Shahid Hussain
Group Product Manager, Wear OS, Google
Content
Shahid Hussain
Google Group Product Manager, Wear OS • May 21
Prioritise with respect to the key goal that is important to the org -- but balance with your estimation of what you think can land. That sounds simple, but in large matrixed organisations, that can get hard quickly. * Sometimes it's not clear what advances the org's goal -- is there a key metric? Can you forecast a project's impact on that metric, and is that forecast credible? * If shipping a particular project needs alignment from lots of teams, do all of them share the same incentives you do? If not, can they support your goals, or will they deprioritise?
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Shahid Hussain
Google Group Product Manager, Wear OS • May 21
If you know that customers are not willing to adopt your solution, that's a bad spot to be in. 1. Re-evaluate what led you to the decision to build & when to do it. Was there a gap in your methodology, or a piece of research that led you down this path? How can you avoid this for the next piece of strategy planning? 2. Don't hope for better adoption -- test and prove this out. Can you get a high quality signal that customers will adopt, e.g. customers will pay you now for access to it? 3. Is there a wider org that will bear the cost of holding this solution, and values it for reasons other than direct revenue?
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Shahid Hussain
Google Group Product Manager, Wear OS • May 21
No-one can, or should ever be sure that they have a 100% right product strategy. But you can do a lot to de-risk your approach, and your tactics should vary depending on how much time you have to plan. * Is your strategy ultimately going to drive the change in behaviour you want? Find the key participants in your strategy -- e.g. the customers -- and talk, talk, talk to them. You'll learn a ton from the first 5-10 conversations, and suddenly you'll start to hear the same themes and be able to predict what they'll say. Then you can move on. * Read, and connect with people who are familiar with this situation in your industry or other industries. How did things work out? Is the current market / environment similar enough that you can draw conclusions? * The more experienced you are, the more confident you can be about relying on product intuition. A phrase I often use is "we've seen this movie before" and, it's surprising how many times the same situation gets repeated.
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Shahid Hussain
Google Group Product Manager, Wear OS • May 21
PMs should define the success conditions in the strategy (e.g. 20% market share, or $20M attributable revenue in H1 etc). Those success conditions should: * Ladder clearly up to the needs of the org or company * Define a realistic stretch goal, ideally validated through customer discussions or other qualitative or quantitative research -- including timelines * Cover direct and indirect effects as needed * Include countermetrics or contraindications that define changes to be avoided
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Shahid Hussain
Google Group Product Manager, Wear OS • May 21
Market trends can be a good indicator of what will matter to users, investors or stakeholders. Don't ignore them, but also don't let them distract you from the fundamentals. * Do you think this trend will drive a permanent shift in the market you operate in? If so -- consider how you can position yourself for success in the long term and the pros / cons of investing in alignment. If not, consider whether there are short / mid term changes you want to make to take advantage, or whether you just want to ride it out. * Identify where the trend is coming from. Is it driven by macroeconomics? A technological innovation? And are you and your org well positioned to take advantage of it? * Are you moving early enough vs other competitors? If you have an opportunity to be out in front of the crowd -- can you position yourself as a leader in this trend and drive marketing value from doing so? * Does it genuinely drive economic advantage for you, either directly or by second order effects?
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Shahid Hussain
Google Group Product Manager, Wear OS • May 21
If your org is driving significant benefit from a leadership position in the market -- whether that's a brand that drives an acquisition funnel, operating efficiency from scale or something else, it's reasonable to think about how to maintain that lead. * Consider carefully why you are in a leadership position versus other customer options (competitors, substitute products etc). Is it unique? Sustainable? Are there small firms that could steal share by, for example, providing a more specialised or concierge solution? Or is there a large firm which could extend into your space, with advantages (like access to funding and time) that you don't have? * Market leaders, especially large ones, are exposed to the innovator's dilemma. Should you invest in areas that could, if successful, cannibalise your larger business before anyone else does -- protecting your position?
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Credentials & Highlights
Group Product Manager, Wear OS at Google
Product Management AMA Contributor
Knows About Product Development Process, Product Management Career Path, Product Management Skill...more