Nomvuzo Maitin

It's our final week of testing! End-to-end client journeys complete, feedback processed and fixes underway, and now we're on to retests and confirmation. As we start this week I wanted to shout at the amazing team leading our testing process - Robyn Wright Dan Blaylock Ruth Goater Jonny Sisterson and Lizzi Olijnk. Just look at this feedback we received from a tester the other day - we're so blessed to have such a skilled and dedicated team! 📷 Image - a screenshot of a Slack message with the text below: Hey guys! Just wanted to drop you a quick line after my first stint of testing to say how encouraging it’s been. It must be quite overwhelming wading through all feedback you’re getting from the testers, most of which will be around things that need fixing/improving, but I just wanted to flag a couple of thoughts that I hope encourage you. 1. Spending time in SF has shown how much thought and effort has gone into making it a platform that can support us. There are things that need resolving, but the more time I spend in it, the clearer it is the amount of time that has been spent thinking really deeply and intricately about how it can really help Debt Advisors, Debt Coaches and clients. 2. The testing scripts are superb! The line-by-line nature, the clarity of what to do and what to expect must have taken AGES, but it sets us up to test really well. 3. The testing sheet works really well and is super easy to use. The way data pulls through on the sheets when you’re reporting something is so helpful - thank you for making our lives easier by setting it up like that. 4. The responsiveness when something isn’t working. Both when we raise a question on slack and when we raise things in the sheet. I logged something yesterday in the sheet, and was working on a different task today and noticed that a fix had been implemented since I wrote the issue! Hope you both get to have a break over the weekend when you get to it!

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Are you typically STRUGGLING to ASK FOR HELP? 💔 I certainly was a few weeks ago! I developed some marketing material about my coaching offering ... and a stakeholder map, with a detailed plan on who to approach first 🎯 The next step was to start sharing it with stakeholders and ask for feedback ... but I was STUCK! 🙄 My thinking was: ❌ They are too busy! ❌ Why would they be interested? ❌ Uhm, what do I have to offer again? It took me a session with a coaching training fellow to unlock the situation ... yes, to remove those MENTAL BARRIERS ... because I realized I was MY WORST ENEMY 💥 The same evening, I started to share my marketing material... step by step… ... 5 people first... the most trusted ones ... then 10 more... and so on... What did I get back? ✅ 21 out of 25 responses... 84% RATE 🎗 ✅ Much positive feedback... a boost of ENERGY 🚀 ✅ Many thoughtful inputs... to IMPROVE my offering 💫 ✅ A few more connections... my network started to SPREAD THE WORD ✨ So, if you are looking to overcome the struggle of asking for help: ✴ Acknowledge YOUR FEELINGS... it is ok to feel vulnerable ❤️ ✴ Start SMALL & with the RIGHT people... it will feel less intimidating 🎯 ✴ Frame it POSITIVELY... think of what you could gain, rather than lose 🚀 ... and if you are curious about my offering ... please take a look at my first two documents under the FEATURED section ... the client testimonials are an extract... and a key one 💞

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I’ve been at lots of events recently and I’ve noticed speakers etc fueling a trope: “product management didn’t exist 15 years ago”. As someone who became a product manager in the nineties, I’d discourage this thinking as it under-values what our job is actually about. I was fortunate to spend eight years learning from leaders who were part of an MBO from Lotus. We built award winning, highly profitable enterprise software, but mostly on CD-ROMs. Consequently we didn't have AB testing, fake door tests, CI/CD or HotJar. But we did have sales-led pressures, prioritisation conflicts, remote teams, pricing complexity and disruptive new market entrants. What we also had was a passion to understand the customer’s pains and to then design and deliver something that was commercially valuable that addressed it. My wife works in FMCG, where for decades brand managers have been uncovering insights, then working with manufacturing, supply chain and sales & marketing to delight customers and create business value. That’s product management. Our tools, frameworks, product books and our understanding are ever evolving. And the enormous benefits of online deployment all mean that for many the job is done very differently now than it was in the nineties. But the business basics remain as they always have done. Especially for the very many product managers who aren’t solely working just with digital solutions. I bring this up not to defend those of us with grey hair (or little hair, in my case). My concern is that AI will be a paradigm shift to rival the upgrade from CD-ROM to Internet, and that may frighten some. Your future self will have Copilot instantly whip up a prototype, test it on synthetic personas leveraging mountains of sentiment data, and a Monte Carlo simulation will present you with your best options, in a compelling doc/ppt created by an LLM. But it's just another tool change, and another set of ways to better understand the opportunity, leverage the art of the possible and de-risk getting to a good commercial outcome at even faster rates. A peer has chosen to re-train as a carpenter because they've realised they're at heart a problem solver, and the context isn’t relevant. So please don’t think your super-power comes solely from being current on the tools and techniques of how you do your trade today. Product management has always been necessary and always will be, even if AI creates another shift in the technology, techniques and the pace of the work. #productmanagement

