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AMA: Barracuda VP, Product Management, Mike Flouton on Influencing the C-Suite
July 12 @ 10:00AM PST
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Barracuda VP, Product Management, Mike Flouton on Influencing the C-Suite
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Mike Flouton
GitLab VP, Product • July 11
My first principle when it comes to roadmaps is “transparency.” Being transparent about priorities, what’s being prioritized, what’s not being prioritized and WHY makes a massive difference. There are plenty of SaaS solutions that are great for this, but in the old days we used a simple Excel ......Read More
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Mike Flouton
GitLab VP, Product • July 11
This is a really interesting question. I guess I’ve never really thought about being stuck in between two stakeholders before. Whether they agree with each other or not is actually mostly irrelevant – the real issue is that there isn’t agreement on the path forward yet and you need to build align......Read More
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Mike Flouton
GitLab VP, Product • July 12
This is a daily occurrence for me. I believe almost all people are good and have the best intentions, learning where someone you diagree with is coming from is only going to make your POV much stronger. You'll refine your good ideas, learn blind spots or things you missed, and reform your bad......Read More
720 Views
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Mike Flouton
GitLab VP, Product • July 12
Lots of people say they are data driven, not everyone actually is. I find people are either swayed by data or by stories. Both are valid - it's easy for anecdotal evidence to mislead, but it's also easy to cherry pick or manipulate statistics. So as a PM you need to be conversant in both. Emo......Read More
379 Views
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Mike Flouton
GitLab VP, Product • July 11
Unfortunately, this is one of the sad truths that comes with management. Sooner or later you will have to let someone go. It's never easy. I'm not sure it's ever broken me emotionally, but it's a really crappy experience for everyone involved. I really don't have any words of wisdom on this o......Read More
716 Views
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Mike Flouton
GitLab VP, Product • July 11
The biggest trap new managers consistently fall into is relying on what got them where they are. As a new manager, you probably got promoted because you were a rockstar PM. One of my favorite parts of the (American) “The Office” is the 2-3 times they show Michael Scott go out on a sales call. Unt......Read More
287 Views
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Mike Flouton
GitLab VP, Product • July 11
Quite simply - get involved and that in things that affect the outcomes that matter to executives. First make sure you clearly understand what you’re executive teams focused on. Your organization should have some high level priorities are OK are as defined no limit what really matters to them.......Read More
394 Views
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Mike Flouton
GitLab VP, Product • July 12
I sought out executive visibility from almost day one. I got to know VPs and even CEOs at the companies I worked for. I worked with a wide variety of leaders, including one or two who in retrospect were toxic. As a PM you're frequently the target when things go poorly, that early experience in th......Read More
250 Views
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Mike Flouton
GitLab VP, Product • July 12
Overwhelmingly, speaking the wrong language. Get out of the weeds, execs want to hear dollars and cents - business outcomes. Don't talk about user satisfaction in a vacuum, talk about how increasing user satisfaction is going to impact growth. Don't talk about paying down technical debt, talk abo......Read More
247 Views
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Mike Flouton
GitLab VP, Product • July 11
Here’s where you need to shift into an executive mindset. Good executives think in terms of costs and benefits and business outcomes they want to drive. And I’m not just talking about people in finance, sales and marketing – at the C-level EVERYONE thinks business outcomes -aka dollars and cents.......Read More
244 Views
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Mike Flouton
GitLab VP, Product • July 12
This comes down to transparency. See my later response on this topic. Make sure everyone on the exec team clearly understands the priorities, and more importantly, the non-priorities. When they make an urgent ask, make sure they understand the tradeoffs relative to the more durable well understoo......Read More
398 Views
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Mike Flouton
GitLab VP, Product • July 12
I'm going to push back on this one. If you're a commercial business, anything you're building should be monetizable. Now that doesn't mean you have to charge for everything. We have a freemium strategy as part of our PLG motion. But that "free" product directly leads to trials, conversions and pa......Read More
763 Views
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