Prabhakar Gopalan wrote an interesting article recently about the growing divide between Product Managers and Marketing Managers, and offered this idea:

Start thinking end to end — become the system thinker, the Whole Product Manager. Learn everything for the sake of your product and do everything for the sake of your product. It’s your baby. If you can’t raise it, don’t expect others to raise it for you.

The solution sounds simple and true — for a startup. (Which, to be honest, is a reason why I’m moving back to the startup world.)

Is this Whole Product Manager even possible in a larger business? Or should we focus on creating a more solid partnership between product management and product marketing? Rather than fight each other, imagine the good that would come from marshaling the best of both worlds to address the product’s success in the market.

How About You?

Are you a “Whole” Product Manager?

If yes, how’s it going?

If not, why not?

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As a Product Manager, you’ve probably heard a complaint once or twice.

Working through uncomfortable issues with customers can be challenging. But, personally, I find complaints from inside the company to be way more taxing than complaints from the outside world.

Sitting in the nexus of engineering, marketing, finance, and the rest of the company, Product can sometimes feel like the central dumping ground for all the abject misery roiling through an organization.

The good news is: It doesn’t need to be that way.

Why Do People Complain So Much?

Psychotherapist F. Diane Barth cites three reasons why chronic complainers complain so chronically:

1. They are deeply distressed by something they feel powerless to change;
2. They feel angry and sad about the situation, and worry it’s partially or entirely their own fault;
3. They do not know how to soothe themselves.

Because the complainers are mired in whatever situation they’re stuck in — feeling unloved by their boss, confused by the company’s direction, sad that their pet project was killed, whatever — you won’t really be able to help them because you can’t change their situation and you can’t change their feelings about their situation.

Chronic Complaining Is Not Just Annoying, It’s A Productivity Killer

For real:

• 78% of people report a loss of 3 to 6 hours each week because of complainers
• This unproductive time costs companies $4,600 to $9,200 per year per employee
• Over $513 billion is being wasted annually on complainers and draining situations

And It’s Not Just A Productivity Killer, It’s An Actual Killer

According to entrepreneur and author Trevor Blake, neuroscientists have learned to measure brain activity when faced with various stimuli, including a truckload of complaining — and the results are not good.

“The brain works more like a muscle than we thought,” Blake says. “So if you’re pinned in a corner for too long listening to someone being negative, you’re more likely to behave that way as well.”

Even worse, being exposed to too much complaining can actually destroy neurons in the brain’s hippocampus — the part of your brain required for problem-solving.

In other words: chronic complaining can actually make you dumber not just annoyed or annoying.

So What Do You Do?

When surrounded by grumblers, malcontents, and loud mouths, it can be super tempting to give up and agree with the complainers just to get them to shut up and leave you alone.

It’s been said that, “Bad company ruins good morals” — and, where chronic complaining is involved, agreeing simply to get them to shut up could actually lead to career suicide.

Instead of agreeing with the complainer — and potentially getting lumped in with the complainers — you’re better off…

• Carefully acknowledging complaints with simple, but noncommittal phrases (eg, “Interesting.”)
• Politely suggesting they talk with the person or people who can do something about the situation (presuming that person is not you)
• If you feel like you’ve been put in a compromising position, let them know you’re not comfortable with this conversation and redirect again to their manager or chain of command

Everyone Has A Story; Let Me Complain About Mine

Have you ever been in a tough spot because of complainers? If so, what did you do?

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Focus is not saying “yes” to a single great idea. Focus is saying “no” to a ton of great-sounding ideas because they aren’t really a fit for your customers.

And it means saying “no” even if one of those deceptively great-sounding ideas comes from the Man of Steel himself.

Keep the conversation going!

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In the anime series Gungrave, Brandon Heat — driven by the need for revenge — returns from the grave to destroy Harry MacDowell — Brandon’s former best friend, former employer, and murderer.

And you thought your office politics were tough.

< SPOILER WARNING >

We’re going to discuss key plot points of this animated series as we explore the “right” relationship between usability and product management. You have been warned!

< /SPOILER WARNING >

“The dead are notoriously unproductive.”

Gungrave opens 13 years after Brandon Heat is betrayed and murdered by his best friend Harry MacDowell. Reborn as the technologically-enhanced super assassin Beyond The Grave, he begins to exact revenge on Harry’s criminal syndicate.