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Have you ever wondered why a footballer thrives in one environment but fails in another? Do you think the footballer has changed in that period of time? No - it's the environment, people can thrive in the right environment and in the wrong environment and in Jadon's case he was labeled as lazy, lacking commitment or struggling with "physical and mental issues" People can thrive in the right environment, so maybe we should focus more on the environment and less on the people https://lnkd.in/gGa6YMwx #tranformation #culture #people #environment

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Ok, so here's an idea. 1 Test your change in a production like environment, and by test I mean actually test with all the scenarios, positive & negative 2 Have a tested backout plan in place so you can reverse a change quickly and seamlessly 3 if your change can be implemented with a blue/green deployment, do so, this at least minimises any negative impact 4 make sure you have a resilient tested reliable DR solution in place if the worst happens 5 wonder why no one has followed this revolutionary approach before 🤷‍♂️

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I've now completed my 4th week at Virgin Media O2 as the Product Lead for Consent Optimisation 🎉 I want to share what attracted me to this area, as it's not your typical Product, and why doing it as a Product Lead is even more crucial. "Consent Optimisation" - it doesn't sound very interesting at first. But you're very wrong. Here's why… 1. It's just a regulatory requirement! Or is it? We need to stop looking at regulatory requirements as tick-box exercises done out of fear of facing fines, and open our minds to the opportunities they present. A great example from earlier in my career: When launching Nomo Bank, we ensured that your standard tick-box ID checks were done using the best technology around at that time. The result: 💨Real-time responses upon ID submission ⏱️Applicants could open a current account within 5 minutes (before this took days, or even weeks) ⛔️The bank was informed of anyone we shouldn't be onboarding immediately Essentially, we Productised a core banking process and reached new levels of customer satisfaction and business risk management. Value unlocked 🔓 2. Ok, but what does Consent have to do with Product? Consider this: Your customer base grows pretty much overnight due to a merger or partnership. Which should mean doubling your opportunity to cross-sell and upsell, right? Which should also mean you have more products and services to offer your customers and help Retention?😃 Yes, but only IF you have the customers' consent to do so. It's the gateway for any conversation we want to have with a customer. Turning Consent into a Product function means we can now explore things like where more uptake can be beneficial for the customer, and optimise how we gather it. We can test/ experiment/ iterate/ fail to learn how Consent can ultimately make the Virgin Media O2 experience the best it can be for everyone. Product is all about driving value but it's also about seeking new ways to create new value. And I plan to do exactly that by leading it.

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I had the pleasure to share a dinner with Melissa Perri and some fellow Berlin Product Managers (Daniele Ronca ProductLab Community ) yesterday evening. One topic we discussed is the fallacy "Product Manager = Mini-CEO of their product" and how this misconception can be such a disappointment for talents transitioning to PM roles. The truth lies elsewhere! 1️⃣ Lack of direct Authority: Unlike CEOs PMs don't have direct control over resources (teams, budgets ...). We rather lead through influence, which means collaboration and relationship-building are more critical than any "CEO-like" decision-making power. 2️⃣ Different Accountability: A CEO is ultimately accountable for the entire business. A PM, on the other hand, is responsible for the success of a specific product or feature. While we are deeply invested in that, we do not own operations, finance or HR topics related to this product. 3️⃣ Servant Leadership: a PM is at the center or interface of many stakeholders each with conflicting priorities and needs. The best PMs empowers their teams and stakeholders by providing clarity, removing roadblock, facilitating and communicating rather than dictating. Let's stop pitching that "Mini-CEO" dream and let's start representing the role of PM for what it is: a complex role that is challenging but quite rewarding where soft skills are as important, if not more, as the technical skills of the craft.

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I’m hopefully interviewing some candidates to join my team next week. It’s been a little while since I last interviewed for a role, but one thing I’m hoping to do is publish the questions in advance. My main motivation is that I don’t want to start my working relationship with someone where they don’t know the rules of the game or think that I might be trying to catch them out somehow. Interviews tell a candidate about the company and their prospective manager, as much as they help managers find the right person. So, I want the candidates to know that I am the kind of manager who makes sure you’re well-prepared for your meetings and has an expectation that you turn up prepared. Has anyone else got any experience of sharing questions in advance? Any top tips?

