending in the right direction, consider further adjustments.

By following the H.O.S.T.E.S.S. action plan, Product Managers can taste sweet success without all the extra calories.

Bonus Content

In this fan film, the voice cast dramatize another Hostess Twinkies ad starring the Human Torch, Hot Tempered Triumph:

Want more Hostess comic book ads? Check out the Indispensable Hostess Comic Ads Checklist.

New Around Here?

• Subscribe to receive future updates.
• Connect with me on LinkedIn.
• Follow me on Twitter to continue the conversation!

The post H.O.S.T.E.S.S. Framework: Key To Winning Battle Among Supersonic Hair Dryers, Cup Cakes, Changing Market Landscapes first appeared on Product Management Meets Pop Culture.

Rebney is probably the most famous person you’ve never heard of, but you have likely heard his voice. He was a former RV salesman whose hysterical, explosive, profanity-laced outbursts circulated on VHS tapes in the 1990s and then became one of the web’s first viral sensations in the early 2000s.

In 2009, a documentary crew caught up with Rebney and helped viewers get to know the man behind the cursing montage.

Filmmaker Ben Steinbauer discovered Rebney living alone, on top of a mountain, unaware of his fame. And we meet a man who is far smarter and lovable than you’d expect based on his on-the-job meltdown.

Upon Rebney’s passing, Steinbauer told Entertainment Weekly:

“Jack was the holy grail of VHS heroes we wanted to meet but we were nervous he’d hate us or throw a punch. Instead, when we met him at a show and he saw how much joy his hilarious outtakes brought people, he actually hugged us at the end of the night! And keep in mind, this is a man who called a fly a ‘[expletive] jackass.’ We’ve all had frustrating days at work but none of us has expressed it as colorfully or eloquently as Jack Rebney. He will be missed.”

– Ben Steinbauer

I will admit: I’ve watched the viral clips of Rebney multiple times over the last 15 years and I laugh out loud every time as if it is the first time I’ve seen them.

Of course, I’m laughing at Rebney’s explosive reactions to the heat, to the flies, to his own inability to remember the script that he wrote himself.

But I’m also laughing at myself, because – like Steinbauer commented — I can absolutely relate.

I’ve certainly had frustrating days at work or in life and I have failed to life up to the high expectations that I’ve set for myself or that others have set for me.

Maybe not so colorfully in terms of language, but still.

As I consider the legacy of Jack Rebney to me, I see two important lessons for product managers.

One positive lesson we can take away from Rebney’s viral fame is the importance of authentic, memorable messaging.

On a regular basis, I remember and chuckle at some of Rebney’s catchphrases:

• Will you do me a kindness?
• We’ve got flies comin’ for us!
• You’re disturbing what’s left of my brain!
• I don’t want any more [expletive] any time, during the day, from anyone — and that includes me!
• NO MORE!

And his catchphrases have popped up in various Hollywood productions ranging from Crazy Stupid Love to SpongeBob SquarePants.

In product management, creating memorable and compelling messaging is key to capturing the attention of your target audience.

Memorable slogans or catchphrases can help you build brand recognition and foster a loyal following — for your product, but also for yourself as a product manager.

I am not suggesting expletives are the right brand strategy.

But cultivating an authentic brand for your product and for yourself as a product manager is essential to success on multiple levels, so don’t dismiss it as marketing fluff or internal politics.

One negative lesson we can take away from Rebney’s viral fame is the importance of not letting our anger define us or damage our careers.

When Winnebago found out about Rebney’s outbursts, they let him go.

In product management, there may be times where anger is absolutely the correct response to a given situation.

In my career, I’ve sometimes squashed that anger down or bottled it up. But I think a more healthy response is to harness that emotion and change it into something more productive.

Here are some steps I recommend:

• When anger arises, take a moment to assess the root cause. Getting clarity on the true trigger helps start the process of redirecting that energy in a positive way.
• As part of that process, remember to breathe. Pause. Keep your composure. Don’t react, respond.
• Reframe the anger as motivation. If the sales team is failing you, don’t lash out. Embrace the mindset that challenges are opportunities in disguise and use that to propel you forward.
• Use your new motivation to seek constructive solutions. Understand the true problem. Communicate. Work collaboratively to solve that problem to the extent that you can.
• Prioritize self-care. Product managers have fun, interesting, challenging jobs. But they are also stressful jobs. So engage in activities that relax and recharge you, so you have the resilience and mental clarity required to channel anger into productive outcomes.

