5 Ideas for Product Owners: How to Strengthen Team Motivation Through Working on a Vision
- Tutorial
The goal is a strong internal motivator , according to the latest research in psychology that Dan Pink has compiled and summarized . When working with product teams, I quite often come across examples that confirm his arguments.
The lack of clarity at the level of the product’s vision, clear market positioning, development strategy for 3-6 months, urgency pressure or a feeling of competitive struggle extinguishes the team’s speed of work and the personal involvement of its participants. Product Owner
Ability ( Product Owner rolein SCRUM terminology) to embody the vision of a product in their words and actions, cannot be overestimated when we talk about team development. This ability helps the team work with focus (focus is one of the values of the SCRUM process).
Focus of attention changes our perception. To better understand what this is about, try a little experiment. Keep a simple thing in focus throughout the day, like red. Pay attention to everything red on the street and in the office, think about red in the shower and elevator, find a couple of interesting facts about the color itself, or red things. By the end of the day, you will begin to perceive red differently. Men may be surprised to find that red has shadesJ And the next day, “red” thoughts may come to your mind.
A similar effect works with focusing on the vision of the product. Introduce the product to the team - as a problem, riddle, task, intellectual challenge that you are working on. And over time, the focus on solving the problem will change the perception of reality, the team will begin to see non-trivial solutions and not obvious opportunities that previously went unnoticed.
Below are 5 ideas for Product Owners on how to strengthen internal motivation and teamwork through vision.
1. Prepare a pitch elevator. Product owners often use this type of presentation to investors. Do you feed your ideas to the team? If not, it would alert me. Try one of the compressed structured formats for presenting the product, in which in 2 minutes (while you are traveling in an imaginary elevator with an important person for the project), you describe: the problem you are working on, your solution to the problem, key audience, method of monetization, market opportunities, competitors known to you and the current phase of the project. Make it as short, meaningful and emotional as possible. Record on video and watch how inspiring a product leader you are.
2. Work with volunteers.Does your project have fans, followers, helpers ready to work for an idea? If not, it would alert me. Try to find such people, engage them in project activity and observe. What is the difference between your behavior in communicating with project participants “for money” and those who help “for an idea”? Obviously, the volunteers have to “dance” more, because they have no additional, material motivation. Treat your employees as volunteers, and the results will not be long in coming.
3. Shoe customer slippers.Does your product have live castomers? If not, it would alert me. Even if you are still at the stage of the paper prototype, or the first sprints (iterations in Scrum terms) of the project are underway. How do you know that the problem really exists, and your solution is suitable? You leave the office, find potential users and ask. Use custom development as a team building activity. Invite key users to the demonstrations - let them gasp with delight in the presence of the team. If your customers are difficult to access (for example, live across the ocean), it is especially important for you to use the User Personas technique to describe them. In any case, think as often as possible about the users and on behalf of the users of your product.
4. Use iteration goals.Do you use release and sprint goals as part of your product vision expression? If not, it would alert me. If you find it difficult to find the right wording, the reason may lie in the lack of clarity of vision of the product. If there is no clarity at a higher level of vision, then a porridge from features will be one level lower. And vice versa, if you were able to clearly state the purpose of the release, then at the sprint level it will be easier for you to express the goals. Use SMART goals, for example, “Increase hotel room sales by using social recommendations from guests.” Another possible reason for abandoning goals is to underestimate their importance. Remember that the goals of releases and sprints narrow the focus of the team, help you understand development priorities, guide your activities yourself and feel involved in the value stream.
5. Create pressure of urgency or importance. How long have you stayed up late in your office or fussed before a demonstration? If quite a while - it would have guarded me. Yes, the labor weekend has been canceled by canonical aggail in favor of a “maintained pace" of development. However, I often meet teams that lack “sports interest” in their measured life. Perhaps while you are marking time, your competitors are already taking over the market. Want to know what a surge of energy and motivation can give a sense of urgency? Attend any startup event, something like “Garazh48” or “StartUp Weekend”. If you do not have enough “external” restrictions, think up your own (competitive battle, participation in exhibitions, contests, etc.). Combine urgency and importance to create internal motivation to work on the product.
