Product Management Challenges in Small Sized Companies

Based on my own experience of doing product management for a small sized company over the last couple of years, I feel there are some distinct challenges this type of set up offers. Listed below are top 3 challenges I have come across:

• Balancing short term wins vs long term product goals: When you are working for a small sized company which typically is trying to make a mark in the market in terms of getting new customers, renewals and up-sells, there is lot of push to include features what will make a certain customer happy. While that is a perfectly fair thing to expect from product, the problem arises when there are plenty of such requests bombarded at you putting at risk a well thought out plan. What I have found is as Product Managers we tend to react first to this pressure by assuming how can all of this be part of deliverable's and that product cannot respond to numerous custom requests. But if you talk to your customer management team, you are going to find out that not all are of same priority or urgency. You will also find that some of the needs coming from different sources can actually be weaved together into a common offering. So by finding what is really "urgent" vs "what can wait for 'x' amount of time" will help you balance the deliveries with short term and planned features.
• Handling anxiety of CXO team: In a smaller sized company, typically many people play many roles. The top exec team is meeting with many customers day in and day out. While they keep sending their inputs of customer requests and what is not working well in product, as product manager you have to carefully make a note of every feedback and then smartly plug those items into the road-map. When you do so, it is absolutely important for you to provide a good view of same to the Exec team. How would they get the confidence that product is being in the right direction? How would they know that right features are being developed? Lastly, how would they get an assurance on customer satisfaction from what got delivered?

So how to handle this --

1. Well first of all the communication channel needs to be very very strong. I may go to the extent of saying that even over communication to the Exec Team is not a bad idea. They will tell you if you over do it :).
2. Beside this there are many small quick wins which need not wait for a proper road-map discussion / priority. Always keep some bandwidth for pushing small strategic features out of the gate on the earliest possibility. That just provides delight and saves you energy to manage smaller items.
3. Pay attention to their feedback with an open mind. As product managers working day in and day out when you are living-breathing your product, there is a tendency to get carried away with the feeling of "knowing best for the product". You may feel some of the requests are just random and sent in a "momentary" fashion. What I have learnt is that one need to respect these inputs. Remember that somebody important from customer side is talking to your top execs and it really matters for success at customer side. This feedback is like something you won't get otherwise easily. So work on this feedback, thrash it out more and then figure out which way it will go.
4. Keeping the momentum going: One of the key responsibilities of product manager is to always maintain a "healthy backlog" which is a challenge in itself. Keeping a watch for right features and grooming your backlog regularly is of utmost importance. Don't miss out on those "backlog grooming" sessions with key stakeholders. It serves two purpose -- Keeps your backlog relevant and stakeholders involved. Keep strong alliance with your sales and customer success teams. They are your best internal sources for knowing what is "most needed" by customers. Similarly have a healthy pool of your product community aka power users to get direct feedback as well. On the other side of spectrum don't miss out to provide continuous feedback to your development team. These days with Agile development designated ceremonies like 'Sprint Review' help provide a forum for same. But go a step beyond and also share "customer feedback" with team. Share the laurels, talk through failures.

I hope these points resonate with your own experiences!