Book Club: Transformed by Marty Cagan

At MillerKnoll I lead the Product Guild, a group of digital product folk from across the organization that meets at least twice a month in service of driving forward the adoption of a product-focused mindset across the enterprise. We support each other, developing and unifying our core competencies within product, and it is also an opportunity for me to harmonize everyone on prioritization, intake, roadmapping and best practices. This summer we did our first book club. While it might feel like a large guild is a better setting for this conversation, I encourage you to do this within your individual product teams - the discussion was illuminating.

Transformed: Moving to the Product Operating Model is the third in the series by Marty Cagan, but if you haven’t read any of them, you should make it your starting point. All of these books make for great professional book club fodder, as Cagan’s writing is very conversational and easy to consume, but also very structured. He tells you what he's going to tell you, tells you (including case studies) and then summarizes the key points. It is a perfect set-up for a group discussion.

Transformed teaches the reader how companies can move from their current approaches to the product operating model. It teaches the principles of the model, convinces you that it is possible, and inspires you to get there as an organization. This book particularly was written to appeal to those outside of Silicon Valley.

Transformation dimensions

• How you build - small releases, analytics, monitoring (product delivery)

• How you solve problems - assign problems to teams, let them find solutions (empowered product teams)

• How you decide which problems to solve - product leaders need a vision and insight-based strategy (product leadership)

Competencies

• Product Manager

• Product Designer

• Technical Lead

• Product Leaders

Product Model Concepts

• Product Teams - empowered with problems to solve, outcomes over output, sense of ownership, collaboration

• Product Vision - the power of an inspiring product vision, insights, transparency, placing bets

• Product Discovery - assessing product risks, embracing rapid experimentation, testing ideas responsibly

• Product Delivery - small, frequent, uncoupled releases, high-integrity commitments, instrumentation, monitoring, deployment infrastructure, managing technical debt

• Product Culture - principles over process, trust over control, innovation over predictability, learning over failure

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Where is our team and organization falling short in the three dimensions of the product operating model? Where is the most friction between this team and the organization?

2. In which areas have we become too rigid to the process and it is no longer serving us? How we should go back to our product operating model principles instead?

3. Which are the least relevant principles to us as an organization?

4. Do you think of the leaders of design and engineering as product leaders? More or less than the product management leader? Why or why not?

5. Have you previously used the technique of a high-integrity commitment?  Is this a possibility for the next time a stakeholder asks for a date?

6. Have you needed to address objections to the product model in the past? Was that successful? Do you think the scripts provided by the book will be helpful in future conversations?

7. What can you do in your role (individual contributor, manager, leader, etc) to forward the product operating model and transformation in our organization?

For more discussion questions, visit the SVPG site.

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As part of the Chicago product community, I was thrilled to be able to hear Marty Cagan speak last week at an event sponsored by Mind The Product. It was great to hear his candid and relatable answers to the crowd, and glean encouragement on how we can all make advancements, even as we work toward the large transformations. And I was able to fan-girl a little and get a selfie with Marty.

Using Games at Work

Games in a professional setting can bring in new mindsets or help tackle problems from a different perspective. Games within a product team are especially beneficial, as they both develop and capitalize on the psychological safety present.

A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment, fun, or educational purposes. Games can be physical (like sports), mental (like puzzles), or a combination of both (like board games or video games). They typically involve:

1. Rules: Clearly defined guidelines that dictate how the game is played and what players can or cannot do.

2. Objectives: Specific goals or outcomes that players aim to achieve.

3. Competition: Often includes competition between players or against the game itself.

4. Interactivity: Requires active participation from players, often involving decision-making and strategy.

5. Environment: A defined setting or context in which the game takes place.

6. Outcomes: Usually has a clear end condition or way to determine winners or losers.

In a professional setting, those elements are still present but morph a little. Using the work of academics like Johan Roos, Bart Victor, Michael Schrage, etc. who have written about the power of games in solving more challenging organizational problems, you might characterize a game as having:

• Purposeful Design: The game is designed with specific objectives in mind, such as improving teamwork, fostering innovation, or addressing specific organizational challenges.

