The thought leader for technology product management drew from his own experiences working on product teams at eBay, Netscape and Hewlett-Packard, amongst others during an illustrious career. And in the book, Marty also delves deep into case studies that illustrate just how important the product manager was to the creation of some highly successful digital products.<\/p>\n
As the second edition of the highly popular Inspired<\/i> is published, we caught up with Marty to find out more.<\/p>\n [GET CERTIFIED IN UX]<\/p>\n Take our Professional Diploma in UX Design course<\/span>\n <\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n \u201cIt takes me 400 pages to answer that question in the book, but in broad strokes, I\u2019d say they do three important things differently. First, they tackle product risks up front, before they start writing code; second, they define solutions collaboratively as a give and take between product, design and engineering, rather than sequentially where requirements are passed from product managers to product designers to engineers; and third, they define success not as shipping features but in solving problems – business results.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere are unfortunately countless examples of large companies that don\u2019t consistently innovate and they either have already been disrupted, or are in the process. Just look at most of the established players in the publishing industry, in the retail industry, in the advertising industry, in the automotive industry, and in the financial services industry, to name just a few.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor two reasons. First, when I wrote the first edition, I was trying to convince people to move to Agile methods and employ what we now refer to as Lean Startup techniques and today most teams have done this for several years; and second, I have much better ways of explaining the techniques today.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause great results come from great product teams. And one of the hallmarks of great product teams is that they are teams of missionaries. Every member of the team understands their purpose and the product vision and is passionate about solving the problems assigned to them in ways that their users and customers love, yet work for their business.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI learned the same lesson that countless product and design people have learned. That is, it doesn\u2019t matter how great your engineers are, if you don\u2019t give them something worth building. Product and Design, working with Engineering, are responsible for defining a winning product.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI define the core ingredients as smart, creative and persistent. By smart, I mean using new technologies to reach new audiences or enable new business models. By creative, I mean thinking outside the normal product box of features to solve business problems. And persistent – as in pushing companies way beyond their comfort zone with compelling evidence, constant communication and building bridges across functions in the face of stubborn resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n [GET CERTIFIED IN UX]<\/p>\n Take our Professional Diploma in UX Design course<\/span>\n <\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n \u201cIf the product manager does not include designers and engineers from the very beginning, then you won\u2019t have shared learning, and you likely won\u2019t have a team of missionaries. At that point, the designer and engineers are more like mercenaries.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy belief is that user research is most often extremely valuable, yet usually wasted. It\u2019s wasted in the sense that it is not acted on. This is because the product team was not there to witness the issues first hand.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI love it when strong product designers decide they want to learn the product role, and I have encouraged and coached many through that move. However, I\u2019ll also admit that many designers end up telling me they don\u2019t want the stress and responsibility that come along with the product role. That\u2019s probably the biggest reason otherwise ideal candidates don\u2019t make the switch.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is not unusual to encounter stubborn resistance from people in your organisation when trying to push through major new products. In Jane\u2019s case, she had very significant (and understandable) resistance from both engineering and sales. Jane had to use her people skills to elicit the underlying concerns and then convince people to work with her to come up with solutions that address these concerns.\u201d<\/p>\nInspired is about how the best tech companies create products that earn the love of billions of people around the world (e.g. Amazon, Netflix, Google) and the tremendous difference between how they do it and how the vast majority of technology companies do it. It\u2019s a big question but, in broad strokes, how do they do it so well and others don\u2019t?<\/h3>\n
Strong tech product companies know that they need to ensure consistent product innovation. And many large enterprise companies are too invested in protecting a product that was successful years ago. Are there any examples of the latter that you think really bring this home?<\/h3>\n
The first edition of Inspired<\/i> was hugely successful when it was published in 2008. When revisiting the book for a second edition, you thought you\u2019d only need to modify 10-20 per cent of the content but realised it needed a complete rewrite. Why?<\/h3>\n
You quote in the book the famous Silicon Valley venture capitalist who says of the product team, \u201cWe need teams of missionaries, not teams of mercenaries\u201d. Why is this important, in your opinion?<\/h3>\n
![\"product](\"https:\/\/blog.uxdesigninstitute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Marty-Cagan-innovation-2.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\nYou had a lightbulb moment when working as a software engineer on a high profile product at Hewlett Packard in the 1980s – and it\u2019s a real lesson for product teams. Can you explain that moment?<\/h3>\n
You write that a product manager needs to be amongst the strongest talent in a company and that it\u2019s a tremendously difficult job with some very challenging responsibilities. What kind of skills do you think it takes to be a successful product manager?<\/h3>\n
You talk about what happens when some of the product team are brought into the process too late to really get full value from them, including UX designers and software engineering\/development. What are some of the key things that are affected when this happens?<\/h3>\n
User research is vital for product discovery. You say the key to tapping into the value of user research is that any learning must be shared learning. Basically the product team needs to witness user research insights first hand rather than reading a report after the fact. Why is this important, do you think?<\/h3>\n
Do you think UX-ers make good product managers? What do they need to watch out for when they jump into the product manager role?<\/h3>\n
![\"product](\"https:\/\/blog.uxdesigninstitute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Inspired-book-cover.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\nProduct managers need people skills to bring projects and teams together. You use a few real life examples in the book to show this including Jane Manning of Google who was product manager for the launch of Google Adwords in 2000. What was it about her experience that shows this people managing skill?<\/h3>\n