Yasmin Kothari

Customer feedback is critical to how we build, and we incorporate it at every step of the product development process. We get customer feedback from a variety of places. When building new products we proactively reach out to customers to learn about their needs and make sure we’re creating the right solutions for them. We have a User Research team that regularly speaks to customers via a variety of methods - everything from interviews and surveys to card sorting and field studies. Along our product development process, we have specific touchpoints where we make sure to utilize user research to get deep insight into the pain points our customers face, and the best solutions to help them. Our customer-facing teams, like sales and customer success, are also talking to customers constantly as part of their daily jobs. These teams rigorously record all of the feedback they hear and compile it into a ranked Voice of the Customer (VOC) list, all managed within Asana. Asana’s VOC program is a critical input into our roadmap process, and helps us prioritize the most pressing needs brought up by customers.

When you decide not to prioritize a stakeholder's request in your roadmap, make sure to: * Acknowledge and empathize - Recognize their effort and express understanding; they will likely be disappointed, and your empathy will go a long way * Highlight prioritization process - Explain how decisions are made based on various factors (like cost to build and impact) and organization objectives. * Provide a transparent explanation - Clearly explain the decision, and what factors went into the decision making process * Maintain an open channel of communication - Encourage ongoing dialogue, feedback, and potential alternative solutions to their underlying needs

Disagreements among stakeholders typically stem from three key factors: * Differing underlying goals - Each stakeholder is optimizing for their primary goal and if these goals are conflicting, there will be a mismatch * Varying strategies on how to achieve a goal - Especially in a world with limited resources, each stakeholder may have conviction in a different initiative, even if their goals are the same * Cultural issues - There may be a communication gap or trust deficit that contributes to disagreements To foster alignment and resolve disagreements: * Prioritize communication - Encourage open, transparent conversation and bring people together in one room to avoid misunderstandings. In these situations it’s better to over communicate than under communicate * Establish common goals - Identify shared interests and objectives to bridge differences and find common ground * Leverage objective data - Employ both qualitative and quantitative data to help stakeholders make more informed decisions * Nurture relationships - Invest in building positive, lasting relationships. Get to know stakeholders on a personal level and maintain connections even when not working on immediate projects together

Junior product managers can face challenges when working with executives around: * Communication - articulating complex ideas concisely. To combat this, think through what are the key 2-3 points you want this busy executive to take away from this meeting and use visuals, data, and examples to illustrate those ideas effectively * Influence - convincing executives and managing expectations. To combat this, build a compelling case based on data and user insights. Show how product decisions align to the company’s broader strategic goals * Adaptability - handling shifting priorities and pressure to perform. To combat this, stay informed about market trends, customer needs, and emerging technologies. Cultivate a mindset that embraces change and focuses on long-term product vision while addressing shifting priorities

As many of us now know, aligning stakeholders in a remote working environment presents unique challenges. To foster alignment, consider the following strategies: * Agree on shared objectives - define and communicate clear project KPIs and refer back to them repeatedly * Communicate effectively - foster transparency, and effective asynchronous communication. Send pre-reads and meeting agendas to have more effective meetings. Send clear and concise status updates. * Build relationships - actively involve stakeholders in decision making, get to know each colleague through regular 1:1s, and build a culture of trust and collaboration.

At Asana, we break down PM skills into 6 core competencies. Demonstrating growth in these competencies is critical for all PMs, including our senior folks. * Growth Mindset: Be open and curious when building, growing, and leading * Strategic: Create the best and boldest ideas with a boundaryless mindset, making decisions with the company mission in mind first, team second, and self third * Get Stuff Done: Find the best solutions with the highest ROI to deliver value to our users fast * Grow Team Asana: Take collective responsibility for growing the size and quality of our team * Customer Centric: Deeply understand our customers’ pain points and build the best solutions to meet their needs * Communication and Collaboration: Master cross-functional co-creation to deliver high-quality results. If you are a senior PMs who hopes to advanced to Director and above, there are 3 additional questions I would dig into: * How can I exhibit a boundaryless mindset? Senior PMs can scale impact beyond their specific project, program team, area, or pillar. They build bridges and influence across the company. This also leads to driving more complex and nuanced product initiatives. * What do I want to be known for? As you grow in your product career, consider where you can develop depth of expertise. This could include a particular specialty (for example - enterprise adoption, fintech, consumer marketplaces). It could also include a particular skill (for example - crafting a long term vision, creating structure from ambiguity, understanding revenue impact). Do I want to grow as an IC or a manager? There comes a time in everyone’s career when they face a key question: “How do I want to scale my impact?” As a PM, there are many ways to grow in impact. * A senior individual contributor (IC) scales their impact through the work—being able to manage highly complex and critical projects across multiple teams, providing nuanced strategic leadership in making decisions, and building and innovating for our customers. They build deep subject matter expertise and are a role model for others. * On the other hand, a manager scales their impact through their team—empowering others through coaching and providing the right opportunities for growth. * Many employees switch between the manager and IC career paths. Both opportunities are equal in terms of seniority, prestige, and accountability. At Asana, we want to make sure people have the flexibility to work in the right capacity for themselves at different points in their lives.

This is the constant battle of product management! To work with your executive team and narrow the focus, you should: * Always align on the goals - constantly make sure everyone understands and agrees on the strategic objectives. Write them down, so it’s easy to refer back. * Make data-driven decisions - use qualitative and quantitative data to showcase how you are prioritizing projects with the most impact * Keep an open mind - when new ideas surface, dig deeper to understand the “why” behind them. You may uncover some new potential for impact. * Meet regularly - Schedule regular reviews with executives and stakeholders to revisit goals, assess risks, and adapt as needed

When looking for a new opportunity, I ask myself four questions: * Am I excited to work on this mission? If I’m going to dedicate 40+ hours a week on solving a specific problem, I need to be sure that the solutions I’m working on are ultimately helping people and making the world a better place. * Will I be happy working with these people? I operate best in an environment that values transparency and high standards, has a low-ego culture, and encourages people to bring their whole selves to work. I need to be part of a culture that has values that align with my own, and frankly, I just want to enjoy working with my teammates! * What skills will I gain that complement my toolkit? Work is more fun when you consider yourself a lifelong learner. Any new role and company needs to offer me the opportunity to add new skills to my repertoire. This can come through my manager, other leaders at the company, or learning by doing the role itself. When joining Asana, I was particularly excited about learning a playbook for how to scale product teams. * Am I poised to have a deep impact? Finally, I want to make sure that I have some uniquely suited skills and experience that will help me make a lasting impact in my new role. I am most fulfilled when I feel like I’m adding value to the business and to my teams.