Closing Thought

Death is terrible, and this pain and suffering we endure on earth is not how it’s supposed to be. Jack was an unintended celebrity with a small circle of people he would actually consider friends. I didn’t know him personally or what he believed about God, but I know Jesus loved us enough to live and die for us so that anyone who trusts in him and believes God raised him from the dead would be reconciled with God and adopted into his family. I hope Jack is making people laugh out loud in heaven right now with his colorful way with words and that their laughter echoes into eternity.

Bonus Content

Rebney shares his thoughts on cursing. Golly whompers!

A few years ago, Rebney’s small circle of friends surprised him for his 87th birthday and it’s very touching.

New Around Here?

• Subscribe to receive future updates.
• Connect with me on LinkedIn.
• Follow me on Twitter to continue the conversation!

The post Product Management Lessons From The Life Of Jack Rebney, Winnebago Man first appeared on Product Management Meets Pop Culture.

Not to be grandiose, but — at its core — that’s what this field is.

Our job as Product Managers is to find the truth, understand it, quantify it, qualify it because it may be true and also irrelevant to what we’re seeking to accomplish, and then make the relevant truths understandable to others so the business can make informed decisions about strategy and tactics.

There’s more to it than that. But it’s not less than that.

And that drive to understand, to question, to look beneath the surface, often brings us to unexpected places that require further discovery and investigation.

That’s been true in my career and also in my personal life.

As we approach Easter 2023, I’m reflecting on the intersection between the professional and the personal and wanted to share how product management led me to the empty tomb of Jesus.

My Journey

Around 2010, I was seeing a lot of success in my career, which was great. But inside, I was a bit of a train wreck. My identity at that time was rooted in this noble idea of being The Good Guy: Having all the right answers, getting to work before everyone else, being the last person to leave at night.

The result was recognition, promotion, and approval at work — which was fantastic! — coupled with a soul absolutely crushed by anxiety and self-demands.

Eventually the breaking point came when I knew I needed to change.

I tried therapy, meditation, exercise, even hypnosis to try to reset and recenter myself. None of it worked.

Eventually, as a last resort, I decided to pray for help.

But the question then was — pray to whom?

“Call to me and I will answer you…”

I grew up Catholic and was a religious studies minor in college. But I went to church because my mother made me, and I studied world religions in school because I found them interesting, not because I believed in any of them.

After all, religious claims tend to be very personal. They can’t be verified. They’re not falsifiable.

But at that point, I was at the end of my rope. I wasn’t interested in confirming or denying religious claims; I needed help and in my mind it was either pray or medicate. I chose the former.

When I prayed for the first time as an adult, it was to the God I remembered from church as a kid. I told Him, I didn’t know if He was real, but I could really use the help if He was.

Little did I know that He actually expects and answers prayers of that type. In the biblical book of Jeremiah, He says, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” And he did answer me. But the answer just led to more questions.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline…”

Over a period of a few months, the anxiety that had been wrecking my life gradually melted away. As I started to actually read the Bible and discuss it with friends who were Christians, I began to understand who God is. But even as I started to understand God and Christianity a bit better, I needed to understand if it was actually true. I needed someone to tell me why I should believe.

Had I deceived myself into thinking God was real to give myself permission to feel better?

Was I really feeling better or had a hypnotized myself into feeling something that wasn’t real?

Even I had been healed, how would I ever know which god had healed me?

How do I know the Bible is true?

Am I being ungrateful to God, the Universe, or whomever by even asking these questions?

And then I read something stunning from Jesus. In John 7, people are complaining about Jesus healing someone on their holy day of rest. As part of His response back, He says: “Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.”

“Look beneath the surface…”

Jesus was inviting inquiry.

So I started to investigate. Over time, it became clear that there is a way to determine if Christianity is true and if the Bible is for real — and it all centered on Jesus.

Unlike other religions, Christianity makes a specific claim about an historical event: That Jesus died and was raised from the dead. If that did not happen, Christianity may have some interesting things to say — but at its root, it would be false. However if the resurrection did happen, that changes everything.

