AMA: Atlassian Head of Core Product Marketing & GTM, ITSM Solutions, Daniel Kuperman on Stakeholder Management

In my experience, you have to be very direct in setting timelines (with specificity in terms of exact day of the week) and also open to understanding constraints that might exist, so you can set the right expectations with the appropriate stakeholders. This, of course, also depends on the situation. Product launches when are 6+months away may have a more nuanced date such as "second week in June" but the closer you get, the more precise you have to be (e.g. June 15) and in many cases when there ...Read More

Sales will always sell what they want to sell, i.e. what brings them a bigger deal faster. The trick is to educate sales on how the product (or a new product feature) will help them win those big deals and not become a blocker. Part of this is proper enablement training and materials that address: Why the product is better than the alternatives in the market What problem does the product solve for the customer (what is the JTBD that is impacted) How the customer's way of working (JTBD) will be b ...Read More

This is one of the hardest things about PMM. You are responsible for certain outcomes, but the execution requires coordination with teams outside your own. The secret to managing timelines in this situation is quite simple: constant communication and clear expectations. What has worked for me in the past, is creating a project page that outlines the entire project timeline and key milestones. For each milestone, identify a specific owner who will represent the team working on it and participate ...Read More

If you just started at a new company, there are a few simple things you can do: Ask your marketing or product marketing co-workers for the names of key stakeholders in sales, product, marketing, customer success, and other departments that PMM works with (varies by company). Reach out to the head of each of these groups and schedule a short 1:1 intro call. During the intro calls with these stakeholders, ask them who else they recommend you talk to. Make a note to fup with them and schedule addit ...Read More

This question is a bit generic, so it kinda depends on what you are getting feedback for. You have to understand the overall scope and how many data points you need to increase your confidence level in the answer. For example, if you are trying to get feedback on a particular landing page for a campaign, does it help to have 10+ people give you feedback, or is 2 to 3 people enough? Who is giving you the feedback will also be important, as depending on their role, their views can be quite differe ...Read More

Building influence across remote teams is a common challenge in the post-pandemic world. Even with RTO (return to office) mandates, larger companies will have people who are not in the same location as you. In those situations, it is important to: Be proactive and suggest a regular cadence for meeting virtually. Create an agenda and make sure to include it in your calendar invite. Keep the call short and to the point. Make sure to recap any action items discussed in the past and their status. Ma ...Read More

As a product marketer, you will have several stakeholders to work with. Their importance will vary depending on your goals (i.e., how you are being measured) and initiatives (i.e., who do you need to work with to get stuff done). As you review your key performance metrics (for example, pipeline generation, content creation, product launches, etc) you will have to map out the following: Stakeholders that you work with to get the job done; Stakeholders that are impacted by your work; Stakeholders ...Read More