The series then rewinds to Brandon and Harry’s younger days, when they were punks on the street trying to make a living. A job goes wrong. Friends are killed. Harry gets the chance to join a shadowy mafia organization called Millenion. Loyal to Harry, Brandon follows Harry’s lead and joins Millenion, too.

The two friends end up on different tracks, with Harry pursuing power in his quest for “true freedom” and Brandon becoming a mafia debt collector. Harry’s quest drives him to extreme paranoia and homicidal behavior, ultimately leading him to shoot Brandon point-blank in the face when Brandon refuses to join Harry’s insurrection against Millenion’s boss.

That’s when science, mafia zombies, and all kinds of guns enter the picture. Plus, Brandon and Harry say each other’s names approximately 1,500 times, Akira-style.

“We are all equal in the presence of death.”

After they join Millenion, Harry and Brandon essentially go their separate ways. Things happen to each of them. When they’re finally reunited, they both speak of allegiance to the Millenion family — but only one of them actually “gets” that concept.

In a healthy PM/UX relationship, neither team should work in a bubble. Both teams should work together, under a clear product definition, with the common goal of creating the best product they can.

Sometimes, Product and Usability jockey for position. Often, this stems from frustrated UX people dealing with Product people who think design and UX aren’t that hard.

Who should control the process and the relationship? Harry wanted to control everything, and murdered anyone who stood in his way.

Helpful tip: Murder does not lead to a better product.

Realistically speaking, we don’t need to bump anybody off — but we do need a clear delineation of responsibilities:

• Product is responsible for delivering the final product to the market within the established guidelines and schedule.
• Usability must build the best product experience they can within those conditions.
• Product drives, but Usability will inform the product design and often help shape product strategy.

Rather than starting en media res like Gungrave, the product will be much better off if UX is brought into the project as early as possible, so the PM and UX teams can collaborate and iterate under the product definition made available to all at the very beginning of the project.

Does this sound like the right balance to you?

If not, how do you think Product Management and Usability should interact for maximum impact?

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Bonus Content

Watch the official trailer for Gungrave:

In other words: instead of trying to create the Ultimate PRD up front, get the core down and then refine as the project gets underway. Otherwise, it’ll never get underway.

Keep the conversation going!

Subscribe to the feed to receive future updates; listen to our product management podcast; and follow me on Twitter to keep the discussion going or wax poetic about Batman.

In the 2011 film Conan the Barbarian, the sword-wielding Conan (played by Jason Momoa) vows to avenge his people’s genocide — even if it means sacrificing his own life in the process.

Clearly, this is a product management epic if ever there was one.

< SPOILER WARNING >
To be fair, Conan is not renown for its plot. Still, we’re going to discuss key plot points as we hack & slash our way through this rumination on sacrifice in product management. You have been warned!
< / SPOILER WARNING >

Born On The Battlefield

Conan is born mid-battle to a fatally wounded mother, and life doesn’t get any easier after that. As an adolescent, he tries to save his father and his tribe from being brutally killed by the evil Khalar Zym… and fails.

Driven by the need for vengeance, the adult Conan brawls, blunders, and beguiles his way toward his goal. Along the way he frees some slaves, wins an arm-wrestling match, visits a brothel, befriends a thief who comes in handy later, and fights sand ninjas and a giant octopus.

Zym captures the pureblood Tamara (Rachel Nichols), whom he believes is the key to reviving his dead wife and ruling the world. Conan uses his wits and his sword to kill Zym, rescue Tamara, and save the day.

“I live. I love. I slay. And I am content.”

It’s easy to write off Conan as a one-dimensional killing machine. Like some sales people I’ve known.

But, really, he’s a man on an intensely personal quest who slowly discovers a higher calling. Yes, it’s helpful that the two missions dovetail as well as they do, but still — either way, he’s willing to sacrifice everything, including his life, to succeed.

“Are we all just doomed to chaos and ruin?”

Product Managers encounter moments of sacrifice all the time:

• During development: PMs can sacrifice features based on critical business needs, or arbitrarily because the team couldn’t get everything done on time.
  
  
• In the day-to-day: PMs can sacrifice their time working through to-do lists, or developing market strategy.
  
