Tuesday, 1 February 2022

Product project management - Key things..




The project management is one of the core competencies required by product managers. the author has followed large and small projects, and now integrates the experience accumulated in the process of practice with the project management knowledge learned to share with you.

first, the project management split: large projects and small needs


the author simply divides project management into two categories, and the project management ideas used in these two categories are different. the first is a large project, that is, an overall project from zero to one or from one to ten, such as a business system, an app product or a system, a large function in the product. this type of project requires a complete process from requirements determination, documentation, technical review, development, test launch, etc., and the time span is also long. the second is small demand, that is, in the process of product operation, from the user, operators to put forward temporary demand, this part of the demand is not within the scope of the latest product iteration, to do daily temporary support.




1. project management ideas for large projects



basically, the overall development and iteration of the project of internet companies are based on the project planning→ the requirements are refined→ the requirements review (users, technology) → the r&d → testing → the launch of these steps. it can be roughly divided into three stages: preparation period, execution period and closing period.



as the project leader, the product adheres to the project promotion concept of only fast and unbreakable under the premise of ensuring quality, and the product students should be conscious and do not let the time stuck in their own place.


2. project management ideas for small projects



(1) identify the essence of demand


the first thing to do is to understand what their real needs are, and to peel back the cocoon to distinguish between true and false needs. the needs of general business personnel and operation personnel are to express their practical difficulties from their point of view, and they need to analyze how to solve their problems more reasonably and logically from the product perspective of product managers.


(2) demand solutions



list multiple solutions for your requirements and evaluate the optimal implementation. for this temporary demand, we must remember to think a few more steps, think clearly about the causes and consequences, and run through the entire product logic. don't let a small change affect other functions, and be sure to avoid pitfalls.


(3) scheduling



scheduled in terms of demand urgency, the most urgent requirements may be solved in the most temporary path to temporarily solve their current problems, but the complete solution will be placed in the next iteration.


second, several core elements in project management


1. risk management


identify and assess the likelihood of risks that may encounter uncertainties in the project and that have not occurred. it includes the identification of risks encountered during development, risk quantification, formulation of countermeasures and risk control, tracking concerns and minimizing risks.

in the process of project follow-up, it is necessary to always be clear about what the current risk point is, the risk point is also constantly changing, a risk point is solved and there may be new risk points, requiring product managers to maintain a high degree of sensitivity to the project process at all times.

2. quality management



the management process implemented to ensure that the project meets the planning quality requirements. it includes detailed planning, functional testing and acceptance reports, full jira tracking quality monitoring, recording and regular feedback of project information.


product managers should communicate with the technology in time to ensure that they understand the needs in place, in the development process often appears such problems, technical complaints product managers casually change the needs, product managers complain that the technology of the needs of the understanding is not correct, but also said that the pm changed the needs. this situation requires the pm to communicate with the technology in a timely manner and verify the quality of the project through phased testing, rather than the overall testing at the time of the completion of the entire project.



3. time management


management processes to ensure that projects are finally completed on time. it includes specific function scheduling, prioritization, overall time node estimation, and regular updates to the project schedule.


<>. project management tools


most internet companies carry out project management by absorbing some of the concepts of agile development, such as station meetings, kanban boards, user stories, etc. the project management tools commonly used in internet companies are summarized below:


1. stand meeting


station meetings are the most commonly used method of project reporting and promotion in companies, organized once or twice a week. the advantage of the station meeting is that all parties get together to discuss the interrelated project difficulties, but there are also many stations that are easy to form, and the members report their own progress, do not care about the progress of others, only the product manager cares. therefore, the product manager should use the station meeting to discuss and promote some points that require the cooperation of all parties, rather than simply listening to their respective reports on the progress and then adjourning the meeting. in addition, you can use the visual task kanban board to manage the progress of each sub-project in the station meeting.



2. Jira


jira is a tool used to track and manage the story, starting the story from the product, flowing to research and development, and then to testing. it is a more effective task management tool, which can eliminate many offline communications from all parties, and complete the task development with more convenient online communication.



3. Gantt chart



The Gantt chart helps product managers manage the overall project schedule.


fourth, the art of communication in project management


the most important thing in project management is to manage people, and communication is a very important ability of product managers. there are many ways to communicate at pm work: email, in person, office tools. here are some useful tips in communication summarized below.



1. clarify the purpose



communication is the contact between people, first of all, the product must know what they want, rather than simply throwing out questions for others to think, communication and core is thinking. when encountering opinions or problems, how to coordinate and communicate, which are necessary and which can be compromised. 

 

In the whole process, the product has both the recipient and the expressor of the two identities, the expressor to define their own role, not forced arrangement, but a cooperative relationship, anything can be discussed, i first express my own ideas, follow up to see how the other party feedback, so as a recipient also to understand the meaning of others to speak.


2. listen carefully



there are many situations when communicating is not smooth, such as others will reject your needs. at this time, you should understand the purpose of the speaker and grasp the essence of the matter; avoid preconceptions, selective listening, prejudice, thinking that you know what the other party is going to say and the mood is not good, and you can make corresponding adjustments according to different listening habits.



3. conclusion prependsion



the most effective expression is to think well before you speak or write. get the other person's attention, let the other person understand the meaning of the words, and make the other party accept the expressor's thoughts and generate a sense of action.


4. bargaining


when communicating with a purpose, set an expectation for the ideal purpose, and then set an acceptable bottom line, in the communication can first throw out the most ideal way to achieve, if the other party does not accept, it is appropriate to reduce the expectation, which is a reason to bargain when buying things. the result is a run-in to an implementation that is acceptable to both parties.

the above is the small experience of project management that i have summed up in more than two years of product work, welcome to shoot bricks, and i will continue to explore and refine experience in future work to make product work more smooth.



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