• Rules and Structure: The game operates within a defined set of rules and a structured environment that guides participants' actions and interactions.

• Simulated Reality: The game creates a simulated environment that mirrors real-world challenges and scenarios, allowing participants to experiment and learn in a controlled setting.

• Engagement and Interaction: The game encourages active participation, collaboration, and interaction among players, promoting a deeper understanding of complex issues.

• Reflection and Learning: The game provides opportunities for reflection and learning, enabling participants to draw insights and apply them to their professional roles.

We play games all the time at work. Pretending is a game. Pretending to have more rules or structure than you normally do creates a game. “Run-throughs” of a presentation are literally pretending the event is happening, but it isn’t. Similarly, time-boxing is pretending there is a deadline when there isn’t.

Games allow different scenarios to be tested - whether in a true simulated reality game or just in a tabletop exercise. We also ask ourselves questions that prompt this kind of thinking: “How would we build this if budget wasn’t a factor?”; “If we could go after any market, where would we go?”; “If you were in charge here, what decision would you make?”

And of course a game allows a structured analysis or post-mortem that might not be available or would be too complex in the real work. The learnings through a game can be just as valuable as the real-world scenario. Many strategy games and simulations we use today have their origin in the military sphere. The defense sector uses strategy games and simulations to train hundreds of thousands of their troops.

By incorporating these elements, games in a professional setting can serve as effective tools for solving challenging organizational problems, fostering innovation, and enhancing overall performance.

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STAND-UP EXERCISE

How can your product team incorporate play into their processes and solutioning? Start by auditing what you see at work - where are games already taking place? Then brainstorm how to expand that and apply it to your product team.

Projecting Expertise

In Sylvia Ann Hewlett’s book Executive Presence 2.0, she breaks down EP as an amalgam of qualities that true leaders exude, a presence that telegraphs you're in charge or deserve to be. Through extensive research and interviews with executives, she has determined that the largest component to EP is gravitas. Gravitas is how you act and affects much of how others perceive your intellect. The ability to project intellect is an important skill for product leaders who are looking to gain respect and cultivate influence. Most product managers have extensive expertise, but they might need some coaching or framing to be able to project that within their organization.

There are a couple ways in which product managers especially should be able to project expertise in their product, users, and objectives.

1. Know your stuff cold. You should know the salient details of your product strategy, user journey, stakeholder requirements, etc. by heart, being able to recount them fluently without much filler or stammering.

2. Be able to go 6 questions deep. Be able to answer questions at the root of the issue or topic - have the context necessary.

3. Read the room. That means tuning yourself out for a moment in order to tune in to the needs and wants of others. Then you can course correct on the spot to establish a connection. You want to make your audience comfortable so that when you speak, they hear you. You aren’t compromising your message, you are calibrating it.

Product managers very rarely lead by position, it is most often through influence, which is based on relationships and expertise. To garner the respect necessary to lead without given authority, product managers must be able to project their expertise and intellect to others in a convincing manner. That is a learned skill all product leaders should develop.

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STAND-UP EXERCISE

Product team members may not feel like they are experts, despite their extensive knowledge on a subject. (In fact, the well-documented Dunning-Kruger effect shows a cognitive bias exists where people with limited competence in a particular domain overestimate their abilities, and high performers in the domain tend to underestimate their skills.) Use a stand-up exercise to illustrate to team members that they do have expertise.

Ask team members if they feel like they are an expert in a domain. You’ll likely get a combo of yes and no’s. Then, ask each team member to write down five topics that they could speak on for 10 minutes without any advance preparation. You could have this be open to any topic, or attempt to narrow it to professional topics. This exercise is entertaining to see what topics team members generate (and a good get-to-know-you activity!) but also creates discussion on how easy/hard it was to compile the list. Do they feel like an expert in these domains? Would they be convincing to an audience speaking about these topics?

