5 ways to better work with Product Managers

This week's protégé pulse is for the co-creators.

Hello my fellow co-creators - developers or engineers (which do you prefer these days?), UXers and product designers, QA/QE and Analytics team. This week's protégé pulse is for you.

Imagine a product manager preparing for a refinement.

As I'm prepping for my refinement session, getting ready to review 15 user stories, certain anxieties can bubble up.

• Will Developer A offer the same feedback he always does, and how can I preemptively address it?

• Will the UX team realize that we've tackled something similar before, and it would be beneficial to reuse that style guide instead of crafting a brand new approach from scratch?

• Have I dedicated sufficient time to reviewing the strategy with the team, so they can fill in the minor details that the user story may not cover?

• Did I write these user stories in a template that everyone agrees is best? What have I missed? Is the content good enough?

When a pitch deck gets wheels I find myself constantly pondering not only about the idea we're building but also about how effective I am at communicating that idea to our leaders, our stakeholders, and most importantly, our co-creators.

When it's time to finalize the discovery, epics, and user stories to prepare partnering with design, code, QA, and analytics, the organization has placed its bet on the idea, and now it's our time to execute.

With a profound sense of ownership, yet without the skill set to design or code, the value of being a product manager with a team that truly understands is immeasurable.

So this week, let's delve into how we can better understand how to support the product team, and in return, I'll offer you some ways to engage in questioning that leads to deeper learning for yourself about what you are helping build—not just for this sprint but for the bigger picture.

5 ways to better work with Product Managers

1 - Understand the Vision and Strategy

Ask your product manager more "What" and "Why" questions.

• Why are we doing this?

• How does this feature align with our vision and direction?

• If our strategy is correct, in what ways will it measurably benefit the business

The goal here isn't to stump your product manager during a stand-up but to ensure you understand! By grasping the vision, strategy, and roadmap, along with the metrics you're helping to grow (e.g., Revenue, add-to-cart rate), you can transition from a narrow focus on user stories to a broader view of the strategy and vision. This insight can help fill any gaps your product manager might have overlooked.

2 - Agree on Language & Communication

This isn’t about coding languages or design tools co-creators use, but agreeing on the type of communication you'll have.

• What's the user guide for working with our development team?

• How does UX prefer to share demos or designs?

• Do you want to see work in progress or wait for the first draft?

• And if your product manager provides a poor user story, ask for changes to their template. Insist they include given/when/then scenarios for dynamic results.

Guiding them on what works best for the team is worth the effort, so more of our mental energy goes into building decisions, not discussions on how to build. It is ok to ask your product manager to change their approach in communication style. Their job is to use the levers they have (soft skills, user story writing approach, prds, epics, whiteboard drawings) to make sure you understand what needs to be built.

If the product manager can’t support it now, then at least they heard the request and maybe it’s something they can introduce in the next project.

3 - Feedback is a Gift

When you notice your product manager struggling with a user story, you have two options. You could ask a few questions, realize they don't fully understand, yet still accept it into your sprint, only to build what you hope they wanted. This often results in rebuilding over several sprints as your product manager changes the scope.

Or, you could ask refinement questions and provide feedback that it's not ready. Express your uncertainties and what you need for clarity; this constructive approach helps achieve the project's overall goals. For example…

Suggesting an MVP Approach: When a product manager aims for a feature-packed release, recommend focusing on a Minimum Viable Product first. This can speed up the launch and gather user feedback early on.

4 - Embrace the Varying Levels of Pivots

Pivots can range from a full strategic shift to minor changes like sequence or priority adjustments. Numerous variables in both large organizations and startups can impact planned or in-development work. Recognize that your product manager acts as a mouthpiece for numerous interests and stakeholders across the organization, as well as for their own leadership, who are pursuing their own agendas to benefit the business and customers.

5 - Celebrate the Wins

Encourage your product manager to identify the signals indicating success.

• Is it when Metric A hits X%?

• Is it maintaining only 4 and 5-star ratings on our app for a month?

• Or our first quarterly report to stakeholders?

• Is it the first bug free report from customer service for a release?

Understand the milestones or signals worth celebrating. Engage in recognizing the steps to success for the project or the team's yearly goals, and participate in celebrating these victories.

As we wrap up this week's exploration of the five ways to better collaborate with product management, remember it all comes down to partnership and mutual growth. Whether you are a product manager or a co-creator on the team, there are special times I remember being on rare teams where it felt like everyone just got it. We had an incredible culture that also produced incredible award winning results.

The partnership approach builds great morale that leads to incredible business and career progression results.

Whether it's through understanding the broader vision, aligning on communication, offering constructive feedback, adapting to pivots, or celebrating our wins together, each step we take is a stride toward building products that truly resonate with our users and stand out in the market.

Until next week!

Jason