One of the most useful resource in answering that question came from Gary R. Habermas in The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ who points out several facts that most religious and secular New Testament scholars agree on, including but not limited to:

• Jesus died by crucifixion at the hands of the Roman government
• Something happened to Jesus’ body after he was crucified, because his tomb was empty
• Jesus’ followers claimed to have had interactions with a resurrected Jesus
• Paul transformed from a persecutor of Christians to an apostle after an encounter with the risen Jesus
• Jesus’ apostles transformed from skeptical cowards to missionaries who faced persecution and death for proclaiming Jesus is God, and turned the Roman world – and the rest of the world – upside down… within one generation, Christianity had spread to Europe, Africa, and Asia.

There are other facts, but these are generally the most agreed upon. The reason they’re agreed upon is because they’re supported by multiple, independent sources — including enemy testimony, early creeds, and historical texts outside the Bible itself.

Lots of religious adherents are sincere in their beliefs. But Jesus’ disciples are unique in all of history because they were actually in the position to not just believe something happened but were present to see it. To experience it.

They were willing to suffer and lay down their lives for this message about Jesus’ death and resurrection because they knew it was true. Realizing that made it easier for me to put my trust and hope in Him, too.

“For God so loved the world…”

Christianity is the worst news and the best news all at once, and you see those truths captured in the Christian celebrations of Good Friday (commemorating Jesus’ death) and Easter (celebrating His resurrection).

In simple terms, the story of Christianity is this: God made it. We broke it. Jesus fixed it.

In more detail:

• The eternal, holy, omnipotent, omniscient God creates space, time, and matter (Genesis 1:1)
• He creates human beings in His image to know and enjoy Him (Genesis 2:18-25)
• Since true love is sacrificial in nature and requires conscious consent, He gives us free will so we have ability to choose Him and follow His ways or reject Him and go our own way (Genesis 2:16-17; Joshua 24:15; Galatians 5:13; Mark 8:34)
• The first humans choose to rebel against Him because they want to be Him (Genesis 3:
• As a result sin (the bad things we think, say, and do) enters the picture
• All of creation is infected and affected by sin – including all of us (Psalm 51:5; 1 John 1:8)
• Sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2)
• And as our creator, God defines the penalty of sin as death (Romans 6:23)
• People try to do good things to make up for the bad things, but no amount of good can make up for the fact of sin that is in all of us – and that’s the bad news (Isaiah 64:6)
• The good news is – just as sin is inherited, or imputed, to us, the way out of our situation can also be imputed, or credited, to us when we put out trust in God’s son, Jesus
• That is the meaning of John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
• Jesus lived the perfect life none of us did and took the punishment we all deserve, so that when we put our trust in Him, He takes on our record of wrongdoing and He gives us his record of goodness (2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 2:8-10)
• Jesus warns his followers that becoming a Christian does not erase all your troubles (John 16:33)
• But it does provide a tangible hope by freeing you from the penalty of sin (Romans 6:23), the power of sin over your life (1 Corinthians 10:13), and eventually the presence of sin (Revelation 21:4)
• Jesus will return again, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him (Hebrews 9:28) and to make all things new, destroying death, mourning, crying, and pain (Revelation 21:1-8)

The parentheticals above are references in the Bible so you can read these statements for yourself in context.

“Behold I make all things new…”

Death, destruction, sadness, and evil are all part of our lives today. But Jesus’ declaration, “Behold I make all things new…” in Revelation 21 is a reminder that better days are ahead and the best is yet to come. In the present day, I can rest in that hope — and in the understanding that I no longer need to pressure myself to be The Good Guy because Jesus is all that and so much more.

Bonus Content

If you’re interested in a short overview of reasons to believe, in general, that there is a creator god and, specifically, that he’s the God of the Bible, this video provides a good starting point.

New Around Here?

• Subscribe to receive future updates.
• Connect with me on LinkedIn.
• Follow me on Twitter to share your PM insights!

The post How Product Management Led Me To The Empty Tomb first appeared on Product Management Meets Pop Culture.

< SPOILER WARNING >
Key plot points of this grim, 32-year-old made-for-TV thriller are discussed below. You have been warned!
< / SPOILER WARNING >

“Baby” Jane Hudson is a famous child star, dominating her sister Blanche, who serves as Jane’s understudy. Their happiest times as sisters are at the beach, without cameras, crews, or directors.

The movie skips ahead to the present, and time has not been kind to the aging sisters: Jane still dresses in kiddie clothes and makeup, and schizophrenically cares for and pranks her now-paraplegic sister.

