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Clara Lee

VP, Product & Operations (WooCommerce), Automattic

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What are some ways you can influence the roadmap as a product marketer when working with a strong-willed and difficult to work with product manager?

Clara Lee

Automattic VP, Product & Operations (WooCommerce) • October 6

In the cases where a Product Manager has consistently challenged your work beyond regular constructive collaboration, I have found the following tactics useful: * Realign on company/product goals and strategy. It's possible that there's a gap in understanding or alignment that explains the p......Read More

1088 Views

How to make sure the voice of our consumer is heard when product marketing may not be involved during the product roadmap development process.

Clara Lee

Automattic VP, Product & Operations (WooCommerce) • October 6

Great question, especially for Product Marketing organizations that are still scaling to meet the footprint of much larger Product and/or Sales teams. Although you may find your bandwidth consumed by executional activities, it's important to ensure you continue to bring market intelligence an......Read More

965 Views

I'm curious about the experience of others, which group has been harder to work with––Product or Sales? And why and how y'all work through issues?

Clara Lee

Automattic VP, Product & Operations (WooCommerce) • October 6

In most companies I've worked in, Product Marketing is often vastly outnumbered by Sales teams. The challenge is not usually in personalities or conflicting interests - but in sheer numbers. For me, managing PMM-Sales relationships comes down to understanding their goals (keeping large customers ......Read More

845 Views

How do you help product management understand the value of product marketing (beyond just "helping us launch things")?

Clara Lee

Automattic VP, Product & Operations (WooCommerce) • October 6

Two approaches here, that may be used at the same time: 1. Direct communication. If you have a strong framework for how you've seen PMM function strategically in other organizations, don't be afraid to share it widely. Be prepared to talk about how this structure can help teams drive ......Read More

821 Views

Did you ever consider attributing publicly damaging negative reviews a somewhat higher weight, within any kind of equation that connects user feedback/requests with product roadmap decisions?

Clara Lee

Automattic VP, Product & Operations (WooCommerce) • October 6

Ideally, your product roadmap reflects long-term strategy, narrative, and investment. If you are confident in your roadmap, you shouldn't need a rule that automatically places more weight on negative reviews than positive or neutral reviews. Feedback is very important - but it's equally important......Read More

731 Views

At what stage should product marketing collaborate with product design on the design process?

Clara Lee

Automattic VP, Product & Operations (WooCommerce) • October 6

Design and Marketing should ideally go hand-in-hand. If the Design team is very mature, experts in the area, and functioning on a world-class level, then Product Marketing's input/review can be focused on later stage designs, possibly as key stakeholder sign-off. In younger organizations w......Read More

691 Views

What are the most important soft and hard skills Product Managers can build to become successful in their field going forward?

Clara Lee

Automattic VP, Product & Operations (WooCommerce) • July 27

Having worked in Product in completely opposite contexts, the most valuable soft and hard skills depend on several factors, including product maturity, organizational maturity, availability of supporting functions (e.g., Product Operations, Product Analysts, etc.), and company cultural norms. ......Read More

592 Views

What's your framework to prioritizing needs/deliverables when you're the first Product Manager at a company establishing the function?

Clara Lee

Automattic VP, Product & Operations (WooCommerce) • March 24

There are many great approaches to this question – and to some extent, it will depend on what the company values. If you're a first Product Manager, it is most important that customer needs / expectations are at the forefront of any framework. With my teams, I sometimes like to use a graph, w......Read More

500 Views

What is your 30-60-90 day plan when you go into an org with the intention of setting up a PM function for the first time?

Clara Lee

Automattic VP, Product & Operations (WooCommerce) • March 24

To me, the first 90 days are all about communication with your new team and cross-functional partners – even more so if you're setting up the Product Management function for the first time. Treat your communications a bit like internal marketing for PM (and yourself), meaning they should be tailo......Read More

462 Views

What are the biggest surprises when going from a company where product management was established to one where you have to establish product management?

Clara Lee

Automattic VP, Product & Operations (WooCommerce) • March 24

The biggest surprise was how hard it was to convince others that Product Leads / Product Managers would be an asset to the team. This sentiment was more common among those who had been at Automattic and WooCommerce for several years, and perhaps not worked with a Product Lead / Product Manager be......Read More

457 Views

Credentials & Highlights

VP, Product & Operations (WooCommerce) at Automattic