How to Keep Product Managers from Going Extinct: Thoughts on Marty Cagan’s Transformed
In his recent book Transformed, Marty Cagan believes that product management can be at the center of business transformation, which here means the process of becoming a better, more innovative, and therefore more successful company. I agree, but not for the reasons Marty outlines.
First, I hate the word “transformation.” Here’s what I think of when I hear “transformation.”
Cagan doesn't use transformation in the sense of cute kids becoming their favorite car. He’s not that specific. The kids know what they want to become; in product management, that’s not always the case, and that’s why we all might become extinct.
Faced with pressures from competing stakeholders (vs. customers), operational issues like technical debt, and in some cases, outright elimination from the company structure, product management is wrestling with issues of change and relevancy.
The solution, argues Cagan, is adoption of his Product Operating Model to transform an entire organization into a more perfect version of itself. Assisted by his Silicon Valley Product Group colleagues, Cagan defines the product operating model and how it has transformed companies with “truly impressive case studies of product innovation”, and as a result, have achieved record growth and increased value.
While I agree with his overall thesis, Cagan’s approach is best left between the covers of the hardcover copy on my desk. Here’s why.
The Product Operating Model
Cagan rightly describes the POM as a “conceptual model based on a strong set of first principles that strong companies believe to be true.” Those using this model are “consistently creating technology powered solutions that your customers love, yet work for your business.”
Fair enough.
Those embarking on a transformation towards adopting the POM are motivated by competition, frustration that their technology efforts aren’t creating much value, or shifting customer expectations.
CEO involvement early and often in the transformation effort is vital to transformation success.
Knock me over with a feather — of course the CEO needs to be on board!
While Cagan maintains CEO commitment is a prerequisite for transformation, readers would be better suited to learn more about exactly how to recruit their CEO to becoming “the chief evangelist for the product model.”
Cagan’s attitude toward CEO involvement reminds me of the old Steve Martin joke about how to become a millionaire and never pay taxes:
A little more detail on how to get a million dollars or CEO buy-in would be helpful. Cagan is a product leadership coach, after all. How about some coaching, coach?
Five Pushbacks on Transformed
First Principles
Specific principles underpin each of his five product concepts (Product Teams, Product Strategy, Product Discovery, Product Delivery and Product Culture).
Principles for product teams, for example, are:
Being Empowered with problems to solve
Outcomes over Output
Sense of Ownership
Collaboration
2. Towards One First Principle
Lots of first principles are a mistake. Better to have one first principle. Otherwise, your principles are bound to come into conflict with each other and end up not meaning much.
Here’s an example. Say one of your first principles is “growth mindset” and another one is “customer focus,” and you have an opportunity to grow your business by selling customer data. What do you do? Whatever you choose, you'll end up putting one of your first principles second. The best possible outcome in that scenario is that you’ll cause a lot of dissonance in your organization. We can't have more than one best friend. We shouldn't try to have more than one first principle.
With a successful business transformation, principle drives behavior, not processes or checklists. If principles are going to drive behavior, they have to be memorable. Jesus changed the world with a simple but widely misunderstood first principle — “Love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” That principle can drive a lot of behavior. Your first principle should drive a lot of your behavior, too.
I’ll show you.
3. A Different Take on First Principles
At Fortune’s Path, our first principle is “Improve the things we can control, and accept the things we can’t.” This helps us focus our resources, which is critical in a very specialized product consultancy like ours. We don’t worry about things we can't do much about. Our first principle helps us direct our energy to where it will do the most good. It gives us confidence and clarity. It also forces us to have conversations about whether we’re ignoring things we can improve or wasting energy on things we can’t.
The first principle is “Improve the things we can control, and accept the things we can’t.” This helps us focus our resources, which is critical in a very specialized product consultancy like ours. We don’t worry about things we can't do much about. Our first principle helps us direct our energy to where it will do the most good. It gives us confidence and clarity. It also forces us to have conversations about whether we’re ignoring things we can improve or wasting energy on things we can’t.
Maybe your first principle is “Value to shareholders.” That means everybody flies coach. No corporate jets. No sales celebrations in the Bahamas. No offices — they're not worth the money. Every decision is about maximizing your dividend, your share price, or both. All decisions should be made with a time horizon of between ten months and two years, since those are the average holding times of individual stocks and mutual funds. I hate this first principle, but if you espouse it, you'd better live it, and not use it as an excuse to pay yourself a lot.
“Create product based solutions” is a great first principle. If you embrace this, you need a vision for having no support team, no implementations, and ultimately no sales. All those functions can be done well through a great product. AI makes this more possible than ever.
4. Transformed as a Product
If I were to judge Marty’s product management skills by his book, he’d come up pretty short. It’s not very well edited, and it’s not easy to find inspiration or tools you need when you need them. It's even printed on poor paper.
Marty deserves a better editor. I counted 41 times when a paragraph begins with some version of “It’s important…”. That works out to once every 8 pages. Simple, declarative sentences make for more fluid reading, and their structure should enable the reader to sit up and take notice without the crutch of “It’s important to…”.
Example:
“It is also important to emphasize that many companies may not yet have …”
How about this instead?
“Many companies don’t have…”
Business books are meant to be skimmed, and Cagan has organized his book with plenty of H1s, 2s and 3s, and ample repetition, but it’s not easy to skim. The book looks like it was designed by a squirrel on meth. “We have italics! We have boldface! Typeface hoedown!” All that variety does not lead to readability. The reader has a hard time knowing where to go next.
The book is fit for use, though, and fit for use is one definition of a good product. Marty’s book does accomplish one modest goal: it looks good on a shelf.
