Episode 37: Dear Melissa - Answering Questions About Compromise and Collaboration
In this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about learning how to compromise and collaborate with fellow product managers and new team members.
Have a product question for Melissa? Submit one here and Melissa may answer it in a future episode.
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Q: How do I work with other PMs in a productive manner and avoid an unhealthy competitive atmosphere? [1:41]
A: The great thing about working with the product management team is that you don't have to do this by yourself; you have other people to brainstorm with, to jive with, to get other ideas. Working with a team is fun, so you have to think about it that way. Don’t approach it like you’re losing scope or your importance. Approach it like ‘Hey, I finally have people who understand what I'm going through, and I can bounce my ideas off of them.’ I think as long as your product management paths are well defined, you're gonna be okay… you should be meeting regularly to discuss what you're all working on if there are any dependencies. [2:13]
Q: How can I improve a relationship with a new PM and our ability to collaborate? [6:31]
A: I think one thing to understand about giving feedback is you can do it, but if somebody is not in a place to receive feedback, it's not going to be taken well [and] it's not going to be effective… you need to look at their process and start to give them credit in some spots… talk to them about that and see if you can learn from that. What this does is establish a relationship with them where they're going to start to trust you. I’m not saying that everything they're doing is great and you should agree with everything, but find the things they're doing that are good and amplify them. [7:51]
Q: How do you determine how much you need to reduce the scope of a feature when defining an MVP? Do you have any ideas for how my PM and I can come to an agreement? [13:36]
A: The best way to reconcile this is to take your opinions out of it and go back to your riskiest assumptions, and what you need to define about those assumptions that you know will make this product a success. So let's go back to our known knowns and our known unknowns. What do we know as known knowns, and how do they relate to the solution of the product? Those are the things that you need to include in your MVP… Then once you get through those known knowns and you've looked at them, go to the known unknowns and figure out what your riskiest assumptions are, and what you're trying to learn from this MVP. [14:05]
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