I survived yet another
Improv class. Before I tell you about what
I learned that applied to Product Management, I want to share the bat crap
crazy portion of the evening.
Part of what we do in
class is exercises – each present a different opportunity for us to learn
something. Some exercises are designed to loosen up, others are to learn how to listen better, and others make us more
aware of our surroundings. One of the
exercises had us singing. I sing
poorly. I’m not one of those folks being
modest that when performing karaoke can belt out a Whitney Houston song…I’m one
of those folks that do not like to sing happy birthday out loud because I’m so
out of tune. For this exercise, we formed a circle. The first person went into the circle and
started to sing like they were on Broadway.
The rest of us acted like backup singers. Then one of us would have to “tag” the
current singer out of the circle, we would enter the middle and than sing a
song that popped in to our mind based on the previous song. Repeat.
I ended up singing Sunglasses at Night, Don’t Worry be Happy and Holding
out for a Hero. I’m very thankful for my knowledge of 80’s music. Bat. Crap.
Crazy.
The other thing we do is
scene work. In this case we were paired
up. We have to play a scene where we
articulate our relationship to each other, where we are, and why it
matters. This has to be done in an exchange
of 3 or so sentences. One person has to do something. Anything.
For example: pretend they are digging a ditch, building a snowman,
riding a motorcycle, etc. The other person starts the scene based on what the other
person is “doing”. For the first several
times I kept focusing on the relationship (is he my brother, long lost dog,
life coach?) and where we were. It was
so lame and uninteresting. I kept
forgetting the piece on why it matters.
Why does it matter that I’m in a kitchen with my cousin having
soup? (zzz). It became interesting when the why was
introduced. Are we rivals, is she my
idol, does she embarrass me? That’s when
the audience becomes invested. The same
is true for what we do as product managers.
The development team wants to know why they’re working on these items
for this roadmap. The customers want to
know why they should care about feature x.
This is when people being engaged – when they understand the why.
I read “Start with Why” by
Simon Sinek a couple of years ago. Great
read for product managers. He talks
about how “The Why” is what builds loyalty and trust with (and within) an
organization. Without it, just the How
and What – there is not really a relationship it’s just a transaction. This weeks lesson was a great reminder that I
need to continue to focus on the Why to be a successful product manager.
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