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Storytelling Tips and Core vs. Growth PM Roles

Welcome to our Product Newsletter, a biweekly email highlighting top discussions, and learning resources for product managers.

What We Will Cover In This Edition:-

Top Discussions: 

1) Advice for improving story telling

2) Why do core PM positions outnumber Growth PM responsibilities?

3) Practically do “quick wins” really exists?

Top Learning Resources:

1. The product manager’s hierarchy of needs

2. A decade of product: Simple habits that will make you and your job better

3. 10 best product management newsletter you can’t miss

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Top Discussions

Question 1Advice for improving storytelling

I observe many effective product managers who are skilled storytellers. What are your best tips for telling stories more effectively?

– Shiyao Liu

Discussion

A] My go-to remedy for any issue is usually reading. There aren’t many issues that are actually brand-new. Some ideas I’ve heard include enrolling in an improv class or organizing a D&D campaign with buddies. I personally gained knowledge via conversing with strangers in a variety of venues.

One of the biggest improvements I started seeing in my storytelling was understanding generally what roles drew in what kinds of people and what those kinds of people cared about. Another improvement was asking for feedback in groups and one/one settings to help calibrate what I focused on in different meetings. (I.e. design generally cares about different things than c levels). The last huge improvement I made was ensuring I got good sleep. Good sleep means better energy which means more expressiveness and better emotional regulation. I’ve found people often gravitate towards passion.

Once I know my audience I will spend most of my prep time contemplating what questions I think will be asked of me. Being able to answer questions on your feet has been one of the biggest ways of getting buy in. It shows that you’ve thought through the problem, you have thought about why your approach is better than others, and that you know your stuff.

– Malcolm Sequeira

B] If I’m writing a user story, it needs to be concise, very simple to comprehend, and leave as little potential for misinterpretation as possible.

When attempting to persuade an executive team to adopt a feature recommendation or approach, I focus more on inspiring feelings of wonder and excitement. I only use the statistics I offer as a stage backdrop for my narrative. It’s just as essential how I convey a tale as the story itself.

There are various situations that call for a particular kind of storytelling. There are starts, middles, and ends in a lot of bad stories.

– Bobby Duncan

C] Lots of courses but mostly practice imo.

Think critically about how you communicate things, specially in important presentations to sponsors or stakeholders.

I personally try to ask about what could’ve been communicated better or wasn’t clear enough with those I have the confidence to.

You’re explaining, negociating and basically selling your vision of the product’s strategy to different people with different roles, positions and personalities constantly.

I always try to give them enough information so they understand the problem we’re trying to solve without giving too much in order to not overwhelm them. It’s also important to explain how they can help us give a solution to such problems (ideally how solving that problem would solve a problem for them as well).

– Dianne Stinger

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Question 2) Why do core PM positions outnumber Growth PM responsibilities?

A few months ago, I transferred from Internet Marketing to a core PM function within. That was a transfer within the company. I’m now considering applying for a Senior Growth PM position in a product-led company because I have strong data, analytics, and experimentation abilities.

Yet, compared to core PM responsibilities, I only observe a very small number of growth PM roles. Does this imply that Core PM is in higher demand than Growth PM?

Also, I’m unclear of the distinction between a Growth PM and a Growth Marketer.

– Ana Rodriguez

Discussion

A] In my view, it is primarily a fad role or one that aims to force some new ways of thinking by putting the fox among the chicks. It is derived from the contentious concept of growth hacking, which frequently involves manipulating data to get short-term gains at the expense of long-term gains.

If several PMs don’t consider growth, it usually becomes a problem. Does having just one person focused on it benefit or harm your team? Leaders must make a choice.

– Natalie Smith

B] The enquiry perplexes me. Literally, the word “core” refers to the normal or anticipated PM archetype. So, it seems to reason that there would be more of these positions available than, say, Growth or Platform.

The opposite side of the coin is Growth, which is a more modern phenomena known as Product-Led Growth. Early in the 2010s, “Growth Hacking” was still a topic of conversation, and only recently has the function begun to reach maturity in its original market (SF Bay Area). Some markets, though, don’t operate that way. In fact, PLG or Growth functions are still largely unknown or underutilised in many tech centre markets around the world.