What happened to Blanche? Word on the street is that Jane ran over Blanche in a fit of jealous rage once Blanche’s acting career took off and Jane’s career bottomed out.

Blanche and her physical therapist Dominick fear that Jane’s deranged pranks will become violent if Blanche discovers that Jane is trying to sell their house and move on with her life.

Unfortunately they don’t actually do anything about that concern… which eventually proves fatal.

Jane meets con artist / video store manager Billy Korn. He remembers Jane’s hit song, There Should Be Love, and offers to help her stage a comeback as a singer… in exchange for $1,000 cash which he’ll secretly and conveniently use to pay off an unsavory debt.

Back at home, Blanche calls her sister’s psychiatrist for help. But really she should have called 911 because Jane overhears the conversation, physically attacks her sister, and locks her upstairs without food, water, or means of communication.

While on the hunt for food and water, Blanche discovers that Jane has been forging her signature on checks to steal her money.

An outraged Jane ties Blanche to her bed and duct tapes her mouth shut.

During a house call, Dominik discovers Blanche, tries to free her, and is stabbed to death by Jane.

Jane slips further into madness when she learns in realtime that her big comeback special is actually a drag revue co-starring Korn dressed as Blanche. Their performance of There Should Be Love does not go well.

Jane rushes home. Korn follows her. He discovers Blanche half-dead, tied to her bed. Jane stabs him with a broken trophy.

Jane hauls the half-unconscious Blanche to the beach, to reminisce about happier days. Blanche confesses that she had been driving the car the night of the accident and had allowed a drunken Jane to take the blame. Jane skips off to get popsicles. The police rescue Blanche and arrest Jane.

“There Should Be Love”

So many of the issues in this movie stem from unvoiced, unrealized, or unwieldy expectations.

The lyrics to Jane’s song perfectly captures that unhealthy internal dialogue that gets expressed so horrifically as the drama plays out:

There should be love.
Love should be fair! (Ooh!)
Not being scared, 
Love! (Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!)
There should be you.
You should be there… (Ooh!)
With me to carry you through your fears.
Where have you gone?
What have I done to make you run away from me?
One night with you can make me see…
What I want, the one I need!
There will be love!
There will be love!
There will be love!

The expectation of “There should be…” is an easy refrain for anyone to fall into, including Product Managers. We have expectations of other people and groups, and they have expectations for us.

Many people think of product management as a one-way path to requirements execution and treat Product Managers as order takers.

Or maybe your situation is less about the product management function and more about dealing with annoying co-workers or shouldering the stress of unrealistic expectations. After all, 44% of employees claim to experience a lot of daily stress – and PMs are not immune from that.

So how do we handle those “There should be…” expectations? How do we give voice to them in a healthy way?

S.M.A.R.T. Expectations

When PMs create product requirements, we consider the specifics of who the user is, what they’re trying to do, when, and why, the intended business outcomes, and expectations for performance of that feature.

I tend to apply the S.M.A.R.T. method of Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant & Time-Bound to how I create and prioritize requirements.

And I’ve found that I can apply that same methodology to articulate and then set expectations for myself and others.

Application

Suppose you’re interested in setting boundaries at work. Let’s apply the S.M.A.R.T. formula to articulate an understandable, clear expectation.

Specific – Take the broad statement about “setting boundaries at work” and focus on a specific aspect you can quantify. For example, if you’re bouncing from meeting to meeting all day long without rest, one boundary you could set is for yourself: Take a break during the day.

Measurable – How do you identify if you’ve achieved that specific goal? Quantify it. In the example above: Take at least one 15 minute break during each work day.

Achievable – Setting a goal that is realistic is critical to not getting demotivated. Maybe your workplace is so unpredictable that a solid fifteen minute break is not possible. In that case, revise: Take at least one 15 minute break during the work day at least 3 days per week.

Relevant – This is the “why” of the goal and only you can determine that. In our example, studies show that regular breaks lead to greater productivity and less stress. So if you’re feeling stressed at work and you’re not taking breaks at work, chances are this goal would be relevant to you.

Time-Bound – Set a deadline for the goals so you can stay focused and motivated. If you’re in the final hours of a major initiative, maybe now is not the right time to switch tracks. So select a realistic time to start and then hold yourself to it.

