David Wang

Product managers don’t come up with the high level metrics, their managers does. PM’s can bring in context and detailed metrics to influence, but it’s wrong to get PM’s to come up with the “innovation metrics” or whatever the buzz word is. So start with alignment first. PM should start with understanding the problem domain and the business context. Talk to customers, market research, speak with Execs, and help solve customer service issues. Absorb and embrace first. Then narrow down a few problems you think are important to solve from a customer and business perspective. Then bring it to the Head of product for a conversation. Metrics only comes after the above. If you start with metrics, you’ve already primed yourself on a risky start.

Don’t get sucked into buzz words. Solve customer problems with customer understand with technology that adapts to their latest customer behaviour/experience. Make sure you are creating customer value and business value. That’s innovation. Just focus on the motion of creating great products, then the “innovation“ will come.

The best way to do this is to set up regular Product Reviews, where the product team reviews metrics, progress, and learning across the product domain. Focus on Time-To-Value* as a key metric for the Product Review session. *You need to define what Value means in your context

It's important to be flexible in your approach towards finding a solution, but it's equally important to be persistent in your vision. Flexibility helps in adapting to changing market conditions, but having a clear vision is crucial to avoid getting pulled in different directions.

It's always a balance of short-term vs long-term. As a PM you should take a portfolio approach and place bets across multiple parts of the product. Here are 3 questions to ask: - What are some areas we want to expand on? - What are some areas we want to experiment in? - What are some areas we should exit from? If you prioritise your features based on the above, you can balance short-term and long-term goals.

It is advisable to adjust the strategy if the long-term and short-term goals are not aligned. The best approach is to identify a business metric that needs to be achieved for the current year and use it as the north star for short-term goals. Then, balance these goals with the long-term mission of the company. To set clear goals and quantifiable metrics to measure progress, you can use a framework like OKR.