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The classic interview question - what do you consider a truly great product that highly impressed you? For me, it’s 'Apple Shortcuts'. One of the hardest challenges on the journey to product-market-fit, whether in an early-stage startup or a mature company, is finding your 'super users'. Those individuals don’t only experience the struggling moment you are targeting, but are actually self-aware of this struggle, and often even attempt to resolve it themselves. Your super users are the pearls in your discovery, prototyping and delivery phases. Through them, you can truly understand their key 'struggling moments' and target solutions. If you do find these users, you're on the path to success. 'Shortcuts' empowers all Apple users to improve their lives and attempt to overcome their struggling moments - all they have to do is be aware of the pain, and be motivated enough to solve it themselves. ‘Shortcuts’ gave Apple’s Product team DIRECT, unlimited access to their super users, their struggles and even their attempts to solve their struggles. An ocean of value. How often do Product teams get this kind of access? Almost never. ‘Shortcuts’ is an ever-growing living pool of opportunities for Product innovation. It's inspiring. #productmanagement #apple

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I feel like I'm letting a secret out the bag here, it feels obvious to me after being in the discipline for so many years and especially after familiarising myself with the concept of Klaus Leopold flight levels, but here it goes. The ingredients for successful delivery are as follows: 📈 Squad performance: Individual to Individual interactions within a team, this is where to focus on optimising ways of working. At this level the role of an agile coach, Scrum master and Engineering Manager have the most influence on success and depending on the scale and nature of the org they might have just one of those roles or all three. There are multiple ways to skin a cat at this level each with thier own merits, but ultimately your looking to improve squad performance. 📈 Project Management: Where a single business outcome requires contributions from multiples squads this is where you focus on squad to squad interactions. At this level the role of a project/programme manager can have the greatest influence day to day. There are plenty of useful frameworks to give a steer on best practice but ultimately its a case of find the balance that suits the nature of the company. It's worth calling out that team topologies and conways law contributes significantly at this level, which means someone in the company needs to be routinely looking at the org structure and asking if it could be optimised to deliver value quicker and reduce the coordination overhead and requirement for dependency management. 📈 Strategy: This is where the Leadership team have a view of what's going on and can link it to the company strategy and use a tight feedback loop to make a informed decisions around focus and prioritisation. At this level a PMO can provide the most value, pulling together the required data and presenting the most impactful decisions. Again, there is no hard and fast rule but rather what do your leadership team need to make the important decisions. 🔈Depending on scale, these responsibilities can be held by a single individual, an entire team or multiple functions but for as long as any single one set of responsibilities isn't being performed then "Delivery" will always be perceived to be failing.

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💡 If you ever want a feeling of professional pride to bottle up and put on a shelf then nothing beats the light bulb moments you get as a Product Manager working with an Engineering team, who have for years been a subservient feature factory 🏭, that can readily explain the business context and value of what they're building with a smile on their face. 🚀 #productmanagement #productcoaching #transformation #product #mentorship #coaching #outcomesnotoutput #mission

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The countdown has started for the Gift Card "peak" period - Black Friday is coming! Here's a screen shot of the email I received from Blackhawk Network (BHN) Europe this morning reminding me of the cashback I can receive on my bYond Card during this time and the special giveaways that are coming up. If you would like to offer your employees a benefit where they can earn up to 15% with every use then have a look at the link in the comments.

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A lot can change in 6 months Just look at mine: ↪ Transitioned to product management ☑️ ↪ Launched a podcast on the journey (Becoming the Product!)️ ↪ Landed my first PM role But it didn't happen by accident. I did the hard work: ➡ I did my research: I soaked up everything I could about product management. ➡ I created a plan: I created a clear roadmap for my goals. ➡ I executed: Most importantly, I took action and never stopped learning! Many get stuck in the "research" or "planning" phase or what I’ll call "analysis paralysis", never taking that leap to execute. And that is where the real transformation happens Fear holds us back: "What will others think?" "Can I really do this?" "What if I fail?" Remember, it's you vs. yourself. The only person stopping you is you. So, as June ends and you have a burning goal (personal or professional), take this as your sign! 👉 Do the research. Understand what's needed. 👉 Create a plan. Break it down into actionable steps. 👉 Execute! Take that first step, then another, and another. What's the worst that happens? You learn and grow. Catch Up & Subscribe: 🔗 Previous Podcast Episodes: https://lnkd.in/dqq65dBG 🔗 Subscribe to my Newsletter: https://lnkd.in/dFeYhqCV   #Day86of100 #becomingtheproduct 

