March 22, 2019 at 13:503 key qualities of a successful product manager: Yuri Golikov, VP of Engineering Wrike
Hi, Habr. We continue our series of articles on key qualities for a successful Wrike product manager. In the previous part, we talked with Anton Danilov, group product manager. Today, questions are answered by Yuri Golikov. Yuri has been with Wrike for 3 years as VP of Engineering. In the past he worked at Aelita Software, Quest Software, Dell. The total experience is more than 15 years.
- Product work is a responsible and related thing. Anton told me about this in a previous interview. Share your opinion: what key qualities should a product manager have?
- Quality number one is ownership. It is important to note that in the modern world there should be exactly a product owner, and not just a “product manager” - this is not the most correct name. Product owner should truly “own” the product, and not just manage it. The product is “sick” with the product, is most interested in it, develops and “sinks” everything that is connected with it.
- “To own” is in English “to have”, “to possess”. And what does it mean to “drown” in your understanding? Can you give some examples?
- This is, first of all, to solve problems and accept challenges along the way. For example, if you have a weak team, you must do everything to strengthen it. Incomprehensible scope - it is necessary to clarify. Incomprehensible ideas - they must be validated with customers. We communicate a little with customers - we need to communicate more. This shows ownership mindset. That is, you must own your part in such a way as to develop it in the best way within the framework of the company's strategy. If it is, then it is already 50% success.
- Cool! And what other qualities are important for the product?
- The second key quality is communication skills. The product manager must be a communicator and a motivator, build relationships with the team, and the team must trust him. And this is despite the fact that the team and product oouner in the company are often on different management verticals. The product reports to the product team, and the team to the development department. Nevertheless, the product manager is the leader for the team, and, accordingly, as a communicator, he must, on the one hand, build relations with the team, and on the other hand, with the productive link, with other product managers.
And there are clients, other departments, such as, for example, customer success managers, who also have an opinion on the development of the product, and it is also desirable to take it into account. Product builds all these relationships. And, in the end, only because of this develops the product in an optimal way.
- Do I understand correctly that the product manager is not directly the head of his team, and his tasks, in particular, include selling his ideas to the team?
- Exactly.
- That is, his task is not just to lower the decision, but also to convince the team to implement this decision?
- The product manager never makes a decision. Work in situations where the solution is “coming down” is much less effective than in those when it is “selling”. Because a lot of dissenting people appear right there: individual employees may not listen, start to conflict, and the effectiveness is significantly reduced.
- You said that it is very important to have a developed sense of ownership. But at the same time, how, in your opinion, is ownership combined with the overall strategy set by senior management at Wrike? That is, how to stay autonomous inside?
- You always take only part of the strategy. In Wrike, the strategy is divided into product development in the enterprise plane (for business), the main UX, vertical subproducts, mobile applications, etc. Every serious leader in a grocery organization will take one of the directions. For example, in Wrike there is a person responsible for product development for enterprise clients. This direction has sub directions, each of which has its own product manager. And each of them is already responsible for some smaller scope.
Another example: there is an area related to security for customers, and now in my area of responsibility there are already two areas: security and e-commerce. Inside them I will sink the communicative capabilities of the product, inbox, correspondence, identification and other things. I always need to know what is happening and agree with everyone in order to develop this product in the direction we need.
That is, one way or another, any product is decomposed into a certain number of scopes, and it is impossible to always embrace everything. This really happens only if the product is small - in this case, there is one product, an oner, which deals with everything right away. A large product is divided into many parts, and success can be achieved only when all parts are clear and understandable. If at least one part of the work is incomprehensible, you can get very stuck in the processes: today you are doing one thing, tomorrow another, the day after tomorrow the third. In fact, in such a situation, you are no longer an oouner product - you just do what they say to you.
- And what if your part of the work is at the junction of the responsibility of the teams: that is, you are constantly doing the same thing, but at the same time very much overlap with some other areas of responsibility? How difficult is it to maintain your part without pronounced boundaries?
