Podcast: How to Influence Executives
For his Innovation Talks podcast, Paul Heller and I had a wide-ranging discussion about how product management influences innovation and innovating at the feature/sub-feature levels. We talked warily about the word “innovation,” what it should mean, and how product managers can turn innovation into an intentional process that produces an impactful result. We also touched on the need for product managers to sell their ideas to get the resources they need and make a logical financial argument to show how proposed ideas will benefit the company financially.
“We're an important driver of the system, but let's not get our heads too big that we can't walk through the doors of our building like everybody else.”
How product managers can influence executives
Common product management challenges and opportunities
How product innovation and leadership are connected
The benefits of pruning product backlogs
How to attach money to roadmap items
How to speak an executive’s language
The role of product managers in product waste
Discovery challenges for product managers
Product Camp origins