Читать книгу EMPOWERED - Marty Cagan - Страница 43

Modern product management is all about true collaboration between product, design, and engineering. This begins with ensuring the product manager is knowledgeable about the real contribution of product design and engineering.

The PM does not need to be personally skilled in either design or engineering (most aren't, although many PMs believe they're great designers), but they do need to understand and appreciate their contributions to the point where they understand that what design and engineering bring to the table is just as essential as what the PM brings.

Next, the PM needs to establish the relationships necessary for true collaboration, which is built on trust and respect.

In my own coaching of PMs, once they've learned the basics we've discussed above, most of the coaching I do has to do with collaboration.

When I sit down with a product team to talk about a problem they're trying to solve, I rarely spend time with just the PM. Almost always, it is with the PM, the product designer, and the tech lead.

Again, that's just the nature of product today. But during these sessions, I am witness to countless interactions. And afterward, if I've observed something, I often pull the PM aside and try to point out how her interactions during that meeting either helped or hurt her efforts to build trust.

A one‐hour meeting discussing a problem or objective will usually yield many good examples I can use as a coaching opportunity for the PM. How engaged is the rest of the team? Are they acting like they are empowered to solve the problem, or are they acting like order takers? Is the designer and engineer bringing potential solutions to the table or just pointing out issues with whatever the PM proposed? Are they spending too much time talking (e.g., planning) and not enough time trying (e.g., prototyping)? How are they resolving differences of opinion?