5 Ways Product Management Is Different In a Mission-Driven Organization

As a product manager who has worked exclusively for mission-driven organizations (nonprofits, social enterprises), I find that the common advice and strategies targeting PMs don’t always apply to my work. I’ve read articles and books and attended conferences chock full of otherwise useful information that just isn’t relevant to what I do.

Here are five ways in which product management is different in a mission-driven organization:

1. We use different words

There are many terms in a PM’s lexicon that just don’t make sense in the context of a social mission. Terms like “customer value,” “product market fit,” and “unique selling proposition” may be non-starters when you’re talking about social impact work. Instead, we say things like, “outcomes,” “inclusiveness,” and “community empowerment.”

2. Our metrics are different

In nonprofit product management, you’re not typically measuring revenue or market share. Instead you’re measuring far more abstract concepts like engagement and — here’s a doozy — the transformative effects of your work. There is no section in the Google Analytics dashboard for this; I checked. Sometimes I wish I had the luxury of a financial bottom line, simply because it’s easier to measure. (Nonprofit staff do, of course, consider the financial impact of decisions, but since many projects are funded by grants or donations, the calculus is very different.)

3. We do outreach instead of marketing

Rather than identifying your target audience and selling to them, you might be, for example, delivering a vision for the world and inspiring people to join your cause. This is a fundamentally different task. There can be a tension between keeping a laser-like focus on the vision of the organization and adhering to the best practices of product management.

4. Our competitors can be collaborators

It’s a myth that the nonprofit sector isn’t competitive. It’s highly competitive. Organizations are often competing for limited resources from the same funders, for example. But unlike in the private sector, organizations are often working towards the same goals, so collaborations are common. Doing a “competitor analysis” might look like a “partnership opportunity analysis” instead.

5. Our product is imbued with our values

For-profit companies have values, too, but how often do they ensure their products are inclusive, accessible, open source, Creative Commons-licensed, community-driven, service-oriented, reflective of diversity, and free (as in beer)?

I’m curious to know what you would add to the above list, as well as how you’ve adapted principles of product management to social change work?