5. Not Every Tech Center Should Be Silicon Valley
Tech jobs here in Nashville and Middle Tennessee are projected to grow 18% through 2027. We’re not alone: Orlando’s tech jobs are expected to grow 27% by 2030, which is on par with what Silicon Valley reports as its tech job growth over the last decade. Even stodgy old Missouri is seeing growth rates of 12% for “IT subindustries”.
Nashville's product management culture doesn't look like Silicon Valley’s as described in Transformed. But should it? Tech centers like Austin and Boston have done well. Do product managers and product leaders there have to parody Silicon Valley to succeed?
“Culture eats strategy for lunch,” as the saying goes. Nashville, Boston, Austin, and everywhere else that’s not Silicon Valley have cultures different from the culture of Silicon Valley. Emerging tech centers like Nashville can come at product management in their own way. Those of us in Nashville work in a town where many don’t even know what product management means, much less how to use it to “transform” a company into an innovation delivery machine. But we still manage to innovate and create great products.
Transformation seekers outside Silicon Valley may not find much value in Cagan’s parochial vision.
It’s Product, Not Project Management
In the midst of the discussion around business transformation, product management often gets confused with project management — which Cagan wisely calls out, and I’m glad he does.
It’s a downhill strategy and a sure path to the elimination of the product management function.
Here’s why that happens:
Product management is hard. When you’re a bad product manager, it’s easy to become an OK project manager. You schedule meetings, create work items, track work item progress, plan sprints, and do lots of other things no one else wants to do. You might not be good at project management, but you have something to keep you busy, and other people can see what you do, and that creates a kind of security.
Most organizations don't know what product management’s role is. Product managers have to fight to define their role. Many product managers are not up to the task.
Most organizations don’t recognize thinking as work. Thinking is difficult to measure. Its connection to productivity metrics is obvious. But without it, you can’t practice product management. The mantra “you get what you measure” applies here. When you measure activity, deadlines, throughput, etc., you get lots of activity, little analysis, and probably no innovation. Product management leaders need to fight for their teams to have time to think. Become a great product leadership coach. Make your team practice thinking, then give them feedback on their thinking.
The Power of Small Changes, Implemented Consistently
Transformation gets a bad name for lots of good reasons. The best reason might be that transformation feels impossible. But it’s not.
My life used to be focused on drinking. (Like, laser focused on drinking.) When I came into recovery, my peers suggested a brilliant strategy for making something that seemed impossible — give up drinking — possible. “Don’t think about giving up drinking for the rest of your life. Give up one drink, the first one, for one day, today.” Changing my focus from “I have to give up all drinking forever,” to “I have ™ give up one drink today,” transformed an impossible task into a simple one.
You can quit (almost) any bad habit or start any good habit with one-day-at-a-time discipline. You can write a book, create a new product, get a critical market insight, quit smoking, lose weight, build strength, or save your marriage, all with one-day-at-a-time discipline. If you put $3 a day into an investment account that grows 7% a year, at the end of ten years you’ll have about $17,000. In 20 years, you’ll have over $52,000. That’s the power of compounding habits, baby!
Towards Real World Transformation
I do love some of Marty’s thinking — his section on product competencies, as well as his belief in adopting a customer-centric product vision — is really helpful and spot on. But for the majority of us toiling in product, it’s a bit too idealistic.
Real transformation, like giving up drinking, or changing the way you practice product management, requires you to hit bottom. You have to become sick and tired of being sick and tired. An attitude of “we’re pretty good now, but we could be better,” won’t cut it. Cagan addresses the willingness issue somewhat in his section on Overcoming Objections, but what pulls organizations out of denial and makes them willing to change requires a living example of what the new, better life looks like. You need a product leadership coach, someone who walks the walk. Glossy news releases, public financials, and case studies don't won't cut it. Mentors in business like these are hard to find. In recovery we call them sponsors. They're available in business, but they’re rare.
Finally, the organization needs to go to any lengths to be transformed. It’s a big commitment, but you don't do the work all at once. Small changes, made one day at a time, over months and years, will make you a completely new company.
Practical Suggestions for Business Transformation
Marty gets wrapped up in the product transformation process. I believe in principles before processes. Practical outcomes are what matter.
Here’s a real world checklist for transforming your company or your career, one day at a time.
When you get up, write a list of three things you want to get done that day. Make sure those three things are about the good you want to create in the world, and not what you hope to get from the world.
Throughout the day, ask yourself, “How does what I’m doing benefit someone else?” If it doesn't benefit another person, stop doing it.
Have a real, honest and open conversation with a customer every day. Don't sell anything. Get to know them as a person. Learn everything you can about their work. Pay special attention to what they do when they’re not using your product.
At the end of the day, review your list. Did you get your three things done? Did they help? Do you owe an apology? Is there something you need to discuss with another person?
If you keep yourself accountable, talk to customers, and focus on creating value for them, you’ll get rich in every sense of that word.
Let Fortune’s Path Help.
If you do find yourself transfixed by Transformed, or if you want to improve your product development process, you might want to start with your product team.
Our three month product coaching program, designed for product leaders, teams, and product driven organizations, connects you with an experienced product mentor to coach you towards measurable progress on your OKRs/KPIs, helps you grow in confidence, and ensures you provide additional value to your organization.
Start your coaching journey with our self-guided workbook: Fortune’s Path: 12 Steps to Manage Your Most Important Product - You. Exercises in the workbook are based on the principles of 12-step recovery movements and the professional discipline of product management. Use them to examine yourself, other people, and your organization, and see how to improve your relationships with all three.