Kalvin Brite

Business objectives help the broader team and business understand if they've achieved the intended impact but are difficult for a product team to use sprint to sprint for a few reasons: Revenue isn't super actionable for the team: if it goes down or up, it's not immediately obvious what actions the team should take in response. Business outcomes are often lagging metrics: length of sales cycles, churn, and expansion all impact revenue, and this takes time. It doesn't enable the team to take new ...Read More

Time management is essential as a PM, and the tools I use have changed over the years as I find what works. Here are some tips: Use a project management tool: A project management tool, such as Asana or Trello, can help you keep track of tasks and progress you have for yourself. I always found it hard to follow up on tasks I delegated to others until I had a specific column in my Trello board dedicated to them. Make use of templates: Use templates, such as meeting agendas or project planning doc ...Read More

I've found it helpful to craft a ~3-year product strategy that articulates the market and trends, the challenges/opportunities, and the product's path forward with coherent actions to address those challenges. This frames the product's direction and how it will impact the company and customers you serve.  From there, determine the % allocation of your teams' capacity across investment buckets. Agree with your team on how you'll spend your time across these to achieve your product strategy: Innov ...Read More

The best PMs define success before building a feature. To define success, teams should think through: The customer problem they're solving, what does it look like when solved (for the customer and the business)?  How impactful is it if solved (time-saving, cost-saving, revenue-generating)? How does solving this problem help the company achieve its longer-term vision/strategy? Is there a KPI or measure for the feature that helps the team know they're moving toward that strategy? Once the feature ...Read More

It's essential to regularly evaluate and address tech debt as it can significantly impact a mature product's overall health and sustainability. If left unaddressed, it can build up and require a massive focus from the team that can disrupt existing customers or prevent you from adding new customers to the product until addressed (this is something I've run into before, and it's no fun!). Here's how I approach it: Regular technical reviews: I schedule regular technical reviews with my development ...Read More

As a product manager, it's essential to consider the perspectives and expertise of all team members, including engineers. However, it's also important to remember that as the product manager, you are responsible for representing the needs and interests of the target users and ensuring that the product meets their needs. Here are a few strategies you can use to push back against engineers who believe they know what to build because they "are" the target user: Gather data: Use data, such as custom ...Read More

At Contentful, we are organized into three Product Lines (Core Platform, Apps, Ecosystem) that each own a specific set of products for a set of customers.  Within each Product Line, we have a 2-5 year product vision that gets revised 2x a year with each PL leader (eng and product). From this strategy, we decide the level of investment to make across each PL, and the teams needed to achieve this vision. We then create charters for each team that provides direction to the team (PM, Designer, Engin ...Read More

Here are a few tips for nailing the self-serve experience for an API product: Make it easy to get started: Make sure that it's easy for developers to sign up for an API key and get started using the API. This might involve providing clear documentation, simple onboarding flows, and access to sample code and other resources. Offer robust documentation: Provide comprehensive and easy-to-understand documentation for your API, including details on how to make requests, what data is available, and ho ...Read More

I've found informal mentors to be very helpful throughout my career. These have often been colleagues and peers I work with at a given company where I will buy them a coffee and chat about their career, experience, and problems I may be encountering to get their take. If they give advice or suggest something (a book, a conversation with someone from their network, etc.) I follow up with them to let them know how their recommendation or connection helped me with my problem. This creates a positiv ...Read More

I look for candidates who demonstrate curiosity and structured thinking during product interviews. Curiosity is an essential trait for PMs because it helps them stay up to date on industry trends and understand the needs and motivations of their users. In interviews, I screen for candidates who are curious about the product and its users and who can ask thoughtful questions and delve deeper into the problem space. Structured thinking is also vital for PMs because it helps them break down complex ...Read More