If you fail at your goal, remember to show yourself grace. The compassion you have for your customers and users can be applied to yourself as well.

Don’t beat yourself up because “there should be…” whatever. Your goal is there to guide you to success, not to lock you upstairs without food and water and then forge checks in your name.

Unless, of course, that is your goal. In which case — watch out for those broken trophies.

Bonus Content

Watch the film for free on Tubi — or enjoy comediennes Bridget Nelson and Mary Joseph Pehl riff What Ever Happened To Baby Jane…? by adding humorous audio commentary over the (melo)drama.

New Around Here?

• Subscribe to receive future updates.
• Connect with me on LinkedIn.
• Follow me on Twitter to share your PM insights!

The post Product Managers, What Ever Happened To Baby Jane…? first appeared on Product Management Meets Pop Culture.

Bonus Content

Joe Ghali of 280 Group explains how Product Managers can better communicate with stakeholders in this quick video:

New Around Here?

• Subscribe to receive future updates.
• Connect with me on LinkedIn.
• Follow me on Twitter to continue the conversation!

The post Why Did The Vampire Fail As A Product Manager? first appeared on Product Management Meets Pop Culture.

< SPOILER WARNING >
Key plotpoints are pictured below as we explore how product managers can improve cross-functional collaboration. You have been warned!
< / SPOILER WARNING >

While construction continues on their new headquarters, the Joes code-named Scarlett, Hawk, and Stalker recount how they tracked down Snake-Eyes in the High Sierras several years ago to recruit him to the new G.I. Joe team.

In a flashback sequence, Hawk and Stalker find Snake-Eyes living with a wolf and hunting rabbits without a gun. They convince Snake-Eyes to return to civilization.

Scarlet picks up the story next, recounting how she grew to love Snake-Eyes, and how a tragic accident during a desert operation nearly killed the two of them.

“He spent six months in the hospital and all the best plastic surgeons tried every trick in the book,” Scarlett says, “but there was nothing in the world that could ever make Snake-Eyes look human again.” The explosion also damaged his vocal cords, making him mute.

In the present day, Snake-Eyes is in New York City hunting his estranged friend Storm Shadow, believed to have killed their ninja sensei years before. Storm Shadow breaks into a mutual friend’s deli and steals evidence preserved from the murder scene. Snake-Eyes gives chase.

The Joes intercept a police report about a fight between a masked man with an uzi and a ninja in white, and spring into action.

The chase eventually leads to the top of a subway train–heading straight for a tunnel!

To save the life of the man he once considered a brother, Snake-Eyes throws his own weapon aside, entreating Storm Shadow to mount the attack. Storm Shadow leaps at Snake-Eyes, and the two fall to safety just as the train enters the tunnel.

Storm Shadow explains that he did not kill their sensei; an agent of the terrorist organization Cobra committed the murder. While the Joes draw closer, Storm Shadow reveals that he has spent years working his way up through the Cobra ranks in an attempt to ascertain the identity of the true killer and exact vengeance.

By the time Scarlet arrives, Storm Shadow is gone. And Snake-Eyes, as always, is not talking.

The End

(Technical note: The story continued in G.I. Joe #28, part three of the origin of Snake-Eyes. But for our purposes today, this is the end.)

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

The G.I. Joe code-named Snake-Eyes is the definition of the strong, silent type: His mask covers his hideously scarred face, and his damaged vocal chords prevent him from speaking. His actions, though, speak volumes.

While you probably don’t have masked ninjas with pet wolves skulking around your office, you probably do interact with many different personality types during the day. The key to improving collaboration is to enhance communication.

Who Said That?

As Product Manager, it’s your job to be fluent in the “languages” spoken by the people around you–to hear what they say, and what they don’t say.

People are complicated and dynamic. Sometimes it’s difficult to understand their motives and actions. As PM, you get things done through other people. So if you don’t “get” them, you aren’t getting anywhere.

For example, suppose you’re creating a new mobile phone. As a PM, you must be able to…

• Translate high concepts (“multi-point gesture”) into features and requirements for engineering (“interface responds to strokes, twists and pinches of more than one finger, controlling virtual scroll-wheels and zooming intuitively”).
• Translate that functionality into concrete end-user benefits for marketing (“visually stunning, incredibly responsive, makes communication simpler & more fun”).
• And keep your ear to the target market so you know what they want, but have enough of an imagination to be a few steps ahead of them so you aren’t creating products that are out of date by the time they launch.

