Product & Engineering's Ability: Stakeholder / Feedback Management

In Product, much of the job is taking the designs/ideas/opportunities/plans and interacting with stakeholders about those concepts.

Managing stakeholder's expectations, driving clarity to what is and isn't happening, as well as ensuring that folks are heard but making it clear when they have a voice and when they have a vote is vital.

This is the skill and subsequent behaviors where we will attempt to identify how we as a group and as individuals will continue to improve in this.

This ability is applicable to both Discovery (Design and Product Mangement) and Delivery (Product Ownership, Engineering, and QA).

I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to a squad when wielding this ability, and therefore I would put them in situations where they can employ this ability with only a small amount of guidance

• You actively seek clarity in the feedback that is given
• You're able to follow most of our design/discovery/prioritization/planning review process effectively.

I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to a squad when wielding this ability, and therefore I would put them in situations where they can employ this ability, with no assistance as well as being a trusted active or passive mentor to others

• Push back when appropriate, when feedback is out of alignment with user values or project goals
• Leading a squad in identifying, coordinating, and scheduling times when feedback is being given by stakeholders
• Setting the agenda or clarifying what feedback a squad is looking for in a feedback session (or in ad-hoc feedback sessions with stakeholders)
• Having an understanding and following our full design/discovery/prioritization/planning process effectively

I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to multiple squads when wielding this ability, and therefore I would put them in situations where they can employ this ability as well as being considered an expert within this discipline

• Educating all of P&E on our design/discovery/prioritization/planning process and which stakeholders are ideally present at each stage
  • Helping your squad and other squads identify which stakeholders to bring in and when (ad-hoc)
• You actively seek feedback on your design/discovery/prioritization/planning product early and often
• You identify gaps and help identify improvements to our standard ways of doing stakeholder and feedback management.

I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to a squad when wielding this ability, and therefore I would put them in situations where they can not only employ this ability but where they set the tone for this at the company level

• You create systems for effective feedback and stakeholder management
• Your systems seek to include feedback from all avenues but prevents distraction to result
• You design new and creative ways for external partners to influence our product
• You influence executive-level members in the organization on how to effectively seek and manage feedback

I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to not just internal teams but the community/industry in general when wielding this ability, and they are recognized by the community/industry as an expert

• You influence executive-level members in the organization to continually educate on the value of the product design/discovery/prioritization/planning disciplines.
• Speaks at conferences/meet-ups about how best to handle stakeholder feedback and management
• Publishes articles/posts about best practices of stakeholder and feedback management