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Different internal stakeholders require different fidelity of updates (e.g. your support team probably needs more granular details than the CEO) about product updates. Any protips/tools/suggestions for the best way to handle this?

3 Answers
Devika Nair
Devika Nair
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Director of Product ManagementJuly 20

First, ensure you have the right data to backup any claims or decisions you want to make. Second, focus on the goals you want from that audience. Third is to make sure that the content is clear and crisp with the right level of detail.

Occasionally, I have to re-write a document for a different audience (e.g., CEO). However, in general ensuring there is a clear summary for anyone without assumptions of previous context and the decisions (or requirements) are clearly articulated in your doc/email/presentation. Include details for anyone who might want to dig in the subsequent paragraphs or include links/appendix for anyone who might want such details.

1118 Views
Chris Omland
Chris Omland
Workiva Vice President Of Product ManagementApril 7

Awesome question!

First off, take some time to understand your audience. Who are they? What challenges do they face? What matters to them? The answers to these questions will help you tailor your communication for different stakeholders. One tip I often give to Product Managers on my team is that the real meeting often happens before the actual meeting. I encourage them to connect with key stakeholders before a larger meeting, walk them through their updates, and ask for feedback. This approach gets their support and makes them feel involved in the process, and helps you refine your updates before the stakeholder meeting. You can also use this opportunity to ask them about other stakeholders, like, "What do you think is missing from my update that our Client Success leadership team might need?"

840 Views
Nicolas Liatti
Nicolas Liatti
Adobe Senior Director of Product Management, 3D CategoryApril 3

First it's critical to identify clearly who are the stakeholders, and what they need to know.

Then create relationships with them and work with them differently, as they all have different needs.

The worst would be to treat all of them in the same way, because you end up having no relationship at all with any of them. In the end, great product managers create great relationship with stakeholders.

386 Views
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