Leading initiative
Product managers wear several hats and from time to time they lead initiatives. If a company product is a platform then the initiative is a cross-platform change that touches several products of the platform and requires the involvement of several teams across the company. Leading initiatives is a tough job and requires certain focus, skills and discipline. I would like to mention two ingredients that are paramount to the successful delivery of value to the end customer, all while making the life of your peers easier.
1.
The initiative is not just a project but rather a change. It is change management and it must be done appropriately. Communication is important but is not enough. A kick-off meeting or a weekly meeting with 20+ people on the call is not enough.
I found it useful to identify initiative key players. Key players are primary targets for me to ensure they understand what the change is about and what is their role in the change. It requires an extra effort from you to ensure change is adopted by your key players. Regular 1:1 meetings with each product manager should address their questions, worries and risks in order to onboard them.
If your peers avoid your meetings, do not update progress regularly in the company tracking tool and are running away because they spot you in the corridor — then it is your fault! It is your responsibility to make sure your partners understand the change and are willing to adopt it. Don’t blame them and change your approach. Evangelize and create allies who will help you roll out the change and turn it into reality. As a single initiative owner, you are not able to execute change just be yourself. Be mindful of the human side of your work.
Actions:
- Read “ADKAR: A Model for Change in Business, Government and our Community” by Jeffrey Hiatt
- Identify initiative key players, enablers and helpers
- Set up 1:1 meetings with key players, listen to them
- Ask enablers for support. Give thanks to helpers
2.
“Living in information”. It is not a weekly status meeting or nice-looking report. It is mainly a fully populated, up to date record on your tracking tool (i.e. Jira ticket), so other stakeholders can pull data on what they are interested in. Each stakeholder is interested in different kinds of data.
A fully populated and up to date record (i.e. Jira initiative ticket, a single source of truth in a given moment in our org) is a great source of data for automatization and automated reports for your peers, supervisors and partners. Just imagine how many misunderstandings and frustrations would be avoided with one reliable source of data.
Having a meaningful debate without capturing minutes and action points means that all valuable thoughts disappear in the air of the meeting room and nobody will remember them the next day. Agile is not when we are holding hands and singing “Kumbaya” at the meeting and hoping for a good end. Working in an agile way does not justify a lack of formal discipline.
Coordination requires “boring” formal procedures. Even dancing a sensual tango requires learning actual steps.
Actions:
- Identify Stakeholders matrix (Roman Pichler: Strategize, page 51 — Stakeholders Power-Interest grid)
- Consider the creation of the RACI model for communication
- Update information, status, etc. in the tracking tool
3.
Keep a balanced human approach (change management) and formal documentation (Jira ticket or other tools): once you underestimate one area in favour of another one, you’re asking for failure.
As a participant of many initiatives over the last couple of years, I realised that lack of 1:1 with key players (care personally) and lack of discipline in formal documentation leads to the “initiative anarchy”. Initiative without a “direction” drains the energy from all participants and leads to poor results.
While participating in some initiative, what frustrates you the most? What are your tips for good practice (in the discovery or delivery phase) that initiative owners should follow?