- Perhaps, the main thing is that there should be some fundamental part in which the general outline is clear. If it is all unsystematic and is at the junction of something unclear what, most likely, success will not be there. Some movements left and right are permissible, there is nothing wrong with that, but the key part should always be clear. Any OUNER understands that today he went to the grocery store, and tomorrow ordered furniture. The main thing is that he does all this to equip his apartment, and not for the neighbor's dacha.
- Good. With ownership is understandable. And the third quality of the product, in your opinion, what?
- The third is expertise. A good product is an expert in its field of knowledge. The field of knowledge can be simpler, it can be more complicated. For example, our security is more complicated. If the product is an expert, and everyone sees that he is really good at his scope, this is very important. He can make decisions faster and more correctly than others. And he can also convince others that these decisions are correct.
- The product team, as a rule, includes people with completely different expertise, in completely different areas. How important is it to become an expert in every area of your team?
“On the one hand, if you’ll submerge some part, you must become an expert there.” But you can get expertise in the process, if there is no suitable background. Without the desire to become an expert, it will be difficult.
- In your opinion, can a product oouner not have a development background? I mean, let's say come from marketing.
“Of course it can.” If a developer suddenly decides to become a product, this background will help him, but this is an absolutely optional requirement. He can even come from printing.
- And if you take some specific topics, for example, security?
- Let's split up. Expertise in programming is one thing; expertise in a subject area is another. A product can do something for printing, something for fishing, or for something else. An experienced fisherman, obviously, will be much more useful in a fishing product than an experienced developer who does not catch fish.
- Clear.
- I would single out the fourth quality - this is leadership. We can say that if a person is an overer, a good communicator and expert, with a probability of 95% he will already be a leader, taking into account the totality of these qualities. He should be able to ignite the team and lead the product in the right direction, not be blown away. He will have a lot of obstacles in his way. The bosses pull in one direction, some departments in the other, customers in the third, the team in the fourth. Here you need to be able to make decisions, balance, defend your position. This is leadership skill. But, again, in a sense, it is derived from the first three. I can’t imagine a person who is an expert in his field, an excellent communicator and a good boss in his field, but not a leader. It is very strange.
- 3 key qualities of a successful product manager: Anton Danilov
- Product work is a responsible and related thing. Anton told me about this in a previous interview. Share your opinion: what key qualities should a product manager have?
- Quality number one is ownership. It is important to note that in the modern world there should be exactly a product owner, and not just a “product manager” - this is not the most correct name. Product owner should truly “own” the product, and not just manage it. The product is “sick” with the product, is most interested in it, develops and “sinks” everything that is connected with it.
- “To own” is in English “to have”, “to possess”. And what does it mean to “drown” in your understanding? Can you give some examples?
- This is, first of all, to solve problems and accept challenges along the way. For example, if you have a weak team, you must do everything to strengthen it. Incomprehensible scope - it is necessary to clarify. Incomprehensible ideas - they must be validated with customers. We communicate a little with customers - we need to communicate more. This shows ownership mindset. That is, you must own your part in such a way as to develop it in the best way within the framework of the company's strategy. If it is, then it is already 50% success.
- Cool! And what other qualities are important for the product?
- The second key quality is communication skills. The product manager must be a communicator and a motivator, build relationships with the team, and the team must trust him. And this is despite the fact that the team and product oouner in the company are often on different management verticals. The product reports to the product team, and the team to the development department. Nevertheless, the product manager is the leader for the team, and, accordingly, as a communicator, he must, on the one hand, build relations with the team, and on the other hand, with the productive link, with other product managers.
And there are clients, other departments, such as, for example, customer success managers, who also have an opinion on the development of the product, and it is also desirable to take it into account. Product builds all these relationships. And, in the end, only because of this develops the product in an optimal way.
- Do I understand correctly that the product manager is not directly the head of his team, and his tasks, in particular, include selling his ideas to the team?
- Exactly.
- That is, his task is not just to lower the decision, but also to convince the team to implement this decision?
