What is it about the top tech product companies such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Netflix and Tesla that enables their record of consistent innovation?
Most people think its because these companies are somehow able to find and attract a level of talent that makes this innovation possible. But the real advantage these companies have is not so muchwho they hire, but ratherhow they enable their people to work together to solve hard problems and create extraordinary products.
As legendary Silicon Valley coach--and coach to the founders of several of todays leading tech companies--Bill Campbell said, Leadership is about recognizing that there's a greatness in everyone, and your job is to create an environment where that greatness can emerge.
The goal ofEMPOWERED is to provide you, as a leader of product management, product design, or engineering, with everything youll need to create just such an environment.
As partners at The Silicon Valley Product Group, Marty Cagan and Chris Jones have long worked to reveal the best practices of the most consistently innovative companies in the world. A natural companion to the bestsellerINSPIRED, EMPOWERED tackles head-on the reason why most companies fail to truly leverage the potential of their people to innovate: product leadership.
The book covers:
what it means to be an empowered product team, and how this is different from the feature teams used by most companies to build technology productsrecruiting and coaching the members of product teams, first to competence, and then to reach their potentialcreating an inspiring product vision along with an insights-driven product strategytranslating that strategy into action by empowering teams with specific objectivesproblems to solverather than features to buildredefining the relationship of the product teams to the rest of the companydetailing the changes necessary to effectively and successfully transform your organization to truly empowered product teams
EMPOWERED puts decades of lessons learned from the best leaders of the top technology companies in your hand as a guide. It shows you how to become the leader your team and company needs to not only survive but thrive.
Part I: LESSONS FROM TOP TECH COMPANIES 1
Chapter 1: Behind Every Great Company 6
Callout: Product Discovery 13
Chapter 2: The Role Of Technology 15
Callout: The Technology Leader 19
Chapter 3: Strong Product Leadership 21
Chapter 4: Empowered Product Teams 28
Chapter 5: Leadership In Action 30
Chapter 6: A Guide To EMPOWERED 31
Part II: COACHING 34
Chapter 7: The Coaching Mindset 36
Callout: Alternatives to Manager as Coach 42
Chapter 8: The Assessment 44
Chapter 9: The Coaching Plan 52
Callout: Coaching Tech Leads 66
Callout: Coaching Product Designers 68
Callout: LOVED 70
Chapter 10: The One on One 74
Chapter 11: The Written Narrative 83
Chapter 12: Strategic Context 87
Chapter 13: Sense of Ownership 92
Callout: The Power of Equity 97
Chapter 14: Managing Time 99
Chapter 15: Thinking 103
Chapter 16: Team Collaboration 106
Chapter 17: Stakeholder Collaboration 112
Callout: Building the Foundation for Trust 114
Chapter 18: Imposter Syndrome 116
Chapter 19: Customer-Centricity 119
Chapter 20: Integrity 123
Chapter 21: Decisions 129
Chapter 22: Effective Meetings 136
Chapter 23: Ethics 140
Chapter 24: Happiness 145
Callout: The Greatest Coach 150
Chapter 25: Leader Profile - Lisa Kavanaugh 152
Part III: STAFFING 156
Chapter 26: Competence and Character 159
Chapter 27: Recruiting 164
Callout: Making Recruiting a Priority 167
Callout: Outsourcing 169
Chapter 28: Interviewing 171
Callout: My Favorite Interview Question 174
Chapter 29: Hiring 176
Callout: Span of Control 178
Chapter 30: Remote Employees 181
Chapter 31: Onboarding 186
Callout: APM Programs 189
Chapter 32: New Employee Bootcamp 193
Chapter 33: Performance Reviews 197
Chapter 34: Terminating 199
Chapter 35: Promoting 202
Callout: Retention 204
Chapter 36: Leader Profile - April Underwood 205
Part IV: Product Vision and Principles 209
Chapter 37: Creating A Compelling Vision 211
Callout: Who Owns the Product Vision? 215
Chapter 38: Sharing The Product Vision 216
Callout: Sharing Product Vision vs. Roadmaps 220
Callout: Product Vision and Architecture 222
Chapter 39: Product Principles and Ethics 223
Chapter 40: Leader Profile - Audrey Crane 225
Part V: TEAM TOPOLOGY 230
Chapter 41: Optimizing for Empowerment 233
Chapter 42: Team Types 238
Chapter 43: Empowering Platform Teams 242
Chapter 44: Empowering Experience Teams 246
Callout: Topology and Design 250
Callout: Topology and Reporting Structure 252
Chapter 45: Topology and Proximity 253
Chapter 46: Topology Evolution 257
Chapter 47: Leader Profile - Debby Meredith 260
Part VI: PRODUCT STRATEGY 265
Chapter 48: Focus 270
Chapter 49: Insights 277
Callout: Vision Pivots 285
Chapter 50: Actions 286
Chapter 51: Management 289
Chapter 52: Leader Profile - Shan-Lyn Ma 292
Part VII: TEAM OBJECTIVES 295
Chapter 53: Empowerment 300
Chapter 54: Assignment 307
Callout: Longer-Term Objectives 311
Chapter 55: Ambition 313
Chapter 56: Commitments 316
Chapter 57: Collaboration 320
Chapter 58: Management 323
Chapter 59: Accountability 326
Callout: Attribution of Key Results 328
Chapter 60: Objectives In Perspective 330
Chapter 61: Leader Profile - Christina Wodtke 333
Part VIII: CASE STUDY 337
Chapter 62: Company Backgrounder 340
Chapter 63: Company Objectives 342
Chapter 64: Product Vision and Principles 344
Chapter 65: Team Topology 345
Chapter 66: Product Strategy 351
Chapter 67: Product Team Objectives 361
Callout: Level of Ambition 370
Chapter 68: Business Results 371
Chapter 69: Key Takeaways 373
Chapter 70: Leader Profile - Judy Gibbons 376
Part IX: BUSINESS COLLABORATION 380
Chapter 71: The Role Of Product Leaders 382
Chapter 72: Stakeholder Management vs. Collaboration 386
Callout: The Agency Model 388
Chapter 73: Shared Insights And Learning 390
Chapter 74: Keeping The Lights On 392
Chapter 75: Evangelism 394
Chapter 76: Leader Profile - Avid Larizadeh Duggan 397
Part X: INSPIRED, EMPOWERED And Transformed 402
Chapter 77: Meaningful Transformation 403
Callout: The Cost of Transformation 405
Chapter 78: Transformation In Action 407
Chapter 79: TRANSFORMED 415
Chapter 80: The Most Important Thing 418
Chapter 81: The Destination 422
Acknowledgments 426
About the Authors 429