Layer different personality types on top, and the challenge gets really complex, really fast.

So what’s a Product Manager to do?

First, Understand Who You’re Dealing With. Include Yourself In This Evaluation.

I know many product managers who prefer communications via Slack or email because they like the idea of a virtual paper trail. All well and good–but suppose one or more of the people you’re interacting with are extroverts who thrive on interpersonal communication?

If you don’t give them the personal contact they’re looking for, you’re risking your product flying off the rails–and also missing a tremendous opportunity to challenge assumptions, create something better than the sum of its parts through actual interaction, and build a better relationship.

Still want that virtual paper trail? Discuss face to face, then put it in writing as a summary email. Everyone wins.

Second, Adjust Your Communication Style As Needed.

Suppose your team is composed of two or more different personality types, extroverts and introverts–what do you do? You adjust.

For the outgoing folks, make sure you solicit their feedback and involve them in group work such as brainstorms.

For the quieter types, give them the breathing room necessary to execute their work on their own, but make sure their voice is represented in the product.

If you notice someone is very shy about speaking “on the spot” in meetings, for example, provide an agenda ahead of time so everyone has time to research the issue and compose their thoughts. (This approach could even help the folks who talk first, and think later.)

Is this “double” the work? No. This is your job. Do it.

Third, Review Your Successes & Make Adjustments.

People are mercurial–influenced by their surroundings, their peers, their home life, even you. Pay attention to them. Listen to what they’re telling you. Observe.

The tactics that worked yesterday may not work today because their situation has changed.

Again, it’s your job to be aware and to adjust your approach to ensure that you’re doing everything you can to cut through the noise and make sure communication is happening routinely and effectively.

If all else fails, consider adopting that pet wolf.

New Around Here?

• Subscribe to receive future updates.
• Connect with me on LinkedIn.
• Follow me on Twitter to share your PM insights!

The post Snake-Eyes Silently Shows Product Managers How To Improve Cross-Functional Collaboration first appeared on Product Management Meets Pop Culture.

January

• High: Comic book industry reels as VIZ Comics ties Marvel Comics in the Top 10 Graphic Novels Sales chart (2 titles each)… and Boom! Studios and Image Comics tie for first place (3 titles each). Where is DC?
• Low: Patton Oswalt throws Dave Chapelle under the bus on Instagram.
• Product: Vincent Wu, Google Group Product Manager, explains how to communicate effectively with executives.
• RIP: Betty White dies on Dec 31 2021 at age 99, just days before her 100th birthday.

February

• High: Reacher earns a second season within a week of its premiere on Amazon Prime.
• Low: Marvel and DC agree to re-release the JLA/Avengers crossover to support dying superstar artist George Perez — but with restrictions that needlessly blunt its impact.
• Product: Tanguy Leborgne shares why Product Managers make great CEOs.
• GTM: Alexander Estner highlights 8 common Go-To-Market mistakes (#7 is a killer).

March

• High: The Batman starts with reckless vengeance, ends with light in the darkness.
• Low: R-Rated reboot of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air debuts, trades heartfelt laughs for gritty drama.
• Product: Rich Mironov explores how prioritization is a political problem as well as an analytical one.
• Hero: NYC doorman tackles monster who sucker-punched a 9-year-old girl.
• Creative: Artist creates two battling origami warriors from one sheet of paper.
• SLAP: You know what I’m talking about.

April

• High: Jonathan Pageau announces what’s next for the dog-headed Saint Christopher.
• Low: Morbius bombs due to blandness.
• Product: Sukirti Arora shares 30 Product Manager job interview questions she’s been asked.
• RIP: Estelle Harris (who played George’s mom on Seinfeld), Liz Sheridan (who played Jerry’s mom on Seinfeld), comedian Gilbert Gottfried, and superstar artist Neal Adams.

May

• High: Top Gun: Maverick debuts, delights audiences, grosses over $1 billion worldwide.
• Low: Dave Chapelle attacked on stage by person who finds the comedian’s content “triggering”.
• Product: Elena Seregina explains how the metrics pyramid aligns product and business goals.
• Radio Legend: Matt Siegel of Matty In The Morning retires after 41 years on the air in Boston.
• Madness: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness explores other realities… and the execution of the concept is a bit of an omnium-gatherum.
• RIP: George Perez.

