Who are the 12 product people that stepped up to form the Product Management Manifesto working group? Meet Ashok!
Each week we’re introducing you to a new working group member with Q&A on their perspective on why a manifesto is so critical today.
This week’s spotlight is on Ashok Bania, Product Advisor at Expectful and former Director of Product at Warner Media. Find out his thoughts on:
How product management has evolved
Key challenges that a manifesto must address
Why do we need a manifesto now
What’s motivating his journey as the team kicks off
What drew you to this Product Management Manifesto and working group?
Product Management, as a field, is often misconstrued; let alone the number of articles and information that create more noise than signal. In the midst of this chaos, PMs (whether a new PM, founder CEO acting as a PM, or established Product Leader) need a few principles and tenets that guide them day to day and motivate them from within.
Principles aren’t axioms; nor are they rules imposed by any governing body. They guide our thinking and shape our behavior at that moment in time; which means they need to be tested over time and over many situations. I am grateful to play a role in identifying these principles along with the best-in-class PMs of the world. I feel privileged and humbled to join this group.
How have you personally seen the Product Management role evolve in your career?
Over the years as I grew from an individual contributor to a leader, the most drastic evolution was the shift from a problem solver to a problem identifier. In my early days, I spent a lot of time figuring out the best and differentiated solution to a problem that my team faced. However, as I started owning more scope, I realized how these sets of coherent actions (problem and solutions, planning, etc.) and decisions (trade-offs, etc) affect the whole product and business.
Another shift I noticed is in startups where PMs have more responsibilities than just product - project management, UX research, data analysis are some of the functions that PMs own more often nowadays. This is possible because of the ecosystem of products and services that have evolved lately such as low code/no-code data analysis tools etc. that empowers the PM to take on such functional responsibilities before the team scales.
What is one major challenge you see product people grapple with frequently that our principles should address?
The biggest challenge is to identify opportunities and prioritize. PMs (like most humans) are great at solving problems and executing a roadmap; however, the best of PMs, at some point in their career, found themselves stuck with problems that aren’t severe, already have solutions, or sometimes two equally compelling problems at the surface of it. I think a set of principles that helps them not just identify problems but also prioritize them would be of immense help to the community. These principles have to go beyond the obvious “impact/effort” rubric we generally follow.
What are some of the reasons you feel a manifesto specific to Product Management is needed now?
We have access to all forms of content and knowledge due to the ever-expanding universe of streaming, online classes, or even blog posts. There are two problems that occur mostly - (a) floodgates of ideas - difficulty to pick one framework that works (b) misinformation - sometimes ideas and frameworks are half baked and not “stress-tested” against the full gamut of scenarios (what works at Spotify may not work at Lyft). I think this problem will continue to exacerbate with every new cohort of Product Managers. The time is now - we need a north star and set of principles that can help us cut through this chaos.
In what ways do the Agile Manifesto for Software Development and/or other existing frameworks fall short for Product Management?
The Agile Manifesto talks about execution primarily for technical development teams. But there are a lot of products that are either physical or sometimes even experiential. A few principles from the Agile Manifesto such as“Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.” fall flat in non-software environments ( e.g. . hardware). One can argue that some of the other principles can be appropriated for all types of product development. However, it doesn’t provide any framework for opportunity identification and strategy - processes that are very crucial to a product teams’ execution.
We’re in a critical moment for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I). In what ways do you hope to see greater DE&I reflected in the work and contribution of product people?
I see the Internet and Software industry as the new gold rush - opportunities are rife and winners mostly take all. This is great - who doesn’t like innovation! However, this also creates a lot of inequality as the “opportunity grabbers” have predetermined conditions and antecedents such as race, gender, sexual orientation, and nationality. This is the single biggest reason for inequality that followed the gold and oil rush in the US.
In my observation, willingness trumps ability - I have personally seen numerous examples of individuals without ivy league degrees, without data science or engineering backgrounds flourish and prosper to be great Product Managers. Nothing can substitute experience, perspectives, and drive.
I hope to see Product Leaders hire PMs beyond the stereotypical profiles that are rife in Silicon Valley. We need to take risks and give people more chances - we need to break the cycle.
Being an introvert, I have always found energy and comfort in listening, observing and understanding. In a way, all of us are social to a varying degree - we all want to connect. The best way for me to connect to people at scale is understanding the circumstances in which they find themselves needing a solution - a product, the trade-offs they make and the dreams they dream - of becoming the best version of themselves. When I work on a product (more specifically in the early stages), I feel this connection daily through user research, ethnographic studies. Perhaps it fulfills my unmet desire to become an anthropologist.
-Ashok Bania