We can’t ignore it, pretend it’s not there. We can’t put our heads in the sand and hope it will magically vanish. We have to face it, grapple with it, and turn it into an ally, if possible. But before we can face it, we have to find it.
In Part I, we tried to understand what risk means in product management, what types of risk exist, why it is important, and why project/product leaders do not address risk.
Today, we’re pulling out our risk-spotting goggles and embarking on a treasure hunt. A hunt for the lurking risks in our projects, the hidden traps in our plans, the subtle threats in our strategies. We’re setting off on an adventure to learn how we can identify these risks, armed with a map of techniques, each one an invaluable tool in our PM arsenal.
As a Product Manager (PM) who reads an average of ten articles on the subject every day, I’ve noticed something important:
There’s a lack of discussion on the importance of statistics and mathematics for Product Managers.
Research and analytical skills are crucial for making data-driven decisions, and a working understanding of fundamental statistics and mathematics is required in order for you to excel — pun intended — in your career.
Thankfully, acquiring math and statistics skills is not difficult in our modern age. Let’s start with the basics.
The common mathematics requirements for Product Managers include:
- secondary school algebra,
- basic mathematics concepts,
- basic data analysis, and
- no prior experience.
I approach every problem with an analytical mindset — like its a puzzle just waiting to be solved. I break down the problem into smaller pieces, group similar characteristics, and solve it. The ultimate goal is to present the solution in a logical and easy-to-explain manner, like a detective revealing the culprit and their motive.
While this is my signature approach, everyone is different in light of varied backgrounds and education, so don’t worry if you’re not up to speed on these concepts.
Online services such as Khan Academy and Udacity are your best friend for learning and refreshing your knowledge on anything math-related.
Algebra Basics | Khan Academy
Statistics and Probability | Khan Academy
Free Intro Statistics Course | Free Courses | Udacity
Statistics is a crucial aspect for Product Managers.
ChatGPT has been online for almost 3 months now. It reached 1 million users in just 5 days. This tool is taking the world by storm. The applications are practically limitless and it is just in its infancy stage at the moment.
I wrote a short story showcasing how to use ChatGPT as a Product Manager, you may want to check it out, the results are pretty impressive.
As the discussion online grows on the use cases of ChatGPT, so is the discussion on “how to detect AI-generated content” growing. And for many good reasons. One good example is all the news lately, on how ChatGPT generated content is passing top university exams.
But let’s take this from the beginning. The real question is the following:
Is there a way to detect text generated by ChatGPT?
Hey all, I wrote something that might be useful for everyone, here is the main points:
What is Analysis Paralysis?
After a bit of research, I realized that this is not a recent problem. Aesop and Shakespeare have dealt with the issue a very long time ago.
In the Fox and the Cat fable the Fox ends up getting caught by the hounds because she had a hundred ways of escaping and could not decide the one to follow. The Cat had only one way out and is now safe. Also, Prince Hamlet’s mortal flaw was “thinking too much”.
Overthinking a problem can paralyze you. Being in a Product Management (or any management) position can not only lead to slow decision-making, thus, harming the development and the business process, but it can also harm your perceived value as a manager by your team and stakeholders.
Beware.
What are the root causes of Analysis Paralysis?
External causes:
Limited resources. Scope, cost, time, quality
Complex and rapidly changing environment. Ranging from changes in the top management to procedural changes
Lack of support
Unclear objectives
“Design by committee”
Internal causes:
Fear
Overconfidence
Too many options
Information overload
Lack of experience
Perfectionism
Tips & Tricks to avoid Analysis Paralysis
Set clear goals and objectives (Relevant Frameworks: SMART, OKR, BHAG, Eisenhower matrix, Balanced Scorecard, CQM)
This is a short story I wrote about a PM lead working over at #linkedin, and how he saved the day using #chatgpt.
I wrote this to showcase one of the many ways on how an #AI can assist us with our many responsibilities in this complicated job called #productmanagement.
Specifically, here is the resulting user story for a new feature that the hero of our story ideated and "finalized" in less than 5 minutes:
User Story:
As a LinkedIn user, I want to be able to interact with the stories in the "Inspiration" feature by filtering them by industry, job role, and other criteria, and also be able to save stories that I find particularly interesting or useful for future reference, so that I can easily find the stories that are most relevant to me.
Acceptance Criteria:
- The user can filter the stories by industry, job role, and other criteria.
- The user can save stories that they find particularly interesting or useful for future reference.
- The user can view the saved stories in a separate section.
- The user can remove the stories from the saved section.
