Empowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products

by Marty Cagan

Motivation is low, sense of ownership is minimal, and innovation is rare.

In my experience, it's not that these companies don't want to transform, it's that transforming is hard, and they just don't know how. Or even what it really means to transform. What they need is to move to empowered product teams.

you are largely wasting the talents and capabilities of the people you have hired, and your best people—the ones you desperately need to survive and thrive—will likely leave

culture is extremely important, but there is something about great product companies that is more fundamental.

It comes down to the views they have on the role of technology, the purpose of the people who work on the technology, and how they expect these people to work together to solve problems.

One surprising common thread among many of the best product companies is the legendary coach, Bill Campbell.

Leadership is about recognizing that there's a greatness in everyone, and your job is to create an environment where that greatness can emerge.

At the core, I see three critically important differences between the strongest product companies and the rest: The first is how the company views the role of technology. The second is the role their product leaders play. The third is how the company views the purpose of the product teams—the product managers, product designers, and engineers.

in strong product companies, technology is not an expense, it is the business. Technology enables and powers the products and services we provide to our customers. Technology allows us to solve problems for our customers in ways that are just now possible.

in strong product companies, the purpose of the product team is to serve customers by creating products customers love, yet work for the business.

in strong product companies, the product leaders are among the most impactful leaders in the company.

In the empowered product team model, the product manager has a clear responsibility, which is to ensure that the solutions are valuable (our customers will buy the product and/or choose to use it), and viable (it will meet the needs of the business).

Marc Andreessen published what I consider one of the most important essays of our time, “Why Software Is Eating the World.”

Overall, we look to leadership for inspiration and we look to management for execution.

The purpose of strong leadership is to inspire and motivate the organization.

Some companies refer to the product vision as their “North Star”

You always know how your piece contributes to the more meaningful whole.

The principles reflect the values of the organization, and also some strategic decisions that help the teams make the right decisions when faced with difficult trade‐offs.

Team Topology The “team topology” refers to how we break up the work among different product teams to best enable them to do great work.

Product Evangelism Another critical role of leaders is communicating the product vision, principles, and product strategy—both to the internal product organization, and also across the company more broadly.

John Doerr, the famous venture capitalist, likes to explain that “We need teams of missionaries, not teams of mercenaries.”

Coaching Probably the single most important, yet most often overlooked, element to capable management is coaching. At the very minimum, this involves a weekly 1:1 with the people who report to you as their people manager.

every member of a product team deserves to have someone who is committed to helping them get better at their craft.

Team Objectives The third responsibility of the people managers is to ensure that each product team has one or two clear objectives they have been assigned (typically quarterly) which spell out the problems they are being asked to solve.

This is also where empowerment becomes real and not just a buzzword. The team is given a small number of significant problems to solve (the team objectives).

The team considers the problems and proposes clear measures of success (the key results), which they then discuss with their managers.

trust.

strong companies have different views on how to leverage their talent in order to help their ordinary people reach their true potential and create, together, extraordinary products.

Coaching is no longer a specialty; you cannot be a good manager without being a good coach. —Bill Campbell

Coaching is what turns ordinary people into extraordinary product teams.

More than anything, good coaching is an ongoing dialog, with the goal of helping the employee to reach her potential.

The Coaching Mindset Coaching might be even more essential than mentoring to our careers and our teams. Whereas mentors dole out words of wisdom, coaches roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty. They don't just believe in our potential; they get in the arena to help us realize our potential. They hold up a mirror so we can see our blind spots and they hold us accountable for working through our sore spots. They take responsibility for making us better without taking credit for our accomplishments. —Bill Campbell

Developing People Is Job #1

You should measure your own job performance on the successes of your team members, even more than the success of your products.

Empowering means creating an environment where your people can own outcomes and not just tasks. This doesn't mean less management—it means better management.

You must step back to create this space, while stepping in to remove impediments, clarify context, and provide guidance.

Most good managers have a healthy level of humility and are always exploring and working to improve their own performance and growth.

Seek Out Teaching Moments Many, if not most, people are not aware of their own potential. As a coach, you are in a unique position to help them see it.

always looking for opportunities that encourage your people to stretch beyond their comfort zone.

Continually Earn the Trust of Your Team None of your coaching efforts will be effective without trust.

it's important that you support your team both privately and publicly. Even more important is being honest with them in both praise and criticism.

Always remember to praise publicly but criticize privately.

you can help establish personal rapport and trust by sharing some of your own personal challenges.

Trust also comes from expressing a genuine interest in the person as a person, and not ...

Expectations vs. Current Capability The first rating is an assessment of where the employee needs to be in this skill (i.e., expectations rating), and the second rating is an assessment of where the employee currently performs on this scale (i.e., her capability). I typically rate these on a 1–10 scale, with 10 being a skill that is absolutely essential to the job.

The way I phrase this with the employee is that I will make every effort to prepare the employee for promotion, and then I will advocate for that promotion, but I can't always guarantee if and when that promotion will happen.

I also encourage PMs to take a presentation skills class where your presentations are video recorded and you are provided professional critiques. I've personally taken this class twice over my career and consider it invaluable.

for the PM, leadership must be earned. It does not come with the title.

I encourage all product managers to become lifelong students of leadership.

The real indicators of successful product marketing are market adoption and momentum.