  
• Quality of life: Does the stress of being a PM cause you to sacrifice your sanity and health, or propel you forward?
  
  

“What is most important when making a sword, fire or ice?”

Western culture tries to deny the very idea of sacrifice:

“Lose weight without dieting or exercise!”

“Get rich without working hard!”

“Have it your way!”

It’s a seductive fantasy. The reality is very different.

The New Oxford American Dictionary defines “sacrifice” as “an act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy”.

When you try to have 100% quality and 100% feature set and 100% time to market and answer every email and attend every meeting and segment markets and write requirements and call customers — you’re not sacrificing anything, except for your sanity and ability to do your job productively.

I’m going to say something now that will rub many PMs the wrong way.

Conan is willing to sacrifice everything to achieve his single goal. When the goal changes — when he finds something more valuable and worthy of sacrificing himself for — he applies himself to that.

Many PMs — and I’ll include myself in this criticism — often complain of being overworked and stressed out and not having the time to do their jobs.

Organizational structures often play a role in that.

But that’s not the only reason.

We try to do it all because we don’t truly value one part of our job over another.

Sacrifice reveals what we truly value.

If we don’t have rock-hard abs, it’s because we value the freedom to eat whatever we want over everything else. If we don’t have time to devise market strategy, it’s because we value tactical work instead.

Are you not able to attain certain goals? Presuming you have the skills — the reason you’re not able to meet the goal is likely that you don’t actually value that goal as much as you wish you did.

To move forward, you need to leave something behind. If you deny the idea of sacrifice, you end up holding onto everything in a vain attempt to have it all — even things you don’t necessarily want to keep.

What do you need to sacrifice to move forward?

And what will it take to make you do it?

New Around Here?

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Bonus Content

Watch the official trailer for Conan the Barbarian:

Before we begin, a general warning about watching Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies: If you plan to take a shot every time CGI blood shoots across the screen or a random chicken ruins an escape attempt, by 45 minutes into this film you will be stumbling around like one of the undead yourself.

< SPOILER WARNING >
This mockbuster is actually pretty well done, and has some surprise twists. I’m going to reveal some of those twists and turns to make a point about sunsetting products you love. You have been warned!
< / SPOILER WARNING >

Nobody can deliver a stirring speech about fighting zombies like Lincoln

An outbreak of Confederate zombism at Fort Pulaski forces President Lincoln (played by Bill Oberst, Jr.) to lead a group of Secret Service agents on a mission to contain the infection before it spreads across the divided country.

Along the way, Lincoln decapitates a ton of zombies and encounters many famous folks including Stonewall Jackson, Pat Garrett, and a very young Teddy Roosevelt. He also reunites with the former love of his life, a hooker with a heart of gold named Mary Owens.

Lincoln wins the battle, at a high cost

Lots of people die, and poor Mary is infected, too. Lincoln can’t bring himself to kill Mary, so he stores her in a secluded cabin and hires a doctor to find a cure.

During a routine visit, Zombie Mary bites Lincoln. Knowing he has a short time left before he turns into a zombie, Lincoln sends a letter to John Wilkes Booth… and the rest is history.

That bite got me to thinking about sunsetting products

Lincoln knows there’s no cure for zombism. Yet, he can’t bring himself to put Mary out of her misery. And it’s that bad call that eventually kills Lincoln himself.

How often do we encounter similar situations at work? Products that, objectively, should be killed… yet they shamble on with a life of their own because we believe in them. Because the team falls in love with them.

How often are we, as Product Managers, behaving just like Lincoln — hiding our hooker zombie girlfriends, hoping to find a cure, rather than making the hard choice to terminate or redirect resources?

The reasons to kill a product in ideation, in development, or post-launch are numerous

Here’s a handful…

• Market changed, and the once-awesome product you’re developing no longer matters
• Estimated time to develop was severely miscalculated (and not in a good way)
• Cost to develop the product is significantly higher than originally anticipated

So what do we do?

If you’re reluctant to kill a product because you don’t have an alternative product idea, get out into the market and find a new problem to solve. (That’s kind of the job, right?)

If you’re reluctant to kill a product because you’re in love with it, remember Lincoln. Every product that hangs on beyond its shelflife represents loss of opportunity, loss of momentum, loss, loss, loss. And that’s if you’re lucky.

