463: Building a great team to build great products – with Vidya Dinamani

The key ingredients of a successful product management team Today we are talking about how to build a great product team that in turn will build great products customers love. Joining us is a returning guest, Vidya Dinamani. She’s a product executive, advisor, and coach. She has over 20 years of experience in product management, including multiple executive roles at leading companies such as Intuit. Vidya founded Product Rebels, which teaches people hands-on ways to become stronger, customer-focused product managers. She’s coached hundreds of companies from startups to Fortune 50 and loves seeing people and teams transform when they understand how to build products that customers love.   Summary of some concepts discussed for product managers [4:07] What are the characteristics of a good product team that is able to create great products for customers? There are three essential characteristics. First is having a customer mindset. Great product teams all understand the customer. This requires top-down support and leadership to create a culture that values and prioritizes customer-centricity. The second characteristic is an outcome focus. It’s important for product teams to prioritize delivering customer value and focus on outcomes rather than just outputs. Outcome-driven metrics like Net Promoter Score (NPS) can help drive behavior and guide decision-making to move the needle. The third characteristic is alignment. Alignment is the ability the understand the work the product team is doing in support of the business and product strategy. Great products teams are not just focused on the how; they also understand the what and the why. This alignment sets up the team for creativity, innovation, and a shared understanding of goals among team members. [16:05] What practical tips can product managers use to build a better product team? First, we need to assess the team’s mindset, competencies, and resources to identify any gaps and areas for improvement. For example, often the product team doesn’t have access to customer data, and that lack of resources is stopping the team from being a great product team. This evaluation helps us understand where we are currently strong and what steps we can take to enhance our team. Pick one area and dedicate resources and time to improving that one area. A bonus for building a team is to think about the end-to-end experience. Great product managers should consider all the connective tissue and all the points. Everyone thinks about the end-to-end experience—not just the immediate team of developers and designers, but also the support system, including customer support, marketing, and sales teams. When we as a product team makes changes, it’s important to involve a group of people who can think about the end-to-end experience. Great product teams and customer-centered organizations naturally prioritize the end-to-end perspective [25:17] Who should be part of a product team and what roles should they have? The textbook core is the triad: the product manager, the designer, and the developer. This is often the ideal setup for SaaS and technical products, but let’s not forget that every industry is different, and it’s crucial to consider your goals and your customers. In my experience, I’ve even had customers who were so invested in our solution that they volunteered to be part of our team. They felt like it was their product, and their contribution was invaluable. It’s essential to define what you’re trying to achieve and identify the key stakeholders who should be part of the core team. It’s not limited to just the technical product team. Salespeople, account managers, and customer success representatives can all play a role, depending on your specific objectives. It’s about bringing together the right people to make the entire project successfu...