How to structure and execute great product reviews

Three stages of PM:

Solve (non-linear thinking. You get $h1t done) =>

Scale (You operate a machine)=>

Sustain (You make decisions based on graphs, don’t forget people though)

Credit: Wired

How to work with the customer review

1. Listen to customers but mind where and who (use the filter)
2. Ask about: past behaviour, current behaviour and problems

Why are you hiring a product manager?

1. As a founder, you can’t outsource the job of solving the problem

2. When is the ideal time to start and why?

3. At what stage the product is? Will I be firefighting or strategizing?

Onboarding for PM

1. Dive deep into the product (use across different platforms)
2. Immerse into the data, look at who is using the product
3. Go into the research sessions, what people are saying
4. The tech: what are the key systems, what is the journey of the customers (don’t suggest something which will take 3 years, instead learn what key impact can be done in 3 weeks)
5. Get the first win

What to look for in PM?

1. Early-stage: hustle and drive, high tolerance for ambiguity
2. Later stage: domain experience

Evaluate product thinking skills. It’s important to simulate what they would do — a case study.

3. Competence: contextual

Not thriving (haven’t done the onboarding above)

4. Culture fit

Product reviews (PM is there to take notes)

1. Don’t do process theatre (producing docs for sake of it). It fogs up the space.

For Solve stage when looking for a product-market fit:

2. Dedicated small focus groups and problem solvers in the space. Need a divergent (generating ideas and developing multiple solutions to a problem) mindset. Still needs to track the action items.

For the Scale & sustain stage lead with the data & metrics and lead with a framework i.e. action items (already prioritised [P0, P1…], owned by lead PM), specific people, specific things to follow, a discussion summary, key decisions made.

3. Determine what are the key knobs here, 3–4 things need to happen

4. Area Product leader should own the agenda as it is a costly exercise. X-functional team should accompany (if this feature has a significant impact on customer service make sure the relevant team is there)

5. Definitely have Research & design leads

6. Participants: bring in observers (juniors)

ProTips: Focusing & prioritisation:

1. Take notes

2. Check the above notes.

Key mistakes of a Product review

1. Early idea by a passionate product guy → there may be a product-market fit. Don’t rush into thinking about how this can scale.
2. Chaos! Nobody owns the agenda.

Product decision mistake

1. Had hypothesis, but not delivered high RoI
2. The same idea didn’t go away, the learning was useful later on

3. Have to encourage bets, otherwise risk gathering risk-averse people

Source: 20 Product, with Aparna Chennapragada