With the rising need for collaboration and ownership, Proctor & Gamble kicked off the Product Management role in 1931. The Product Manager role has evolved organically over the past decades while the world’s business runs in a digital-first economy. According to Linkedin, whether they are the FANG conglomerates through to unicorns and startups, the Product Manager role has scored the highest number of vacancies.
Necessity is the mother of all inventions
Warping to the year 2020, almost every team on the planet had to switch over to the “remote” way of working while umpteen livelihoods were affected, owing to only the worst pandemic the world has ever witnessed. While everyone was still coming to sorts with the new work schedule, Product Managers faced an uphill task to adapt to this new environment. They have to handle communication, keep the team in sync with the plan and deliver on the commitments. As a Product Manager myself, I faced plenty of challenges until I created a system and structure that would work for me and help my team stay on track.
The top three challenges that I faced were (in no particular order)
- Communication
- Transparency
- Trust
So, here are my top three tips to working remotely effectively that have given me the apparatus to fight against the three obstacles of Communication, Transparency and Trust. I may be sharing these tips with a bias of being a Product Manager, but these may apply to anybody who wants to shine in this remote way of working making.
1. Effective Communication via Notes
When spontaneous in-person meetings are not an option, I made sure that every meeting is on the calendar and the agenda notes for the meeting are shared at least a day in advance. Having a schedule with a plan allows the team members can come with an apt mindset avoiding any digression from the goal of the meeting.
I use the Cynefin framework to keep a sense of what is happening, while personal kanban helps me organize my tasks more systematically. You can read about my experience with Cynefin and personal kanban in my blog post “Cynefin Framework: How it helped me to become a better manager“.
Taking notes is one of the things I generally used to do when working in co-location. Still, I had to add more sense to the notes by posting them on a common platform where anybody can view the content and make changes if necessary. Therefore, the notes shall also contain crisply worded action items assigned to the respective owner along with a proposed ETA.
2. Offering transparency and trust
When working remotely, the biggest challenge for a team could be to develop mistrust as people cannot have that 5-10mins quick conversation to discuss an issue or doubt during a small coffee break or by simply walking up to their desk. To tackle this challenge, I always planned feature discussion calls with the participants. It is ideal for the Product Manager to share an overview of “what”, “why”, and “how” about the plan and inviting team inputs before kicking off the production.
Secondly, once team members agree on something, it is essential to document the discussion points in the notes and why everybody reached those decisions. I generally use either Confluence or posts on slack such that anybody can edit or share comments on the notes I prepared. In addition, the data could help share the reasoning behind the execution of the current plan when stakeholders raise a question. Consequently, building trust between the team and management via transparency.
3. Building friendships with colleagues
Last but not least, the best way to have a co-cordial working relationship is to build personal bonds with each member of your team. I am a big believer in “Friendship never goes out of fashion”, and I stood by this mantra during our work from home routine. Unfortunately, some people joined the team amidst the pandemic, and I did not have any facetime with them as I had with the other colleagues. But this did not stop me from making random personal conversations with them and gradually establishing a rapport with each one.
The best way to start a conversation is to discuss your experience or any interest you may or may not share. For example, if people are coming on to cameras, a good conversation brewer could be their surroundings. I once started a conversation with just a bookshelf in the background and moving into discussing our childhood experiences. In the end, it is mutual respect and trust that will only help a Product Manager have that respect from their team. It ultimately leads to smoother operation while working remotely.
If there is trust, we will be transparent, and our communication will be meaningful.
Joseph Jude
I have been very vocal about building psychological safety around your teams and recently talked about the same. I will be sharing more about the talk in my next blog post, but for the time being, you may want to follow up reading my initial blog post on the same topic, “Psychological Safety for Teams in VUCA & How To Establish It With Your Team“‘
Conclusion
- The remote way of working will always be brutal when it comes to communication; how well you and your team structure the communication channels will be the differentiator if you face communication warfare or use communication as an art of war.
- Having clarity on the expectations and outcomes is of utmost significance. It becomes the gravitational pull that your team needs to keep the focus.
- Everything ultimately boils down to how much trust and mutual respect your team members have for each other. It makes communication much smoother if you know that your colleague will only do what is best for the team and not just yourself.
