Thinking Like an Effective Product Manager

Cristian Mitreanu July 20, 2015

Source: The McKinsey Way: Using the Techniques of the World’s Top Strategic Consultants to Help You and Your Business, Ethan M. Rasiel, McGraw-Hill, February 1999 © 2015 Cristian Mitreanu. All Rights Reserved.

On Structuring Information… Strive to create lists that are M.E.C.E. (Mutually Exclusive and Collectively Exhaustive).

“MECE [pronounced ‘mee-see’] structures your thinking with maximum

clarity (hence minimum confusion) and maximum completeness. MECE

starts at the top level of your solution—the list of issues making up the prob-

lem you have to solve. When you think you have determined the issues,

take a hard look at them. Is each one a separate and distinct issue? If so,

then your issue list is mutually exclusive. Does every aspect of the problem

come under one (and only one) of these issues—that is, have you thought

of everything? If so, then your issues are collectively exhaustive.”

Source: The McKinsey Mind: Understanding and Implementing the Problem-Solving Tools and Management Techniques of the World’s Top Strategic Consulting Firm, Ethan M. Rasiel and Paul N. Friga, McGraw-Hill, October 2001 © 2015 Cristian Mitreanu. All Rights Reserved.

On Setting Priorities… Follow the 80/20 rule and focus on the things (attributes, drivers) that have a disproportionately high impact.

“The 80/20 rule is one of the great truths of business. It is a rule of thumb

that says 80 percent of an effect under study will be generated by 20

percent of the examples analyzed. This rule dates back to the economist

Vilfredo Pareto. While researching economic conditions in his native Italy,

Pareto determined that 20 percent of the population owned 80 percent of

the land. Subsequently, while working in his garden, he discovered that

about 80 percent of his peas came from just 20 percent of his plants.

Based on these and other observations, he determined that for any series

of elements under study, a small fraction of the number of elements usually

accounts for a large fraction of the effect. Over time, Pareto’s observation

became generalized as the 80/20 rule.”

© 2015 Cristian Mitreanu. All Rights Reserved.

On Value… The perceived value or utility of an object (product or service) tends to be subjective and circumstantial.

Diamonds or Water? What about Now?

Source 1: Spointra and the Secret of Business Success (The Aged Edition), Cristian Mitreanu, iBookstore, December 2013 Source 2: Apple iPhone 6 Plus and the Apple Watch, Apple © 2015 Cristian Mitreanu. All Rights Reserved.

On Needs… A meaningfully-aggregated set of needs has a higher perceived value than that of the individual needs.

Source 1: The notion of “minimum viable product” has been more recently popularized in The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, Eric Ries, Crown Business, September 2011 Source 2: Simplifying the Bull: How Picasso Helps to Teach Apple’s Style, Brian X. Chen, New York Times, August 2014 © 2015 Cristian Mitreanu. All Rights Reserved.

On Products… Whether a product is fully-fledged or just in a “minimum viable” stage, its core function should remain the same.

cristianmitreanu.com spointra.com