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Mind the Product

Innovation

Sunday Rewind: Show your true innovative colours by Julia Shalet

Customer

How behavioral economics can improve product strategy

B2B product management

Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML)

Building Product Teams

Business Strategy

Data Driven Product Management

Digital Transformation

Diversity and Inclusion

Minimum Viable Product

OKRs

Prioritisation

Product Design

Product Research

Product Development Process

Product Ethics

Product Discovery

Product Leadership

Product Management Career

Product Strategy

Stakeholder Management

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Connecting fans to creators at Spotify (Dariusz Dziuk, Product Lead, Spotify)

Why teams often struggle with OKRs: A conversation with Jeff Gothelf

Deep dive: Crafting your product vision and mission

5 ways to invent and simplify as an AI/ML product manager

Andres is a freelance writer and digital marketer with a background in engineering and a keen interest in the latest technology advancements. He currently helps tech companies and startups tell their stories by turning their complex ideas into easy to understand material. You can reach out to him on LinkedIn

Andres Phillips

<p>In this <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/mtpcon/digital/americas/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#mtpcon Digital Americas</a></span>, sponsored by <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.fullstory.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fullstory</a></span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/agata-bugaj-a0402a2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Agata Bugaj</a></span>, Fullstory’s VP product, explores the power of Digital Experience Intelligence in creating — and strengthening — the connective tissue between different parts of your organization. Agata provides some sanity-saving ways data can help keep cross-functional teams focused and aligned.</p>
<h3>In brief</h3>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Product managers are tight on time so meetings should be held when they&#8217;re essential  — as far as it&#8217;s possible, promote asynchronous collaboration</span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">To drive toward the same mission, try organizing teams into &#8216;Programs&#8217; — cross-functional groups of humans with the same vision</span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Provide easy access to a one-pager roadmap and keep this accurate and up to date at all times</span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Everyone needs to have access to one source of truth  — both qualitative and quantitative data. This enables people to stay informed and take action with the information they have</span></li>
</ul>
<p>Watch the session in full or read on for the highlights from her talk.</p>
<h2>Time is an asset</h2>
<p>Time is our most precious asset, yet product managers are more visible than ever, with cross-functional stakeholders across the business and product managers at the center. Consequently, different people want to have meetings and ask questions about the product. While these questions are good, they can cause a product manager’s calendar to fill up and become unsustainable as they try to juggle work and meetings.</p>
<p>Meetings are critical, but the goal should be only to have them when necessary. Agata shares best practices that work at Fullstory and a framework that enables “you to structure and organize your teams to promote asynchronous mind-melding and collaboration.” She focuses on the people, processes, and attributes or tools that help move the team forward.</p>
<h2>People</h2>
<p>At Fullstory, various teams are working towards the same mission, and these teams are organized into programs. Teams may have separate roles but share a commitment to perfecting the digital experience. Programs are cross-functional groups of humans with the same vision. Each program includes a product manager, designer, and a group of engineers. However, more people are being included in these teams’ structure across UX, CX, marketing, sales, product management, and development.</p>
<p>These additional team members serve as the bridge between product and their teams, and they have access to all meetings notes, removing the need for other departments to continue meeting with product managers to find out what’s going on.</p>
<h3>Attributes</h3>
<p>Ensuring that this structure continues to function requires them to focus on two key attributes, transparency and clarity. The lines of communication need to be clear to enable visibility and collaboration. Also, role clarity is essential to ensure proper alignment with who is doing what.</p>
<h2>Process</h2>
<p>The process for making this work ensures that everyone gets and stays on the same page. A roadmap indicates how a product will evolve over the next quarters. This roadmap provides a reference point for all people involved so that they will know how they’ll be affected.</p>
<p>Providing a one-pager roadmap to all users enables end-users to go as deep as they want in uncovering information. Features briefs that provide greater detail about the problem to solve as well as product release notes all act as assets to help ensure that everyone can find answers to their questions.</p>
<h3>Attributes</h3>
<p>The key attributes to making this work are accuracy and access. Product managers need to keep roadmap data up to date as “trust in the documentation is lost if content is stale”. Updates are made weekly, and then a new roadmap is released on a monthly and quarterly basis as OKRs are updated. Also, everyone at Fullstory can access the document from the same link each time.</p>
<h2>Tools and Technologies</h2>
<p>When working cross-functionally, teams must have access to the same source of truth. All activities and communications are powered by the same, accessible information, including quantitative and qualitative detail. Quantitative data shows what is happening. It provides answers to questions and helps you influence outcomes. Qualitative data helps illustrate why something is happening, validating your hypothesis and giving direction on the next steps.</p>
<h3>Attributes</h3>
<p>The key attributes to making this work are accuracy and actionability. Everyone needs access to one source of truth, and people need to be informed and able to take action with the information they have.</p>
<p>As Agata concluded, tactics like these make it possible for cross-functional teams to work synchronously and effectively.</p>
<h2>Explore more content like this</h2>
<p>Ordinarily, premium content such as this can only be accessed by Mind the Product members. Today, we&#8217;re offering up this talk to everyone in the community. If you like the content and want more like it, you can <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/membership/compare/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">check out our Mind the Product membership plans</a></span>.</p>
<p>Still in need of career advice and inspiration? Browse even more <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/tag/cross-functional-team/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cross-Functional Team content</a></span> or use our <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/content-a-z/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Content A-Z</a></span> to find specific topics of interest.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re a Mind the Product member, you can also check out more <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/tag/mtpcon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#mtpcon video content</a></span>.</p>

core/freeform

Video

Breaking down misconceptions to create healthier teams by Adrian Howard

Modern-day leadership by Janice Fraser

5 key practices to build a better product, Adam Mullett, ProductTank Perth

Experiment like a boss by Merissa Silk

From opinion-based to evidence-guided product development by Itamar Gilad

A quick look at decision supervision by Lucy Spence

The F words of highly successful product organisations by Saielle DaSilva

Identify and manage imposter syndrome by Phyllis Njoroge

The good, bad, and ugly of OKRs by Jenny Herald

Is your innovation project on track? by Tendayi Viki

How data can help cross-functional teams focus and align by Agata Bugaj

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