You could be giving your competitors an opportunity to gain market share and mindshare within your segment. Which could be the kiss of death.

New Around Here?

Subscribe to the feed to receive future updates; follow me on Twitter to keep the discussion going!

Bonus Content

Watch the official trailer for Abraham Lincoln Vs. Zombies:

Don’t run from the big wave! Grab your board and go!

The two important things I learned…

1) I retreat from my harder punchlines. The ones that are really funny, but outside my comfort zone.

2) In the words of a fellow student: “I curse like a true gentleman.”

Lesson #2 helped with lesson #1.

Rather than retreating from the punches, the instructor told me to go for it. To go beyond it. Don’t just say the punchline. Sell it. Drop an f-bomb to punctuate and underline the hell out of it.

The next time I delivered my routine, I did. And it worked, beautifully.

I got the laughs plus the compliment on my gentlemanly cursing.

There’s a work application, too.

Chances are, you have — or, one day, will have — a product in your portfolio that nobody wants to touch because its position in the lifecycle is unclear.

It could be a cash cow. But it could still have legs. But market signals are unclear. So everyone just leaves it “as is” because nobody wants to be the one to tip it and see what happens.

Which means it languishes.

And you miss an opportunity to make a real difference to your customers… your business… maybe even your career.

If you have a product like that, it’s time to figure it out. When you do, don’t retreat from the punchline. Drop the f-bomb and make your move.

Just remember to do it like a true gentleman or lady should.

Keep the conversation going!

Subscribe to the feed to receive future updates; listen to our product management podcast; and follow me on Twitter to keep the discussion going or talk about how excited you are about Transformers: Fall of Cybertron because I bet it’s not nearly as excited as I am.

Keep the conversation going!

Subscribe to the feed to receive future updates; listen to our product management podcast; and follow me on Twitter to keep the discussion going or hear me pontificate about Batman.

I’m trying to make the jump from being [insert role here] to Product Manager. I have an engineering degree and a few business classes. However, I’m not an MBA. How I can position myself to be competitive with MBA candidates?

You can’t dodge the MBA question by pulling a bag over your head

I’ve previously shared my thoughts on why I got my MBA so I want to focus today on the resume itself, and some ideas for making the best possible, truthful impression on your resume reader… even if you don’t have an MBA.

Disclaimer: You might be out of luck

I’m going to give you, frankly, some great advice in a couple paragraphs. But I’d be totally misleading you if I didn’t say this: If the hiring manager truly only wants MBAs, and you don’t have one, you’re likely out of luck.

But if that’s not the case…

Try a Practical Product Management seminar to supplement your experience with formal PM training.

Can’t afford formal training? Try a ProductCamp.

Marry the trainings above (which demonstrate a great interest in product management) to the work experience in your resume, and you’ll be on your way to building a compelling resume.

Next step: Connect your work experience to the stuff that really matters.

As a Product Manager, activity will not be your end goal.

Your job as a PM isn’t just to launch stuff, or execute programs, or field calls from customer service or sales.

Your job isn’t about looking busy.

So your resume shouldn’t just be a list of actions.

It’s the results that matter.

The biggest area of opportunity I see in most resumes is connecting the core activities you performed with the results achieved.

For example, say you earned an award for demonstrating leadership in a critical project. What challenges did you overcome? What skills did you employ? Why did your supervisors find your performance so noteworthy?

Or if you launched a new project, what was its goal? Did it succeed? Did it fail? What did you learn?

Here’s a fictional example

Disconnected activity bullet point from a resume…

• On July 4th, stopped Doctor Octopus dead in his tracks.

That’s cool.

Nobody likes Doc Ock.

But let’s connect it to some results…

• On July 4th, stopped Doctor Octopus from annihilating New York, saving millions of human lives and preventing millions of dollars in property damage. Took stunning pictures of the battle; sold pictures to Daily Bugle for $10,500, a personal best.

They’re both honest assessments of an activity.

But which makes more of an impression on you as a reader?

Connect your activities to the results you achieved, and you’ll get noticed. Regardless of whether Doc Ock is involved. Just don’t wear a bag over your head to the interview.

Keep the conversation going!

Subscribe to the feed to receive future updates; listen to our product management podcast; and follow me on Twitter to keep the discussion going or hear me pontificate about Batman.