Hosting a Successful Meeting

Product teams host countless meetings, both in and out of the Agile ceremonies. There are workshops, brainstorming sessions, stakeholder read-outs, initiative discussions, user feedback sessions, and many more. Product leaders bring people together to share ideas and create results. Being able to host an effective meeting is a skill any product manager should be adept at.

Purpose
The most important part of a meeting is knowing why you are there. Every gathering should have a crystal-clear purpose, more than the general category of meeting. For example, “one-on-one” is not a purpose.

Effective naming of the meeting can be one way to communicate its purpose. By naming the gathering on the invitation and repeating the name in reminder emails, you create a sense of belonging before anyone enters the (virtual) room. Names can create social contracts. The best names help us understand our role at the event and help us to understand that we’re a part of something.

Even small nuances in naming are noticeable and important: Update is different than discussion; Workshop is more structured than brainstorm; Catch-up is more casual than one-on-one.

Think through your naming – how can you convey the most information, have the attendees feel not only that they belong but that they are true participants in the purpose.

Attendees
Priya Parker, in The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters, states: “Thoughtful, considered exclusion is vital to any gathering.” 

Think through who will help fulfill and forward the purpose, and who will not. Who are you inviting out of obligation? Different organizations have different cultural norms around meeting attendees - learn your organization’s unwritten (or written) rules here, but also be willing to stretch them make it work for your gathering. My current organization is a consensus organization that loves to share information, so often invites will get forwarded to additional attendees. For more structured or meaningful gatherings, it might be a good idea to turn off this feature in Outlook or put a note in the invite to not do so.

Format
The attendees should be prepared for the format of the meeting. Are you sharing materials in advance that they need to read / prepare comments on? Should they come prepared to engage or will they be mostly listening and then walking away with homework? Are multiple people hosting or presenting materials?

Think through the before, during, and after. Will you need tools like whiteboards if in person, or a prepped Miro template if virtual? Do you want to do a poll or survey during the meeting? How will you follow up on any ideas or action items after the meeting?

During the Meeting
Priya Parker is adamant to resist the urge to start your meeting with logistics or reminders. Instead launch in a way that sets the tone for the rest of your time together. If this is a team that meets often or a meeting that occurs at a regular cadence, consider creating a ritual that sets the stage. This is why radio shows and podcasts have theme songs - it alerts listeners that the content is starting and cues them to listen more attentively. (For one of my recurring meetings, this is as simple as sharing a Miro board link in the chat. As soon as I do that, the chitchat ceases and we are down to business.)

Involve participants in the meeting by asking for help. When you help contribute to something, you feel a part of it - so even though we are afraid to burden folks by asking for help, this can be beneficial for all involved. The asks can be very low stakes - ask someone to record the meeting, or share a link, or pass out sticky notes if you are in person. These micro-moments help move us toward belonging.

Throughout the meeting, promote debate and meaningful interactions. Look for a healthy tension as people discuss ideas. If you shy away from difficult topics, you might not arrive at the best solution, or let all diverse perspectives be heard. Parker says, “Good controversy can make a gathering mattering more,” and it can certainly make it more memorable.

Ending
Just as you begin intentionally, end intentionally. What can a deliberate conclusion look like? One way is to simply plan enough time for attendees to reflect on the meeting and what happened.

Part of leaving the meeting space, especially for longer gatherings or workshops, is prepping to reenter the world. Ideally you made a new space, and it will feel like a departure to leave it. So how can we connect this gathering to the day-to-day? How can a part of this event or these learnings stay with attendees? Parker states: “Part of preparing guests for reentry is helping them find a thread to connect the world of the gathering to the world outside.”

After the meeting, be sure to follow up on any action items and distribute artifacts that were created. Depending on the meeting, these actions could happen once, soon after conclusion, or multiple times over the course of days or weeks.

