Prioritization with Productboard's Srinivas Krishnamurti - Build with Maggie Crowley Recap

Podcast: Build with Maggie Crowley

Published: 2021-07-16

Duration: 43 min

Guests: Srinivas Krishnamurti

Summary

Effective prioritization in product management is a complex, enduring challenge due to the constant influx of requests and the long feedback loops, especially in B2B settings. Srinivas Krishnamurti shares insights into navigating this challenge using frameworks like the 30-30-30 rule for balanced investment in innovation, customer needs, and debt management.

What Happened

Srinivas Krishnamurti, SVP of Product at Productboard, shares his extensive experience in product management and the perennial challenge of prioritization. He highlights the difficulty in knowing if prioritization decisions are successful due to long feedback loops, particularly in B2B settings. This uncertainty creates a stressful environment for product managers, who must often make decisions without immediate validation.

Krishnamurti emphasizes that product managers ultimately bear the responsibility for their decisions, regardless of the processes followed. He stresses the importance of having the courage to halt projects that aren't ready, despite external pressures to deliver. This sense of accountability is crucial as PMs are the final gatekeepers of product quality.

At Productboard, a company that builds tools for PMs, the pressure to deliver high-quality, innovative solutions is significant. Krishnamurti outlines their approach to prioritization, which involves balancing the needs of existing customers with innovation and managing various forms of debt. He warns against becoming overly focused on current customer demands at the expense of future innovation.

Krishnamurti introduces the 30-30-30 rule, a framework for investment allocation: 30% on differentiators, 30% on customer requests, and 30% on debt management. This approach helps maintain a balanced focus and ensures the company is not mortgaging its future by solely addressing current needs.

The episode also delves into the importance of internal communication and collaboration. Krishnamurti explains how quarterly product reviews serve as a platform to align teams, highlight dependencies, and foster a holistic view of product development. These reviews also involve non-EPD teams to ensure company-wide understanding and excitement about upcoming features.

Krishnamurti discusses the challenges of moving from individual contributor roles to management, emphasizing that managing people requires a different skill set. He advises PMs to carefully consider whether management is the right path for them, as impactful contributions can also be made as senior individual contributors.

Finally, Krishnamurti shares his reliance on relationship-building and influencing skills at the executive level, underscoring that success often hinges on one's ability to work with and through others. He recommends being deliberate in developing these skills, as they are essential for leadership roles.

Key Insights