I love cars. I really really do and while I realize that self-driving cars are the future, little beats navigating a curve at near optimum speed and listening to the roar of an engine. Proper roar. Not the bullshit artificial sound that's making its way around (*cough* BMW *cough*).
What are we talking about again? Yes...can you pick up chicks in a tank? Err...so what does Product Management have to do with cars?
Well, I was thinking about an analogy last night and given that every question can be a PM question (just go with it), behind any successful process, there's usually a PM or a team of PMs doing what's needed. Keep in mind that the title might not always be "Product Manager".
So what can a great PM do at a company like Ford or Porsche, especially when a new car is being developed. If it were me, I'd not only have to have great customer empathy but also know what's under the hood and make sure my team isn't doing silly work.
What does that mean?
Is the car safe while still being fun? (and this means different things to different segments). Do I know what that means to a potential 20 year old versus a 50 year old driver?
Do I show up at 6am to drain the oil and send a sample off to analysis, top off the oil and make sure the car is ready for my engineering team to run their test?
Do I study the statistics from the latest Brembo installation and have a set of recommendations / questions ready for the brake team before they roll in to work?
Do I make sure that the analysis on tread usage is complete and the tire pressure is optimum or tires/wheels have been replaced before the track drivers show up?
Have I been hounding the accessories team about the new AC that's 5% heavier than the old model and how I want a reduction in weight. Hello, this is a race car yo.
Do I see a threat from Acura in their new supercar and preemptively plan to crush them at the Detroit Auto Show that's scheduled to open in 8 months?
Am I aware of the auto regulations in Europe and intimately know how they compare with the ones in Australia and Canada?
Do I bring the donuts?
... and the answer to all the above questions is:
YES.
At any place, there's lots of work that's considered "boring" or "not sexy". What do you do as a PM? You take that stuff on so your team doesn't have to. You migrate dying hardware on to a VM stack. You maintain an ancient automation harness and think of ways to rewrite the whole thing. Then you do it.
You keep track of the big picture, you keep people in the loop and you bring donuts. You do what needs doing.
What are we talking about again? Yes...can you pick up chicks in a tank? Err...so what does Product Management have to do with cars?
Well, I was thinking about an analogy last night and given that every question can be a PM question (just go with it), behind any successful process, there's usually a PM or a team of PMs doing what's needed. Keep in mind that the title might not always be "Product Manager".
So what can a great PM do at a company like Ford or Porsche, especially when a new car is being developed. If it were me, I'd not only have to have great customer empathy but also know what's under the hood and make sure my team isn't doing silly work.
What does that mean?
Is the car safe while still being fun? (and this means different things to different segments). Do I know what that means to a potential 20 year old versus a 50 year old driver?
Do I show up at 6am to drain the oil and send a sample off to analysis, top off the oil and make sure the car is ready for my engineering team to run their test?
Do I study the statistics from the latest Brembo installation and have a set of recommendations / questions ready for the brake team before they roll in to work?
Do I make sure that the analysis on tread usage is complete and the tire pressure is optimum or tires/wheels have been replaced before the track drivers show up?
Have I been hounding the accessories team about the new AC that's 5% heavier than the old model and how I want a reduction in weight. Hello, this is a race car yo.
Do I see a threat from Acura in their new supercar and preemptively plan to crush them at the Detroit Auto Show that's scheduled to open in 8 months?
Am I aware of the auto regulations in Europe and intimately know how they compare with the ones in Australia and Canada?
Do I bring the donuts?
... and the answer to all the above questions is:
YES.
At any place, there's lots of work that's considered "boring" or "not sexy". What do you do as a PM? You take that stuff on so your team doesn't have to. You migrate dying hardware on to a VM stack. You maintain an ancient automation harness and think of ways to rewrite the whole thing. Then you do it.
You keep track of the big picture, you keep people in the loop and you bring donuts. You do what needs doing.
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