June

• High: Kate Bush’s reaction to Running Up That Hill becoming 2022’s song of the summer 40 years after its debut.
• Low: Theories abound as to why Lightyear fails to lift off.
• Product: Alex Magee explores how to understand and use data smartly as a PM.
• RIP: Iconic artist Tim Sales.

July

• High: New comic book publisher Rippaverse crowdfunds $3 million for its debut project Isom.
• Low: Electronic Arts and other video game companies come out in support of abortion.
• Product: Toby Rogers shares 10 resources to help PMs grow from managers to leaders.
• Viral: Father Mike Schmitz explains why God allows suffering using DC’s Injustice.

August

• High: The Kaiju No. 8 Twitter account reveals the series is getting an animated adaptation.
• Low: DC can’t catch a break – Batgirl movie canceled due to poor audience test screenings.
• Product: Anubhav Sharma outlines how to effectively manage a product lifecycle.
• Monkee Business: The Monkees’ last surviving member sues the FBI for secret files (!) on the band.

September

• High: Amazon Prime’s The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power debuts, earns mixed reactions.
• Low: Tom Hanks and director Robert Zemeckis fail to bring live-action Pinocchio to life.
• Product: Looi Qin En shares insights from 52 PMs on what makes a great PM.
• RIP: Queen Elizabeth II.

October

• High: Dollywood’s Hoot Owl Hallow takes flight with a 14-foot bird composed of 150 pumpkins.
• Low: She-Hulk creative team prioritizes owning “the trolls” over telling a story fans would love.
• Mixed: Dwayne Johnson tries to engage audiences with Black Adam… and kinda succeeds, maybe.
• Product: Zander Pease illustrates the difference between a user story and a job story.
• Seemingly Super: Henry Cavill announces he’s returning to the DC Universe as Superman.
• RIP: Angela Lansbury.

November

• High: Mythic Quest returns for an epic season three. But where’s C.W. Longbottom?
• Low: Andor might be the best Star Wars show of 2022, but critical praise does not generate big viewership.
• Product: Nadiem von Heydebrand shares insights from his experience with data product management.
• RIP: Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman for 30 years.

December

• High: Henry Cavill announces he’s building a Warhammer Cinematic Universe… after announcing he’s not returning to the DC Universe as Superman.
• Low: Jennifer Lawrence bizarrely claims the first female-led action movie was The Hunger Games.
• Product: Userpilot reveals product trends for 2023. Hint: AI is involved.
• Still Flying High: Iron Man inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.
• RIP: Kirstie Alley.

What Were Your Favorite Moments From 2022?

I was shocked by how much I enjoyed Reacher and Top Gun: Maverick. I’m a huge superhero fan and I love comedies… and neither of these projects fits those requirements. But both of them shared something sorely missing in many TV and movies today: Emotional, optimistic, entertaining storytelling with characters that resonate and relatable motivations. Hopefully that trend continues into 2023 and beyond.

What moments from 2022 stand out to you?

New Around Here?

• Subscribe to receive future updates.
• Connect with me on LinkedIn.
• Follow me on Twitter.

The post Top 12 Product Management Insights From 2022 first appeared on Product Management Meets Pop Culture.

Here is the description of the episode:

Listen here – and let me know what you think!

New Around Here?

• Subscribe to receive future updates.
• Connect with me on LinkedIn.
• Follow me on Twitter to share your PM insights!

The post Product Manager Perspective – How Personalized Interactive Videos Enhance Customer Experiences first appeared on Product Management Meets Pop Culture.

Honored to be part of Henry Stewart’s 30 year history of publishing professional and academic journals!

You can read the article here.

New Around Here?

• Subscribe to receive future updates.
• Connect with me on LinkedIn.
• Follow me on Twitter to share your PM insights!

The post New Business Journal Article Published! first appeared on Product Management Meets Pop Culture.

As Simon Sinek puts it: “A team is not a group of people that work together. A team is a group of people that trust each other.”

In Attack on Titan: No Regrets, we see Levi Ackerman’s journey from operating as a criminal in an underground city to becoming a new member of the Titan-fighting Survey Corps. A core theme of the story is trust. Outside of his friends Isabel and Farlan, Levi cannot rely on or put his faith in anyone.

“Why Would I Ever Accept Help From Someone As Fishy As You?”

