By Susan Loconto Penta • 13 Dec, 2021
It’s that time of year again – at least for those firms that operate on a calendar year – and by that time, I’m talking about the time for planning. And budgeting. And reflecting. And adjusting. In some ways, it is harder this year than last since in the thick of the pandemic, everything was on hold, locked down and constrained. The picture was bleak but the options were few and so that made product planning more straightforward since there were fewer variables. Now however, the situation is fluid, varying by company, industry and region, making it hard to know if 2022 plans and roadmaps should contemplate investment for innovation and growth or if the focus should reflect a more conservative, incremental mindset. I imagine many of you reading this will feel it is anyone’s guess. Regardless of where you land, I want to remind – and encourage – each of you to include as part of your process an annual review of the effectiveness and output of your product organization relative to your current product portfolio and 2022 plans. I recommend doing this annually because product is the one area in a company where teams and players need to evolve with the products through their lifecycles and this requires regular tuning. While the roles on a product team may be consistent over the life of a product, the importance, roster of tasks and type of individual/personality needed to be effective in a role will vary with time. This does not have to be a complex analysis - but it should be a complete one. My back-of-the-envelope approach goes something like this: Start by making a list of all of the people that serve in a role on a product team. Here, you want to start with your roster of resources and their associated role only. Next, identify at least one key skill strength and one key personality asset for each individual. To make this quick, easy and most importantly, objective, I like to leverage the “three words” tactic (i.e., ask yourself “What are the 3 key skill strengths that come to mind when I say this person’s name?” and then “What are the 3 key personality assets that come to mind when I try to describe this person?” You may not have 3 for everyone in each category which is just fine since 1 will suffice.) It is helpful to add the product(s) each person is associated with on this list. Next, get your product list and for each product, make note of the key roles on each product team (not individuals, but role names). Not every product will have the same set of roles – some will have more, some will have less. Then, for each product-role combination, identify both the top skill and top personality asset that are key to success in the role, for that product, in its market at this time. Now, for every product, go through a quick exercise and add your assessment of the “match” between the top skill strength/personality asset required to be successful in the role (in this market at this time) and the skill strength/personality asset of the individual in the role. This doesn’t have to be a complex rubric – you can use a basic 5 point scale here. Do not overanalyze or think too hard. Rather, let your visceral reaction provide the input. Finally, take stock of what you see, what you can learn and where adjustments can be made. Where are there mismatches? Are there patterns that can be observed in terms of more or less alignment between what is needed and what you have? You now have a rudimentary inventory of people and roles, skills and needs, as seen through a "product" vs. an HR lens (both are important). You also have a basic assessment of how well tuned your product organization is to what is needed to be successful in achieving product goals (based on your match of skills/personality assets required to be successful in each role for each product vs. what is there). Excel is your friend here as the tool for logging and analyzing since after you completed this exercise, you can use basic functions like a pivot table to yield additional, interesting insights. To make things easier, I have included a link here to the tool we developed at MIDIOR for just this purpose in our consulting engagements known as our Product-Role-Resource Tuner. And of course, if you find yourself unsure of where to begin or in need of some assistance at any point in the process, please feel to reach out to me directly . Click here to access the Product-Role-Resource Tuner.
