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Harish Peri

AMA: Salesforce Former Head of Product Marketing - Security, Integrations, Mobile, Harish Peri on Stakeholder Management

December 13 @ 10:00AM PST
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Salesforce Former Head of Product Marketing - Security, Integrations, Mobile, Harish Peri on Stakeholder Management
Top Questions
How to get everyone aligned on a decision making framework? Usually, everyone including engineers wants to get involved on strategy/marketing piece on what we want to communicate. How do we make sure people follow and understand it?
Harish Peri
Harish Peri
Okta SVP Product Marketing • December 13
There's nothing wrong with engineering/UX/CSM etc getting involved in launch/pricing decisions (for eg). The key is to: * establish parameters of what types of decisions need input and what can be done independently * create a forum for opinions to be expressed * determine and announce who......Read More
519 Views
1 request
What's a good way to approach decisions that UX/design feels they should own vs. Marketing feels they should own?
I've seen this quite a few times when it comes to brand related items both in terms of developing and brand keeping guidelines, as well as tone of voice where design has assumed they should have a stronger say.
Harish Peri
Harish Peri
Okta SVP Product Marketing • December 13
Always comes down to, whats right for the customer. And what does each team uniquely bring to the table to drive the best customer outcome. UX can bring a unique lens of what end users what, vs marketing can bring the viewpoint of sales and buyers. Together, it can lead to products that easy to s......Read More
567 Views
1 request
Have you ever considered using a stakeholder empathy map? How much time and resources went into it? And how often do you think a product marketing team needs to refresh it? Thanks
Harish Peri
Harish Peri
Okta SVP Product Marketing • December 13
Its always good practice to have a stakeholder map. The goal of this document (which I prefer to keep at at individual level) is to remind yourself of who should be included in decisions such as launches, campaigns, sales motions, pricing, web changes etc. Information you need in this could be: ......Read More
2026 Views
1 request
As a product marketer, I run multiple projects simultaneously. In such a scenario, stakeholder management becomes an operational task. Is there a checklist that you follow to ensure efficiency?
Harish Peri
Harish Peri
Okta SVP Product Marketing • December 13
This is a common problem no matter what function you're in. Its about stakeholder management in complex, multi-threaded project environments. Really its about project management 101.   A few tips: * Before starting the project, get everyone's buy in on their role in the project. Use a RAC......Read More
1690 Views
1 request
Knowing that people in different functions and different levels of leadership often need different approaches to storytelling in decks, docs, and shareouts for key strategic projects, do you have any tricks for thinking through whether it's worth the work to "reskin" docs and decks for these diverse stakeholders?
I suppose with executive level comms, it's more obvious, but how do you manage work that's in-flight that requires as many as 5 PMs, in addition to analysts, designers, marketers, and more? How do you keep people "in the loop" at the right level of fidelity without opening up a can of worms and adding complexity? A DACI model is great, but has its limits.
Harish Peri
Harish Peri
Okta SVP Product Marketing • December 13
Not necessarily. The goal is to ensure that for whatever initiative (launch, pricing, campaign etc) youre leading, the north star is clear, expectations from each member (or group) are clear, and the communication is very clear. The only group that usually 'needs' their own reskinned decks and do......Read More
1419 Views
1 request
What are some tried and true strategies to drive alignment cross-functionally for a remote team?
Harish Peri
Harish Peri
Okta SVP Product Marketing • December 13
Define your north star, and stick with it. For remote teams: * Whats our mission as a team * Whats each person's mission and how does it tie to the north star * How are we going to get there, what are the specific actions we take  * Do an audit every 3 months on if you are operating again......Read More
263 Views
1 request
My role sits at the intersection of brand marketing and product marketing. What do you say to those (on both sides of the field) who say product marketing isn't or shouldn't be "part of brand"?
Harish Peri
Harish Peri
Okta SVP Product Marketing • December 13
Given that this AMA is about stakeholders, Ill approach this as a stakeholder problem. Seems to me that there is a lack of understanding of the shared goals between the brand and PMM teams - and hence a conflict between stakeholders.  Ultimately they are both operating in service of your custome......Read More
1661 Views
1 request
What are some of the best ways to begin becoming a more influential PMM?
Harish Peri
Harish Peri
Okta SVP Product Marketing • December 13
* Demonstrate the basics: messaging, positioning, ability to make an impactful/relevant/meaningful presentation that conveys the value prop + differentiators of your product or portfolio. Cant be influential if your house is on fire.  * Learn the business REALLY well. How is money made......Read More
1640 Views
1 request