As Levi puts it at one point: “Why would I ever accept help from someone as fishy as you?”

In challenging times, Product Managers may share Levi’s feelings. We rely heavily on others to grow our products:

• UX and engineering to bring the ideas to life;
• Marketing and sales to tell the right people in the right way about how the product meets their needs;
• Pre-sales to create effective demos that showcase our unique differentiators;
• Professional services to address gaps between what the product does and what a specific client needs it to do, and
• So many more (e.g., product operations, legal, customer success, support…).

With so many moving parts, it’s unfortunately very easy for things to go off the rails.

Trust for PMs can be challenged in two ways:

• If the cross-functional team lets us down, our faith in their ability goes down.
• If we let our cross-functional team down, their faith in our ability goes down.

3 Tips For Increasing Trust

In this post, I’m going to focus on the second scenario.

In my experience, the cross-functional team’s trust in product management is most affected by three levers:

• Professional – Understanding, connecting, communicating
• Personal – Approaching others with humility and confidence
• Political – Navigating office politics in a positive way

Professional – Understanding, connecting, communicating

As PM, we need to deeply understand the problem space of a defined group of segmented users; develop a business justification for why the organization should enter that space; create a vision and plan for succeeding in that space; and continually validate and update features and future direction based on ongoing analysis and discovery work.

That’s a lot. But that’s only 1/3 of what we need to do to build trust.

If you’ve done the work, but are not documenting it… if you’ve done the work, but you are not communicating it… you may be developing a solid understanding, but you are not building trust with the team because you’re not inviting others into the process and developing that critical shared understanding.

For each feature developed, every teammate should understand its business value (its reason for being), who the user is for that feature, and how success is defined. As PMs intent on building trust, we’re responsible for connecting those dots for the team and providing the related evidence in a way the team can access and understand.

For example – in my organization we document conversations with clients and prospects in our system of record. Each backlog item is then connected to the relevant conversation as a way of evidencing the problem to be addressed by a given feature. If the conversation took place in a virtual meeting space and recorded then that recording is included as part of the documentation so anyone working on the feature and hear the user in their own voice. As part of the grooming process, the cross-functional team reviews the feature in this context which builds their understanding and sets the stage for the next part of the process.

Another sometimes overlooked connection point is post-release: Your development team probably loves creating new features – but they also likely want to understand how the product is generating revenue or meeting other KPIs. So tell them. Connect those dots for them. Celebrate those wins. That helps build trust because it’s an additional proof point of your market understanding – but it also helps increase the team’s sense of satisfaction and pride that they’re engaged in meaningful work.

Personal – Approaching others with humility and confidence

You can have all the market understanding in the world – but if you’re a jerk about it, if you treat your team like cogs in a machine, you’re going to struggle in many organizations because people want to actually like and respect the people they work with.

In a similar fashion, if you’re well-informed but lacking in confidence – maybe like many PMs you suffer from impostor syndrome – then your team will struggle to trust you because you do not appear to trust yourself.

Successful PMs are constantly engaged with the problem space — externally for the personas we’re targeting and also internally for the real people we work with. And that engagement should fuel a justified sense of confidence because we do understand what our teams need and what they’re struggling with.

To be successful on a personal level, we should respectfully approach our teammates with empathy and curiosity, sharing relevant information with them in a spirit of humility and excitement.

Political – Navigating office politics in a positive way

PMs who grow frustrated with office politics, or are oblivious to the informal power structures that drive their organization, will struggle to have their ideas heard or drive business impact beyond features and functions.

Successful PMs will dissect where their organization falls on the workplace politics scale and adopt a mindset that helps motivate the teams to do what’s best for the product.

How? First, through study: Observing the informal social networks in the organization. Second: By building relationships with your colleagues. Third: Leveraging your network to implement positive change. Zakir Tyebjee provides several ideas on how to build relationships with your core team as well as your broader group of stakeholders.

Bonus Content

Now that things are feeling less fishy and we know how to improve trust in our relationships, let’s check out Captain Levi in action in this amazing video compilation:

New Around Here?

• Subscribe to receive future updates.
• Connect with me on LinkedIn.
• Follow me on Twitter to share your PM insights!

The post Answering Captain Levi’s Question Is The Key To Building Trust As A Product Manager first appeared on Product Management Meets Pop Culture.