“Mastering” the PM communication — Tiny tweaks that deliver big impact
Product managers sit at the nexus of many very different types of stakeholders, and — like a switchboard — they need to route communications accordingly and keep everyone informed about what’s happening in a language they understand. Stakeholder communication is at the heart of any product manager’s day-to-day life. Mastering this soft skill is one of the most important keys to success. Put it differently, you’ll struggle to lead a team if you can’t communicate effectively.
In the recent Product Management report, communication ranked the most important skill absolutely essential to the role of product management.
Even when cross-referenced by industry, product management communication skills still reigned supreme.
But why communication is so vital for product managers?
As a product manager, you should spend more time communicating than executing. Communication doesn’t mean filling up your calendar with different types of meetings just to stick to a specific agile methodology. Communication means allocating enough time to prepare for meetings, and to follow up after so your team can get the most out of it during those interactions.
It’s hard to prove the business value in spending time communicating, especially because the people you work with (engineers, data analysts, designers and marketers) spend more time executing than communicating, as they should. The quality of your job is not measured by the number of user stories done during a specific sprint but by making sure your team ships the right product at the right time, which will make our users succeed ultimately — Outcomes over Output mindset.
In this previous article ‘7 habits of a highly-effective product manager’, we outlined the different communication styles with various stakeholders you interact on a daily basis. Not all communication is created equal — Each stakeholder care about different things and have varying expectations. Knowing your audience is key to effective communication. When you understand who you’re dealing with, you can appropriately tailor your message and tap into what matters most to them. From First Round Review, we will explore some quick do’s and don’ts that ensure smooth communication with four main stakeholder groups:
Group 1: Executives and leadership
Your mission is to bring a time-deprived group of people up to speed very efficiently. To make that happen:
Do…
· Send presentations, decks and other materials before every meeting. For very busy folks, print materials in advance of meetings and block off the first 5 minutes for review.
· Validate every decision with data, showing that you’ve thought through all possible outcomes.
· Be specific about the executives’ desired participation. Outline clearly and succinctly what decisions you need their help making in real-time during the meeting.
· Take notes and close the loop. Follow up immediately on open questions and requests.
· Send high-level updates right after each meeting with action items, the status of tasks using something clear like red/yellow/green to indicate what’s behind schedule, going okay, and going well.
Don’t…
· Go into too much detail. Only share what’s important.
· Surprise anyone with bad news. If the news is bad, reach out to folks 1:1 in advance so they have time to think. Then set a meeting with everyone to find resolution.
· Show up unprepared. There’s no winging it.
· Ignore room dynamics. You need to watch people’s reactions to information and adjust in real time. Defuse tensions as they arise. Slow down or speed up as needed.
Group 2: Your own team
These are the people you see and talk to all the time. But information still falls through the cracks, and you have to make sure everyone is moving forward.
Do…
· Leverage efficient daily stand-ups. This is your time to nudge, get status updates and call out outstanding action items.
· Review strategy/roadmaps regularly. Evaluate whether changes are needed weekly. What data motivates these changes?
· Record and send out notes on key decisions and actions. This maintains alignment better than anything else.
· Facilitate conversation around roadblocks. Don’t just observe that something isn’t getting done. Get to the bottom of it.
· Reward team members often. Highlight and demonstrate the impact of their work. In particular, tell anecdotes about customer pain points that were alleviated.
Don’t…
· Make decisions without engineering and design. Autonomous decision making has a destructive ripple effect. And never treat them as subordinates.
· Send action items/requests without talking about them first. Don’t just assign things to people through a productivity tool. Chat about it in a 1:1 or stand-up.
· Forget to update folks on roadmap or specs changes. This is particularly important after meeting with execs. Run through the changes with your team and explain why they were made.
Group 3: Internal and external partners
This might include internal teams like finance and legal, or external parties like brands you’re partnering with on campaigns. They have shifting needs that PMs need to catch and respond to fast.
Do…
· Exhibit detailed understanding of their work and domain.
· Use the right format at the right time with the right audience. Make sure you’re conveying information in the way people expect and like to digest it. Decks/whiteboarding/written reports/etc. This varies highly.
· Leverage your teammates. Bring in engineering leads and others to make stakeholders feel like they’re hearing from the ultimate source.
· Gently and continuously educate them. Partners sometimes don’t know the consequences of their actions. Take the time to diplomatically explain things — like a how a relatively simple-seeming change represents much more work for engineers.
· Build relationships outside of work meetings. Go for 1:1 walks or coffees to build rapport.
· Create transparency. Don’t rely on others to communicate to everyone. Publicly share and point to roadmaps available to everyone instead.
Don’t…
· Forget who to loop in at what stage. Make a list of all the work expected and who needs to know what. Give everyone ample heads up.
· Make stakeholders feel ignored. Even if you disregard feedback, follow up and explain.
· Forget you have more insight than anyone else. Stakeholders don’t see your roadmap. Err on the side of over-communication.
· Allow meetings to end without clarity. At the end of every meeting, state the primary conclusions and action items. Get universal agreement.
· Forget to educate about timelines and tradeoffs. Proactively provide this info, don’t wait to be asked about it.
Group 4: Customers
As a PM, you should master talking to customers so their needs are well-represented — and to make the right impact for them.
Do…
· Always start with the user problem. Don’t just accept a pain point exists. Ask why and understand the journey that creates that pain point.
· Keep what’s important to them top of mind. Constantly refer to user studies and conversations as you speak to other stakeholders.
· Treat email copy as a part of the product experience. It’s one of the first impressions you’ll ever make on a customer.
· Generate empathy for yourself by reading through user feedback, attending user studies in person, shadowing sales and customer success, etc.
Don’t…
· Leave product communications/messaging to the last minute. Messaging can often define product choices, and not the other way around. Start with this, don’t end with it.
· Assume marketing will position the product themselves. You bring a ton of context they don’t have. Stay in the room.
· Leave customer success in the dark about launch. They’re the front lines. Treat them accordingly.
· Believe internal products require no roll out. Internal users are real users. They need to be onboarded, trained and kept engaged.
References:
- 17 Product Managers Who Will Own the Future of NYC Tech — and the 9 Frameworks They’ll Use to Do It by First Round Review
- Mastering communication: a product manager’s superpower by Miro