PM Skills: #1 Execution

A framework to help Product Managers execute efficiently

What is Execution?

My definition of execution is: “Quickly get code to ship that matters to users.”

Most companies would describe this as “Efficiently launch impactful features.” Sure. But, I prefer the trimmed-down version that unpacks what’s really going on here: someone is writing code (typically, engineers), and a whole team (designers, product managers, user researchers) behinds the scenes are working to figure out what matters to users.

Execution is all about speed, prioritization, quick decision making, and a “go make it happen” attitude.

But, why execution?

The strongest PMs I’ve worked with have an incredible product intuition, a “spidey” sense. They know what will work vs. what does not. They have a hypothesis for everything: minor tweaks like the ideal placement of a CTA on the landing page to major industry predictions like why Disney+ plus is likely to outperform Apple TV+ in the ongoing streaming wars.

I’ve found that one of the core ways for PMs to build their product intuition is to form a hypothesis, validate it quickly and learn from their users. The more launches a PM makes, the more hypotheses they’ve validated, and the more they learn on what works vs. what doesn’t. It’s a powerful feedback loop.

Strong product intuition → Develop Hypothesis → Validate Hypothesis → Learn and grow.

I find that it’s challenging to sharpen your product intuition if PMs never get anything out the door. You can apply proxy methods to validate a hypothesis: user surveys, research, usability tests, etc., but shipping features to users is the ultimate test.

Developing a solid product intuition is tightly linked to the speed at which you can validate your hypothesis, aka your execution skillset. The more “reps” you can get in, the stronger your intuition gets.

I’ve broken down the execution skillset into three different phases. I call it the MAV framework.

1. Build Motion
2. Take Action
3. Increase Velocity

Build Motion

This phase is all about investigating whether an idea has merit. Think of it as a phase where PMs are convincing themselves if this is a good idea.

Let’s take a scenario: Imagine you’re a PM on Google Maps. Your friend casually mentions that it would be cool if Maps had a feature that shows the availability of rides at Disneyland. It’s a novel product idea. What should you do?

Some questions that you probably need to start asking yourself are:

• How valuable would this feature be for our users?
• How does it fit into the overall Google Maps strategy?
• Of the hundred different things we could do, why should we do this?
• Is there a way to quickly validate your hypothesis?
• What external dependencies could this feature include?
• What would success look like?

As a Google Maps PM, your next step is to develop a strong hypothesis on why this new feature would fail or succeed based on assumptions you feel confident about.

Protip: Avoid going into the “analysis, paralysis” mode, spending countless weeks tinkering and “perfecting” your idea before sharing it with the team. Do some quick and dirty research, develop a hypothesis, and share it with your colleagues if it looks promising. The end goal is to start building momentum.

Take Action

In this phase, PMs make a case to the broader team that the idea has merit, and the team should strongly consider investing in it.

Back to Google Maps example — with a strong hypothesis in place, it’s time to tackle some of the “known” roadblocks you are likely going to encounter:

Competing perspectives

In this phase, you crystallize your hypothesis further into a doc or slide deck and share it with a small group of teammates for feedback. Your coworkers will challenge your product thinking, share counter perspectives, and provide valuable feedback. Iterate and refine your hypothesis, and then open it up to the larger team.

Approvals

Sometimes, getting approvals from leadership to work on a project can feel like a drag. However, I do appreciate is that it enforces product thinking rigor. The rationale behind every product principle and requirement is questioned to ensure that it makes sense. As a junior PM, I appreciate this process as I’m made aware of all the wrong assumptions I’ve made. I’ve noticed that the more launches I drive, the clearer my hypothesis gets, and the easier it is to get approvals. #BuildCredibility

Building a team

Every project has multiple dependencies. Most projects probably need a designer and engineer at the very least, but some larger-scale projects involve other stakeholders like marketing, finance, and legal. Identify these stakeholders early on and start working with them to build your core team. If projects are not on stakeholders’ quarterly goals, it will be tough to make progress on them during the quarter. Unless, of course, you can use some of those ‘influence without authority’ skills to convince people to do things for you.

Increase Velocity

This phase is all about pushing ideas with merit to the finish line. I’ve found that projects are at a standstill until a PM prioritizes them, pushes them through, and gets the ball rolling.

I find this to be the messiest and most unpredictable phase of the project. It’s where you encounter “unknown blockers” like harder than expected technical work or a new user flow to tackle corner cases that can add multiple weeks to the project.

So far, I’ve found three ways to accelerate a project’s momentum:

Avoid Scope Creep

“Focus is about saying no” goes the famous Steve Jobs quote. Product Managers who say “no” a lot are the ones that get the most done. Although it’s painful to say “no” to your teammates, managers, it’s also one of the most common ways to delay your project by days, weeks, or even months.

I’ve come to firmly believe that having ruthless prioritization skills as a PM is underrated. Be vigilant when you say “yes” vs. “no.” The clear set of principles and requirements outlined earlier play a vital role here. If one of the core uses cases is being severely affected, you want to be the first one to delay the project by multiple weeks. If not, don’t let ‘perfect’ be the enemy of ‘good enough.’

I’ve always been surprised at how seamlessly scope creep occurs in my projects. It’s difficult to avoid, so be extremely cautious!

Unblock ASAP

There are times when ‘PM approval or input’ is needed before a project can move forward. For example, designers share mocks for feedback, or engineers share demo links before shipping code to production.

Providing high-quality feedback or catching mission-critical bugs quickly is crucial to ensure the project stays on track. But does that mean we drop everything we are doing to unblock the team when they need our help? Maybe.

I follow the ‘2-minute rule’: If it takes less than 2 minutes to do, I’ll unblock the team right away. If not, I’ll address it in my ‘unblocking hour’ at the end of every workday. It’s an effective strategy as it ensures I get to every request within 24 hours.

Ninja mode

PMs shouldn’t be overly dependent on their stakeholders to get things done. I’d advocate learning the fundamental skills of a designer, engineer, data analyst, marketing, and user researcher to be more efficient at work. There’s a triple advantage to this:

1. You understand your teammate’s role better and develop admiration for the work they produce. You also connect with them on a deeper level by using the same domain-specific vocabulary.
2. It also helps in providing valuable feedback when asked for input. Sometimes, you can spur innovation by effectively brainstorming different ideas together.
3. Most importantly, if the team has low bandwidth, you can jump in and actually get the work done to hit the deadlines. It won’t be as good, but it’ll be decent enough to get the ball rolling.

How does this all help?

After developing this methodology and using it for the past few months, I’ve found an uptick in my efficiency levels. It’s helped me ship smaller projects while continuously making progress on the larger strategic projects. I can easily visualize which phase each of my projects is in, which helps with estimating my bandwidth, allowing me to reprioritize or sign up for new projects appropriately.

Lastly, I hope the framework and tips help you organize your project portfolio further and make you as efficient a PM you can be! :)