Derek Ferguson

I think the biggest struggle for junior PMs when working with executives is understanding the fundamental differences in communication and decision-making that happen at the executive level. Some of the key things that I’ve observed in my career are: The altitude shift. Junior PMs typically operate in a detail-rich environment with a lot of context. This is necessary for them to make decisions and weigh priorities against each other. Executives operate at 30,000 feet with limited time and compet ...Read More

Since this question implies that there is already an existing product and customers that are using it, talk to your customers. Ask them what problems they have. Do research into the market you are in and see where the issues are with competitive products. Do what product managers do best! Understand the problems and customers, then create solutions. If leadership doesn't have a vision for where the product should go as an essential part of the company's vision, create one yourself. If you do hav ...Read More

Find out what the stakeholders need from you and set up a regular meeting cadence with them. It can be a lot of meetings, but setting these meetings up with clear agendas and expectations can help you avoid meeting overload while keeping everyone aligned. This will likely need to be adjusted for your company and release cycle. For example, if you release more frequently, you might need to meet with Marketing more frequently to keep them up to speed on what is going out to customers. Here are som ...Read More

Moving items in priority on the roadmap is going to happen. This is especially true if you are required to have a long-term roadmap. However, even with short-term roadmaps, it will happen. While I don't know the exact reasons why your company requires you to write long docs and create decks to explain this, I believe that the general intent is probably to make sure that everyone knows why things moved, what the impact is, and how it will help the company as a whole. I think that there are a few ...Read More

I think that the answer to this is: it depends. The specifics of how you go about introducing roadmapping, promote a product-based mindset, and establishing a consistent strategy for educating teams on product practices is going to depend on your organization, your industry, your leadership, and your customers. There are a lot of different strategies and frameworks out there that you can decide to adopt for your organization. However, I do think that there are some things that could be called "b ...Read More

Balancing transparency about product roadmaps with the reality of shifting timelines can be extremely challenging. No one wants to hear that the feature they are eagerly anticipating has been delayed. That being said, transparency is king here, even when you are telling someone something they don’t want to hear. To start off with, depending on who I am communicating to (like Sales or customers), I try to use a tiered confidence system rather than specific dates for anything beyond the current qu ...Read More

The PM/PMM relationship can be difficult to manage, especially when there are overlapping responsibilities and different perspectives on timing. However, I don't believe that it has to be this way. I've had many PMMs that I've been able to align with incredibly well and maintain a great relationship with them throughout multiple years and product launches. Establish clear role boundaries and handoff timelines early. Many tensions stem from ambiguity about who owns what in the product launch proc ...Read More

This question is very similar to the question about knowing that your strategy is successful, but I’m going to look at them through two different lenses. For this question, I’m going to look at it as a strategy for a new product that hasn’t been introduced yet, you have no active users, and you want to figure out if your strategy is the right one before you launch. To validate a strategy in this situation, the approach has to be proactive and thorough. The goal is to ensure that when you deliver ...Read More

Balancing this is a delicate act that requires constant reassessment and a strategic approach. It's essential to recognize that both competitive differentiation and customer retention are critical to a product's success. Differentiation makes you stand out in the market, attracting new customers, while retention ensures that your existing customers stay satisfied and loyal. One approach I use is a cyclical evaluation process. Every month, I reassess priorities to see if anything has shifted. Thi ...Read More

This can be an extremely difficult thing to do, depending on the personalities involved. When communicating that a stakeholder's request won't make it onto your roadmap, the approach you take can either strengthen the relationship or damage it. Even when saying “no” to someone, you can often build your relationship with them by helping them to understand your reasoning. This is how I typically approach this type of conversation: First, deliver the news directly and promptly. Once the decision is ...Read More