Product Leadership
Verify you have product leadership
Like other forms of leadership, the essence of product leadership is simply the ability to:
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Understand 'here', communicate it at high to low levels to different audiences using different mediums.
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Define a vision of 'there'
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Understand how to get from here to there
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Communicate how to get from here to there
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Execute
If you find, after investigation, that product leadership isn’t in your organization, you need to understand why and how to remedy it.
It’s essential that your organization has competent leaders that actually value understanding the product.
Define product leadership as a responsibility, not a role
Product Owner, Product Manager - these are just titles that some practitioners assert must be full-time roles. That is dogmatic nonsense - what’s actually important is the responsibility of product leadership.
It’s perfectly possible for product leadership to be covered without a dedicated full time PO/PM role, or for it to be covered by multiple people (if they collaborate effectively).
The arrangements that work for any particular circumstance depend on variables including, but not limited to:
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The business/technology domain expertise you have at your disposal.
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The people you have at your disposal (character, expertise, success).
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The maturity of your product.
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What it is you’re trying to achieve next.