Epic Outcomes | Coaching & Consulting

The best product managers make tough decisions easy for themselves and others to make and to understand, every day. Ben Horowitz touches on this in his classic post, and Hemal Shah makes a little more of it, but I see this skill as a true superpower that defines the best from the rest.

I don’t mean to say decision making isn’t part of the Product Manager job; it definitely is (or should be). Once your team and product are humming along through the development cycle, many day-to-day product decisions are yours. But when you’re part of a big company, and when big decisions you make affect others — which is almost always — you’ve got to be able to bring people along with you. You’ve got to communicate decisions in a way that ensures your colleagues understand them. You’ll also need your boss, or your boss’s boss, to make some big decisions along the way. Maybe you’re choosing a third party vendor to power that next product feature, and you need your boss to agree to a larger price tag than expected. Maybe you need another three full-time employees, and need your boss to see how essential this is, despite your tight budget.

When these decisions are in the spirit of getting the best outcome for your product, it’s on you to simplify the process of making and/or understanding them so that they don’t become obstacles that reduce the chances of your product being a success. You need to be able to walk into your boss’s office, present a few options, point out THE option, have her go, “Of course!” and then be in a position to take action on it that day. You’ve got to keep your product moving ahead.

I know what you’re saying. *You* try convincing my boss, Jen! Hey, I get it. I used to get caught in exhausting powerpoint spins, and meeting after meeting, trying get my boss and multiple others to make a decision that I believed was the best choice. This is how I came to realize how making other people’s decisions easy is a superpower, and I made cracking the code on how to do it a priority.

Sometimes, you’re going to have people who are especially challenging to convince. But if you use as many of these tricks as you can, you’ll dramatically increase the odds that you’ll get everyone’s heads nodding:

• Show you’ve listened. Have you heard other ideas for how to move forward? Be prepared to reference those. If you do, it’ll show you’ve listened, and it’ll make the process easier. If you’re trying to convince your boss, for example, that making the checkout process easier in your app is a priority, but you know she thinks your next focus should be on “My Account,” let her know you’re aware of her perspective (and be prepared to address objections).
• Show you’ve done your homework. Do your due diligence in advance. Consider all the options, and all the pros and cons from the perspective of everyone who will be impacted, so you’re prepared to address concerns on the spot.
• But keep it short. There’s never a lot of time. Maybe you have three minutes with whomever you need to convince. You need to get to the punchline, fast. A formula that’s worked for me in the past is SCQA: 1) Hit on the situation, 2) Mention any complications, 3) Ask the key question needing a decision, and 4) Provide the answer. THEN you can get into why this is the best choice). For example: Registrations for our service are steeply declining, and this is severely impacting revenue. [New direct competitor] is rapidly growing market share. What can we do to meet our financial goals for the year? Pivot our service to focus on delivering [new, researched value proposition for customer]. And here’s why this is the best choice.
• Be transparent about your criteria (if asked). How did you arrive at your recommendation or decision? What criteria did you use and why?
• If you don’t have criteria, try this: Put all possible options in a 2×2. Figure out what the X and Y axis need to be in order to get you the best options in the upper right quadrant. (There are myriad options: Maybe it’s cost and benefit, maybe it’s benefit and ease of implementation).
• Have three options prepped, but make sure one stands out as the winner.
• Show the impact this decision will make. This might be the most important part. It’s on the minds of everyone you need to convince; these are the things that make the decision so challenging. What is going to break as a result of this decision? What is being traded off? Share what you know. Do the homework for everyone else.
• Timing is everything. This one is tough, because you can’t always control when your opportunity is to help someone else make a decision. But if he’s had back to back meetings all day and looks like he’s been run over with a bulldozer, it may not be reasonable to expect a quick decision today. Still, as product manager, you need to be proactive to ensure you get the outcomes for which you’re accountable. It’s what everyone at your company wants. So, keep on it!

By Jen Handler, Lean & Agile Product Management expert

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com on July 19, 2017.