I hope this was something useful and I will be grateful for other ideas of internal motivators.
Thank you for your attention to the topic (I learn to write even shorter and more informative).
The lack of clarity at the level of the product’s vision, clear market positioning, development strategy for 3-6 months, urgency pressure or a feeling of competitive struggle extinguishes the team’s speed of work and the personal involvement of its participants. Product Owner
Ability ( Product Owner rolein SCRUM terminology) to embody the vision of a product in their words and actions, cannot be overestimated when we talk about team development. This ability helps the team work with focus (focus is one of the values of the SCRUM process).
Focus of attention changes our perception. To better understand what this is about, try a little experiment. Keep a simple thing in focus throughout the day, like red. Pay attention to everything red on the street and in the office, think about red in the shower and elevator, find a couple of interesting facts about the color itself, or red things. By the end of the day, you will begin to perceive red differently. Men may be surprised to find that red has shadesJ And the next day, “red” thoughts may come to your mind.
A similar effect works with focusing on the vision of the product. Introduce the product to the team - as a problem, riddle, task, intellectual challenge that you are working on. And over time, the focus on solving the problem will change the perception of reality, the team will begin to see non-trivial solutions and not obvious opportunities that previously went unnoticed.
Below are 5 ideas for Product Owners on how to strengthen internal motivation and teamwork through vision.
1. Prepare a pitch elevator. Product owners often use this type of presentation to investors. Do you feed your ideas to the team? If not, it would alert me. Try one of the compressed structured formats for presenting the product, in which in 2 minutes (while you are traveling in an imaginary elevator with an important person for the project), you describe: the problem you are working on, your solution to the problem, key audience, method of monetization, market opportunities, competitors known to you and the current phase of the project. Make it as short, meaningful and emotional as possible. Record on video and watch how inspiring a product leader you are.
2. Work with volunteers.Does your project have fans, followers, helpers ready to work for an idea? If not, it would alert me. Try to find such people, engage them in project activity and observe. What is the difference between your behavior in communicating with project participants “for money” and those who help “for an idea”? Obviously, the volunteers have to “dance” more, because they have no additional, material motivation. Treat your employees as volunteers, and the results will not be long in coming.
3. Shoe customer slippers.Does your product have live castomers? If not, it would alert me. Even if you are still at the stage of the paper prototype, or the first sprints (iterations in Scrum terms) of the project are underway. How do you know that the problem really exists, and your solution is suitable? You leave the office, find potential users and ask. Use custom development as a team building activity. Invite key users to the demonstrations - let them gasp with delight in the presence of the team. If your customers are difficult to access (for example, live across the ocean), it is especially important for you to use the User Personas technique to describe them. In any case, think as often as possible about the users and on behalf of the users of your product.
4. Use iteration goals.Do you use release and sprint goals as part of your product vision expression? If not, it would alert me. If you find it difficult to find the right wording, the reason may lie in the lack of clarity of vision of the product. If there is no clarity at a higher level of vision, then a porridge from features will be one level lower. And vice versa, if you were able to clearly state the purpose of the release, then at the sprint level it will be easier for you to express the goals. Use SMART goals, for example, “Increase hotel room sales by using social recommendations from guests.” Another possible reason for abandoning goals is to underestimate their importance. Remember that the goals of releases and sprints narrow the focus of the team, help you understand development priorities, guide your activities yourself and feel involved in the value stream.
5. Create pressure of urgency or importance. How long have you stayed up late in your office or fussed before a demonstration? If quite a while - it would have guarded me. Yes, the labor weekend has been canceled by canonical aggail in favor of a “maintained pace" of development. However, I often meet teams that lack “sports interest” in their measured life. Perhaps while you are marking time, your competitors are already taking over the market. Want to know what a surge of energy and motivation can give a sense of urgency? Attend any startup event, something like “Garazh48” or “StartUp Weekend”. If you do not have enough “external” restrictions, think up your own (competitive battle, participation in exhibitions, contests, etc.). Combine urgency and importance to create internal motivation to work on the product.
I hope this was something useful and I will be grateful for other ideas of internal motivators.
Thank you for your attention to the topic (I learn to write even shorter and more informative).