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What a week - The mind is still swirling with impressions (and just a touch of fatigue, I’ll admit)… In Lisbon with colleagues Marianne Gutfeld Telling Trine Sølvkjær Tanya Honoré Schultz and Anne Beck-Bille for a look into the viewing glass looking into the crystal ball 170+ people from among our offices around the world - The Americas, Asia and Australia, Europe and Africa - All continents covered save for Antartica (probably frozen assets anyway 😉), and having spoken to someone from each of them during the week is mind blowing in it self… 🤯 Still - What was even more mind blowing was the amount of knowledge gathered there - How to make to make the most of such a treasure trove is a daunting task, but thank you to BSO Global for making the most of it 💪🔥 Marvelous surroundings for sure and topping it of with a mind like Magnus Lindkvist was truly inspiring - Putting his very own particular lenses onto the viewing glass with creation rather than competition and the gift of friction at its core - What a delight 🙂 One thing is for sure - The future is coming, and there is no hiding from it for any of us - Yet - How to make the most of it ? If only we all knew, what all of us knows combined… Have a great week everyone - Here’s to the future - May it be forever brighter than the past we leave behind, and hopefully more sustainable too or the point would be rather moot… #togetherforsuccess #bsoglobal

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This screenshot is an Opportunity Solution Tree for one of our Empowered Squads. As a PM, there’s always at least 99 product opportunities on the table, no matter the company size.   Your squad is only capable of doing 2 of these now. Choosing these requires you to say “NOT NOW” to 97 of them. Focus isn’t just about choosing the key things that matter the most. It’s about intentionally leaving so many great ideas behind.    It’s about neglecting some customer problems and pains, in order to drive forward those opportunities that drive the company forward, and move the needle. True focus is felt when you intentionally neglect the product you’re most excited about in favour of the product that matters the most. There’s always an alternative cost when building a product. #productmanagement

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Your happiness is in your own hands! Yesterday, I went out for a walk to get some fresh air and reflect a little bit. It was raining, but was either that or sitting at home, looking at my laptop. In the last weeks, I feel like I have been swimming against the current and getting nowhere, and I see myself waiting for things to change and unhappy that they aren't. Now, while going in that walk in the forest, a thought popped into my mind: "Why do you keep letting external factors determine your mental wellbeing?". Simple question right? Yet we all (or most of us) function like this. What followed? A radical thought: "What if I would base how I feel about life and myself on what I can control?". How about I start asking myself if I have done everything that I could and was in my hand, and just be happy with my effort, not only focus on the results? I watched a video on how to define success and also went through Cassie Kozyrkov's linkedin course on Decision Making (short and to the point, very recommendable), which I believe, combined, brought me to this realisation. I came back from the walk with a relaxed mind and got a good night sleep for the first time in a couple of weeks. Did I say it was raining? I could not have cared less, I cannot control or influence that, but can get my 5k in anyway 😜 Take control, one step at a time 🚶‍♂️ Happy weekend everyone! PS: Next post I will try to add a photo, some folks says it skyrockets reach!

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Let's fix tech testing... starting by working out what we need and what we don't. We need to know how you: - problem solve - design software architecture - understand customer problems - translate technical information - understand the technology you specialise in - write maintainable code - find information you need efficiently - work in a team environment Coding tests hardly tick any of these boxes and if the candidate practiced the standard problems then you've rendered it useless anyway. That list is actually quite a tall order for trying to discern programming ability. So how do we go about designing a technical test that can tick those boxes without taking up too much time? Here's my proposed solution: - Pair programming bug hunting (20 mins) ✅ problem solving ✅ working in a team environment ✅ finding information you need efficiently - Architecture whiteboarding (20 mins) ✅ software architecture design ✅ understanding customer problems ✅ translating technical information ✅ understanding the technology you specialise in - A problem they've not seen before (20 mins) ✅ problem solving ✅ writing maintainable code Now you may chop and change these things depending on the level for interviewing but candidates are applying to multiple jobs so you need to be conscious of their time so a hard stop 1 hour feels reasonable to assess ability. What do you think to the above? How would you do tech tests better? #developerlife #softwareengineering

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Just had a chat with a colleague about workplace friendships on a Friday evening, and it got me thinking... Remember when work was just, well, work? But over time, I've realized how much those "Can we have lunch together?" moments have shaped my career. Here's what I've learned about work buddies: [1] They make Monday mornings bearable (sometimes even fun!) [2] Brainstorming becomes a blast, not a chore [3] They've got your back when deadlines loom But here's the kicker - these friendships have actually influenced my career moves. I've stayed at jobs longer because of great teammates, and even followed friends to new opportunities. I have got to find more and new opportunities because of them For example - I stayed at Airtel longer because of my friendships. So, how do you nurture these connections? [1] Be the person who remembers birthdays (pro tip: calendar reminders are lifesavers) [2] Ask about how their weekend was? [3] Offer to grab lunch when you notice someone's had a rough day I'm curious - has a workplace friendship ever changed your career path? Drop a comment and let's swap stories! #WorkplaceFriendships #TechIndustry #ProfessionalNetworking #CareerGrowth #FinanceProfessionals

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