- The design of the frontend should be consistent with the LinkedIn's design guidelines.
- The frontend should be responsive and adaptable to different devices.
Edge Cases:
- The user should be able to filter the stories even if they have a low internet connection or a slow device.
- The user should be able to save stories even if they are not logged in.
-The user should be able to view the saved stories even if they change devices or log out and log in again.
-The feature should work properly if the user has a screen reader or other accessibility tools enabled.
Definition of Done:
-The feature should be able to filter the stories by industry, job role, and other criteria.
-The feature should be able to save stories that the user finds interesting or useful.
-The feature should be able to show the saved stories in a separate section.
-The feature should be able to remove the stories from the saved section.
-The design of the frontend should be consistent with the LinkedIn's design guidelines.
-The frontend should be responsive and adaptable to different devices.
-The feature should be tested across different browsers and devices to ensure compatibility.
-The feature should be tested with a small group of representative users to ensure it meets their needs and is easy to use.
-All necessary code changes should be committed to the codebase and be reviewed by other team members before being merged.
-The feature should be properly documented, including any necessary instructions and troubleshooting steps.
- The feature should be deployed to a staging environment and be tested by the team and stakeholders before being deployed to production.
The following list is a good place to start on a product manager’s responsibilities. Hint: Most of the points are industry agnostic.
1. The product manager defines the game/product vision and strategy
2. Manages the game development lifecycle
3. Conducts market research and competitive analysis
4. Manages the game budget and timeline
5. Monitors in-game metrics and KPIs
6. Collaborates with other teams and functions of the company
7. Communicates with the stakeholders
8. Manages the game soft-launch, launch
9. Manages the update and maintenance of the game
10. Identifies and implements monetization strategies
11. Collects and analyses player feedback and analytics
12. Ensures the game’s quality and success in the marketplace
13. Researches new game ideas
14. Defines the game’s roadmap
15. Creates strong game development teams
The list above can go on and on. Now to prove that, let’s go and apply one of the oldest tricks in the book. Below, I have gathered some requirements from open job postings (at the time of writing), from several different game development companies, for the position of “Product Manager”.
- Collaborate with stakeholders to define the game’s strategy and long-term vision
- Impact the systems during game development to ensure they are optimal for launch
- Create fun and engaging features and other game content
- Test ongoing tasks and ensure that everything is on schedule
- Help to set the strategic direction for the games, develop and execute the product roadmap
- Contribute to the entire game development cycle, from creative concepts to publish
- Brainstorm new ideas together with your team to create the best games
- Ensure the successful delivery of our Publishing roadmap
- Liaise with internal and external stakeholders to help build the backlog of product features
- Manage the development team
An experienced eye can spot that in one company a product manager is more delivery-oriented but more research-oriented in another. So what exactly is going on here?
Several things actually. And from my experience so far, it is common and normal I’d say.
The first is the company size and structure. A small start-up of 2 to 20 employees probably has only one product manager, and that poor guy has other responsibilities as well.
In larger companies probably you will find multiple product managers even on the same product. For example, technical product manager, marketing product manager, etc.
Long story short, everything is fluid (or maybe even… agile?), as it should be nowadays. Long gone (I guess/hope), are the organizations that brought in a new framework or a guru to solve their problems with a new shiny workflow that is simply… not compatible.
Adaptability is key. One of the most important traits for a good product manager in a gaming studio is the ability to think fast and take confident decisions based on multiple factors and experience combined with market knowledge.
Now that topic alone can be discussed to an extent, but I will leave that for another time. If you are interested in that, let me know.
Let’s get a bit more specific on the topic above. A hyper-casual game development studio most likely will search for a product manager that is more inclined to ideate and market research, whereas a casual mobile game development studio would probably be more inclined to search for a product manager with a live-ops or KPI optimization background.
There is only one sure way to know. Ask. Always ask. Ask directly from the first LinkedIn message or the email that a recruiter sends you to see if you are interested in that “amazing opportunity” they have to offer.
If a recruiter cannot effectively answer for the budget range, the game genre, and the platforms of the position the company he/she is recruiting for, then it’s a huge red flag...
Run out of characters I can submit at this point...
In Part I, we tried to understand what risk means in product management, what types of risk exist, why it is important, and why project/product leaders do not address risk.
Today, we’re pulling out our risk-spotting goggles and embarking on a treasure hunt. A hunt for the lurking risks in our projects, the hidden traps in our plans, the subtle threats in our strategies. We’re setting off on an adventure to learn how we can identify these risks, armed with a map of techniques, each one an invaluable tool in our PM arsenal.