- The product manager never makes a decision. Work in situations where the solution is “coming down” is much less effective than in those when it is “selling”. Because a lot of dissenting people appear right there: individual employees may not listen, start to conflict, and the effectiveness is significantly reduced.
- You said that it is very important to have a developed sense of ownership. But at the same time, how, in your opinion, is ownership combined with the overall strategy set by senior management at Wrike? That is, how to stay autonomous inside?
- You always take only part of the strategy. In Wrike, the strategy is divided into product development in the enterprise plane (for business), the main UX, vertical subproducts, mobile applications, etc. Every serious leader in a grocery organization will take one of the directions. For example, in Wrike there is a person responsible for product development for enterprise clients. This direction has sub directions, each of which has its own product manager. And each of them is already responsible for some smaller scope.
Another example: there is an area related to security for customers, and now in my area of responsibility there are already two areas: security and e-commerce. Inside them I will sink the communicative capabilities of the product, inbox, correspondence, identification and other things. I always need to know what is happening and agree with everyone in order to develop this product in the direction we need.
That is, one way or another, any product is decomposed into a certain number of scopes, and it is impossible to always embrace everything. This really happens only if the product is small - in this case, there is one product, an oner, which deals with everything right away. A large product is divided into many parts, and success can be achieved only when all parts are clear and understandable. If at least one part of the work is incomprehensible, you can get very stuck in the processes: today you are doing one thing, tomorrow another, the day after tomorrow the third. In fact, in such a situation, you are no longer an oouner product - you just do what they say to you.
- And what if your part of the work is at the junction of the responsibility of the teams: that is, you are constantly doing the same thing, but at the same time very much overlap with some other areas of responsibility? How difficult is it to maintain your part without pronounced boundaries?
- Perhaps, the main thing is that there should be some fundamental part in which the general outline is clear. If it is all unsystematic and is at the junction of something unclear what, most likely, success will not be there. Some movements left and right are permissible, there is nothing wrong with that, but the key part should always be clear. Any OUNER understands that today he went to the grocery store, and tomorrow ordered furniture. The main thing is that he does all this to equip his apartment, and not for the neighbor's dacha.
- Good. With ownership is understandable. And the third quality of the product, in your opinion, what?
- The third is expertise. A good product is an expert in its field of knowledge. The field of knowledge can be simpler, it can be more complicated. For example, our security is more complicated. If the product is an expert, and everyone sees that he is really good at his scope, this is very important. He can make decisions faster and more correctly than others. And he can also convince others that these decisions are correct.
- The product team, as a rule, includes people with completely different expertise, in completely different areas. How important is it to become an expert in every area of your team?
“On the one hand, if you’ll submerge some part, you must become an expert there.” But you can get expertise in the process, if there is no suitable background. Without the desire to become an expert, it will be difficult.
- In your opinion, can a product oouner not have a development background? I mean, let's say come from marketing.
“Of course it can.” If a developer suddenly decides to become a product, this background will help him, but this is an absolutely optional requirement. He can even come from printing.
- And if you take some specific topics, for example, security?
- Let's split up. Expertise in programming is one thing; expertise in a subject area is another. A product can do something for printing, something for fishing, or for something else. An experienced fisherman, obviously, will be much more useful in a fishing product than an experienced developer who does not catch fish.
- Clear.
- I would single out the fourth quality - this is leadership. We can say that if a person is an overer, a good communicator and expert, with a probability of 95% he will already be a leader, taking into account the totality of these qualities. He should be able to ignite the team and lead the product in the right direction, not be blown away. He will have a lot of obstacles in his way. The bosses pull in one direction, some departments in the other, customers in the third, the team in the fourth. Here you need to be able to make decisions, balance, defend your position. This is leadership skill. But, again, in a sense, it is derived from the first three. I can’t imagine a person who is an expert in his field, an excellent communicator and a good boss in his field, but not a leader. It is very strange.
- 3 key qualities of a successful product manager: Anton Danilov