The only way to improve your meeting hosting / leading skills is to practice. Luckily, product teams provide many opportunities to do just that. Trainings and reflection activities can also help bolster this skill. See below for a stand-up activity that does just that.

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STAND-UP EXERCISE

In preparation, have your team review Priya Parker’s blog, or even better, read her book: The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters

Ask the team to reflect on intentional and meaningful gatherings they have been a part of, whether virtually, hybrid, or in-person. Look for similarities of these events, and what can be learned or replicated. How can they take these elements back to their own meetings?

Supporting Introverts on Product Teams

Extroversion is praised within American (and similar) society. People who speak the most, process thoughts out loud, or are very social often get a lot of attention, and it is typically positive. They often appear more confident or assertive. Extroversion can be a proxy for competency.

But it wasn’t always this way. In Susan Cain’s book “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking,” she traces the history of valuing extroversion to the changing society of the industrial revolution. American values shifted when we moved from distributed agricultural communities and migrated into larger metropolitan areas. As members of small, close-knit communities centered around farming and family, society placed value on inward traits like work ethic, integrity, and kindness. But the new industrial cities created more anonymous environments, and the ability to stand out or have your individual ideas heard became more important. Extroversion was realized as a positive trait. (Susan Cain also has an excellent TED Talk on the power of introversion.)

Introversion and extroversion may be opposites, but most people fall somewhere on the spectrum between them. The exact middle would be defined as an ambivert, a true balance of either end. Introversion or extroversion also may depend on a person’s environment or familiarity with a group.

Regardless, the goal of a product team is to empower all members of the team to actively contribute. We are also always looking for team members bringing a variety opinions and outlooks, and having a diverse team in terms of personalities is beneficial. Having introverts on the team can balance the more outspoken personalities. Introverts can also bring a level of thoughtful deliberation and depth of perspective, where extroverts may be quicker to act.

However, just having diverse personalities on the team is not enough - you must accommodate everyone’s communication styles to encourage their participation. In addition to psychological safety, there are other ways to create a more inclusive experience for all personalities, especially in our meeting-centric business environment. Generally these accommodations lead to more thorough and thoughtful discussions and decision-making.

• Collaboration Tools - I am a huge proponent of Miro, but any collaborative virtual space can do the trick if it provides real-time commenting in multiple modes. Polling during a meeting can also be helpful here.

• Collective Brainstorm prior to discussion - Many of my stand-up prompts follow a similar format of asking a question of the team, providing an opportunity to answer individually (usually through stickies on a board) and then coming back together to discuss. Even if all ideas don’t get discussed, they are usually all read, and will be recorded in meeting artifacts.

• Agendas! - Letting meeting attendees know what topics will be discussed or what decisions will be made provide those people who need a longer deliberation time to do so prior to the meeting starting.

• Asynchronous “meetings” - Beginning a dedicated discussion thread via Teams or Slack allows team members to answer once they are confident, or to decide on the correct wording before sharing.

• What else? Brainstorm more accommodations with your team through the stand-up exercise below.

And, perhaps one of the best considerations of all personalities is simply making space for them. Paying attention to the different needs and preferences of everyone - and valuing those individual differences - creates a culture of respect and acceptance within the team. That leads to better team health, and happier team members - regardless of personality.

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STAND-UP EXERCISE

Ask your team to take an introversion/extroversion quiz to see where they might fall on the scale. I had my team use this one from TED.

In our stand-up, we discussed results by polling based on the quiz result. Then, they answered the question of their own accord, placing a dot on a spectrum of where they felt they landed between extrovert and introvert both in their professional life and their personal life. Discussing how these roles flipped for folks between the two environments was very interesting.

We ended with a brainstorm and discussion prompted by the question “How can we better accommodate team members along all points on the scale in meetings / ceremonies / work streams?” The goal is to incorporate those ideas into our product team meetings.