The majority of your concerns are thus allayed by the fact that Growth is a “non-core” PM archetype and that it is still very early in the adoption curve.
Have you attempted to sell Growth to influential people in your market? You may be able to bring about the change you desire.

– Dan Coelho

C] In my opinion, there are many people who think they can handle the growth PM responsibilities in any given firm, but those same individuals don’t think they are technically qualified for core PM.

I’m not sure what it’s called, but there’s always a sort of “down the stack” pressure; the more technical you are, the more you’re pushed towards execution, with marketing types wanting to occupy the product and analysis area.

A classic example would be when sales attempted to control the roadmap or when the PM was expected to complete BA-style tasks like field mappings.

– Yuri Roman

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Question 3) Practically, do “quick wins” really exist?

I believe that my company’s CEO, salespeople, and project managers all misuse the word.
What I DON’T consider to be a quick win:

  1. Little effort, little impact: If there isn’t much of an impact, you can’t really consider it a swift victory; instead, it’s just a regular improvement.
  2. Not quantifiable I’m a little unsure about this. Well, I’d like to do something to wow a customer, and it would be simple to do, but given that we have had layoffs and a hiring freeze, every second of development time counts.
  3. Short-term impact: This is similar to point #1, except we added another client (B2B) at the expense of work on long-term objectives.

In my opinion, quick wins are effective on a personal level if you can brag to your employer about what you’ve accomplished, but at the corporate level, they would need to be exceedingly uncommon or simply common sense in a brand-new startup.

– Christie Dook

Discussion

A] In my opinion, influence and perception go hand in hand, particularly when working with sizable clients. Even if the impact to the product as a whole was minimal, their opinion of the product could drastically shift if you can swiftly fix a defect or implement a tiny UX improvement that they have been requesting. In my opinion, low impact wins frequently have organizational effects that outweigh the impact of the actual product.

– Marco Silva

B] Yes, “quick wins” can certainly exist.

In general, a “quick win” is a small and easily achievable goal or objective that can be completed in a short amount of time, usually within a few days or weeks. The idea is to focus on simple and achievable goals that can be accomplished quickly, which can help build momentum, boost motivation, and generate positive results.
While not all goals can be achieved quickly or easily, there are often opportunities to identify small and manageable tasks that can be completed relatively quickly and that will contribute to larger goals over time.

For example, if you’re working on a long-term project, you might identify some smaller tasks that can be completed quickly, such as conducting research, drafting an outline, or brainstorming ideas.

It’s important to note, however, that not all goals can or should be accomplished quickly. Some goals may require more time and effort to achieve, and may involve setbacks or challenges along the way. In these cases, it’s important to stay focused and motivated, and to be willing to put in the necessary work to achieve the desired outcome.

Overall, while not all goals can be accomplished quickly or easily, there are often opportunities to identify small and manageable tasks that can be completed quickly, which can help build momentum and generate positive results.

– Matthew Shun

C] For me they (quick wins) do exist. I once made the team improve a badly designed pop-up and doubled the usage rate of product.

Step 1 – I identified this hanging fruit by talking to users Step 2- Validate that the reported hanging fruit is valid for most of the users Step 3 – do the work Step 4 – Release , measure and follow up with users they really felt heard.

Another one was working on a app that had a couple of critical features. In iteration zero (1 week of work) I made the team deliver a version of the app that incorporate juste these critical features with almost no UI. Doing so had a huge impact on the team and the product. And also this assures founders that their dreams are reacheable.

So yeah quick wins exist and you should be always having a bootstrapping mindset to see them and call a shot on them.

– Elvin Henriques

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Top Learning Resources

Hearing too often about unhealthy product team cultures made me think… what does a product manager’s hierarchy of needs look like? In order to be the product person that everyone wants to work with — that proactive, strategic thinker identifying new business opportunities and driving them to completion… what does a PM need from its team, leaders, and company?

A decade of product: simple habit that will make you and your job better

Five years and two jobs ago, I started an experiment that is now a tradition. Every Friday, I write a note to my team. It includes updates, reminders, pass-downs, housekeeping items, a summary of where my focus is, then one critical section, the subject of that original experiment.

10 best product management newsletters you can’t miss!

Stay up to date with Product Management techniques, trends news and more without any effort! Subscribe to those top 10 Product Management newsletters to become a (better) PM

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