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7 Hard-to-Apply Principles for Future Product Directors
Apply those like you're already there is critical
Jean-Michel Van
November 05, 2023
7 Hard-to-Apply Principles for Future Product Directors
What happened this week?
This week, a colleague on our team has achieved a well-deserved promotion to a new managerial role. It takes me back to the time when I experienced a similar transition years ago – a mix of excitement and confusion.
Over the years, I've realized that when significant life changes occur, it's beneficial to reflect on the principles I've learned and allow them to guide me. Currently, I find myself amidst a major shift at work as I embark on leading a new team. My reflections have led me to formulate a set of guidelines to navigate this change and shape my future.
If you're on the brink of assuming a leadership position, considering what comes next can be a catalyst for accelerating your journey.
I strongly believe in embracing principles, which are like reliable signposts in our lives. They provide guidance and simplify our approach to familiar challenges, much like the heuristic of dedicating 30 minutes to exercise three times a week for better health. You don't need to wonder whether it should be cardio or weightlifting, high intensity or low; you simplify it to "commit to exercise three times a week for a healthier life."
Alright, here you go…
What’s in there?
Embrace Repetition for Strategic Alignment
Embracing Learning and Accepting Failure
Cultivating Transparency and Accountability
Nurturing Safety While Waging an Internal Battle
Immersing Yourself 5 levels deep
Expanding Horizons to Foster Innovation
Developing Leaders is YOUR Ultimate Leverage
1. Embrace Repetition for Strategic Alignment
As a director, one of your most important roles is to keep the team motivated and focused on our product vision - constantly. It's all about making sure everyone is on the same page and moving in the same direction. To do this, it's crucial to consistently communicate a clear and unified message, something like this:
"[Users] are being challenged by [problem]. Our team's mission is to develop [service that resolves problem] and make it accessible to [a wide audience]. We will accomplish this by [implementing this and that], which is rational because [rationale]. Our measure for success is [a critical metric]."
Naturally, it's human nature to feel somewhat absurd repeating the SAME DAMN THING every week, and maintaining the same level of enthusiasm each time can be a challenge. Yet, it's crucial to recognize that as the creator of this strategy, you intimately know it inside out, making it seem redundant and blatantly obvious to you. However, for your team, each repetition keeps the strategy fresh, even well beyond the initial introduction.
Listening to something and truly internalizing it are two distinctly different processes.
It's essential to remember that there's a constant barrage of competing information and distractions vying for people's attention. It's highly probable that some team members might not be paying full attention at a given moment, or they might even forget the strategy despite your repetitions.
It's critical to embrace repetition to maintain 100% team alignment. One team member straying from the strategy can disrupt progress and team cohesion.
❗️ Natural behaviors to watch out for:
Lack of growth mindset
Deliver complex messages as it looks smart
This week’s recommendation
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2. Embracing Learning and Accepting Failure
The notion of allowing your team to fail might sound like a cliché, but in practice, it can be one of the most challenging aspects of leadership, especially when your own reputation is at stake, as is the case for directors. Witnessing missteps unfolding right before your eyes can be excruciating, and the natural impulse is to intervene and correct these mistakes.
But, you know what? This reactive approach can sometimes put a damper on the team's sense of ownership and create a not-so-great dynamic. Instead of working together to solve problems, the team ends up trying to please just one person. And that's catastrophic.
But neither can you simply stand idly by. So, here's a heuristic to navigate this complex terrain: exert your influence by asking pertinent questions throughout the creative process. You, as the director, occupy an advantageous position to step back from the intricacies and ask about the fundamentals:
Ask the team why the customer values the project XYZ and why their approach is the correct one.
Encourage discussion, but don't steer it toward a specific conclusion.
Let the team assimilate and integrate these questions into their thinking, and then accept the outcomes, whatever they may be.
In the event of the team failing, your only role is to ensure that a consensus forms around the recognition of the failure, and then swiftly move forward. No punitive measures, no "I told you so." Just keep asking the same questions. Over time, your team will begin to internalize your thought processes, ultimately achieving the aspiration of making yourself redundant.
It's important to note that this assumption hinges on you asking the right questions, a crucial component of this process.
❗️ Natural behaviors to watch out for:
Stepping in every time for any issue
Babysitting your PMs is not leadership
No accountability
3. Cultivating Transparency and Accountability
An open and transparent environment is the bedrock of a compelling narrative. Teams need structured processes to continually communicate their progress and the impact of their products to the organization.
Whether it's presenting the metrics of a live product, sharing the status of one in development, or sharing insights on user testing, having a lightweight system to project the metrics valued by the company, available to anyone interested, sets in motion a virtuous cycle within a product group.
You might wonder, "What if the team's performance is subpar? Won't transparency be demoralizing?" This concern is often raised, but I don't subscribe to it. My principle is rooted in the belief that you're not working with children, even when dealing with 18-year-old interns. People can handle the truth, and if they can't, they need to learn, because crafting successful products is a challenging journey.
Interestingly, it's often the belief that demoralizes teams. When a team recognizes that their product falls short, yet leadership constantly shows optimism and falsely projects success, team members lose confidence. They start to think, 'either the leaders are too blind to see our failures, or they believe we're too naive to realize them,' leading to a talent exodus.
In essence, embracing transparency, even in the face of challenges, empowers teams and fosters a culture of accountability, where success and failure are confronted equally, ultimately driving growth and progress.
❗️ Natural behaviors to watch out for:
Not being transparent
Hiding issues
That’s not my fault
4. Nurturing Safety While Waging an Internal Battle
It's important to know that putting constant pressure on engineers and designers to solve problems can result in not-so-great products. People need to feel secure to be creative. So, it's best to create a safe and supportive environment for them to share their best ideas. I covered this in a previous issue.
As a leader, it's important to strike a balance between wholeheartedly supporting the success of the product and making sure your team feels secure even if there are setbacks along the way. The only person whose role is directly tied to the success of the product is yours (and your team).
When you talk privately with key stakeholders, it can feel overwhelming with emotions. You might even discuss ending the project if it doesn't grow quickly. However, when you're with your team, it's crucial to be friendly, positive, confident, optimistic, and urgent. You should bring all these qualities together, without any exceptions.
To create a strong base of safety, you should embrace "The Face”. This concept is similar to "service with a smile" and involves playing a role to showcase important qualities mentioned earlier. Trust me, "The Face" is crucial for your team's performance and culture.
In my perspective, this aspect represents the most challenging facet of the job and is often the first to fray when signs of wear and tear emerge.
❗️ Natural behaviors to watch out for:
Trust is optional
I’ll be faster if I do it myself
No trust team’s talent and growth
5. Immersing Yourself 5 levels deep
I’ll be brief here. No job is too small.
When your team is struggling to meet deadlines, it's your responsibility to step in and help out. This could mean writing FAQ answers, manual checks for errors, or finding beta testers and ket your team shine! Your team will appreciate your active involvement. It also shows that you're willing to work alongside them and earn their trust and respect. This demonstrates your commitment to the product's North Star and proves that you're a leader who is willing to face challenges with your team.
We’re in the same boat!
❗️ Natural behaviors to watch out for:
I’m the leader, I do leader’s job only
That’s below my pay grade