"In my presentation I will share my personal learnings with two aspects of Product Management at XING: Mainly I will talk about our approach to scaling mobile product management. Like many other digital companies started before 2010, XING’s approach to product management was strongly web-oriented and mobile had been treated as a by-product handled by a small silo of specialists. What we aim for today is a full-stack product thinking in which a product team not just owns the domain specific business logic and the web representation of their product, but also all other touchpoints and in particular mobile. As a result we now build our native core apps as a distributed and collaborative effort of several teams. I will share my learnings from managing the change process of „unleashing mobile“ across XING and what it means for the product managers involved. As a second topic I will dive deeper into one question which is closely connected to this distributed, collaborative approach: How to create the necessary alignment between autonomous teams? I will present a framework for alignment which we call „Auftragsklärung“ (rough translation: „assignment clarification“ – I will explain why I prefer the German terminology). Auftragsklärung has helped to add a lot of clarity to the way we manage products and also be applied in other contexts such as start-ups or agency work."

1. Scaling & Aligning
Mobile Product Management
Product Tank Lisbon, February 2016

2. Hello, I’m Arne!
Director Mobile Product Management
Mobile Platforms
Product Tank Hamburg & MWC
@arnekittler

3. Professional network
People, Jobs, News, Events
9 Mio users, DACH focus
Competitors: LI, Indeed, Eventbrite, …
Founded 2003
Listed company
HQ Hamburg
> 800 employees (30+nationalities)
25 product teams
35 product people

4. Today’s users do not care
about Mobile!
What?

5. They expect to use services.
Wherever. Whenever.

6. It’s on us to figure this out!

7. Our Goal:
Full Stack Product Thinking
Web
iOS
Android
API
Windows
Mail
…

8. 8
+10
Legacy challenge of “web-era” companies

9. +10
Unleashing Mobile: All teams cross-platform

10. SCALING

11. PATTERNS &
RULES
COMMON
PLAN
INFRA-
STRUCTURE
STAFFING &
SKILLS

12. PATTERNS &
RULES
COMMON
PLAN
INFRA-
STRUCTURE
STAFFING &
SKILLS

13. Platform Teams Domain Teams
XING’s Mobile Setup 2016
PO
Designer
Devs
Framew.
QA
PO
Designer
Devs
Framew.
QA
Mobile Infrastructure
PO, Devs, QA
API
PO, Devs, QA
Windows
PO + Freelancer
BE
News
PO, Designer, Dev, QA
Premium
…more to come in 2016
BE FE
PO, Designer, Dev, QA
BE FE
Jobs
PO, Designer, Dev, QA
Startpage
BE FE
PO, Designer, Dev, QA
BE FE
Growth
PO, Designer, Dev, QA
PSST
BE FE
PO, Designer, Dev, QA
BE FE

14. Learnings: Staffing & Skills
Hiring beats Re-Training! :O(
+ +
P D
? !

15. PATTERNS &
RULES
COMMON
PLAN
INFRA-
STRUCTURE
STAFFING &
SKILLS

16. Pattern libraries based on OS guides

17. Modular Design AND Native Code

18. Component Libraries in Sketch

19. Process for creating new patterns
Show solution
w/ existing patterns
Conceptualize
new pattern
Implementation
& Rollout
Holistic view! Accountability for Rollout!
Conscious experimentation!

20. Learnings: Patterns & Rules
Only short-term benefits sell.
Be strict. And be open to change.
One voice? One mission!

21. PATTERNS &
RULES
COMMON
PLAN
INFRA-
STRUCTURE
STAFFING &
SKILLS

22. Infrastructure provided by 3 teams
Discovery
Pattern System
Overall direction
Core Features
Framework
Release Process
Build & Test
Tech libraries
Mobile Backend
Push System
Feature Switches
Deeplinking
Platform Teams Mobile Infrastructure Team

23. Learnings: Infrastructure
Internal Tools = Products

24. PATTERNS &
RULES
COMMON
PLAN
INFRA-
STRUCTURE
STAFFING &
SKILLS

25. Release Train every two weeks
Development QA Pre-Release Store Review (iOS) Live
QA Pre-Release Store Review (iOS) Live
Development QA Pre-Release Store Review (iOS)

26. Auftragsklärung for early alignment
=> Second half of
presentation
CONTEXT
INTENT HIGHER INTENT
INPUT OUTPUT
OUTCOME
BOUNDARIES

27. Learnings: Common Plan
Early alignment really helps!
Mobile means planning ahead!
Organize around releases!

28. PATTERNS &
RULES
COMMON
PLAN
INFRA-
STRUCTURE
STAFFING &
SKILLS

29. Takeaways
SCALING

30. Scaling Mobile Product Management
• Managing a product across several platforms is the
only way to create relevant services for today’s users
• Accept and ideally embrace the additional complexity
this brings, get ready for active alignment
• New roles are challenging but it also is your chance to
grow as a Product Manager!
• Remember: You are doing it for your users

31. ALIGNING
PRODUCT
MANAGEMENT

32. One of our PM beliefs:
Autonomy
through Alignment!

33. The better a PM is aligned
about the WHY and WHAT,
the more autonomy he will
be granted with regards to
HOW exactly to build it.

34. Our Framework for Alignment
Auftragsklärung

35. Why I Use the German Word Auftragsklärung
All translations so far didn’t really convince me.
Revival of Prussian 19th century military theory in management:
“Auftragstaktik” (von Moltke)
Command & control
doesn’t scale in times of
uncertainty
Stating intentions to enable
autonomous action in
alignment with the overall
mission

36. von Moltke Blank
„No battle plan
survives first contact
with the enemy.“
„No business plan
survives first contact
with customers.“
Outcomes are unpredictable: Do and adapt!

37. Recommended Reading
(in full, or abstracts / videos)

38. Auftragsklärung
Structure for dialogue
among teams.
Asking the tricky
questions very early.
Less surprises and a clear
understanding of success.
Different from
Auftragstaktik, this is not
meant for top-down
leadership, but starts with
the people in charge.
CONTEXT
INTENT HIGHER INTENT
INPUT OUTPUT
OUTCOME
BOUNDARIES

39. Auftragsklärung: Context
Common and shared
facts - including the
trigger(s) that lead to
this Auftragsklärung
What’s the situation?
What’s the complication?
CONTEXT
INTENT HIGHER INTENT
INPUT OUTPUT
OUTCOME
BOUNDARIES

40. Auftragsklärung: Our Intent
“What we really, really
want” – in a tweet
For [this user group]
..we want to provide [this
value proposition]
…in order to get [this job
done]
CONTEXT
OUR INTENT HIGHER INTENT
INPUT OUTPUT
OUTCOME
BOUNDARIES

41. Auftragsklärung: Higher Intent
What do my superiors
really, really want?
Strategic level 1-2 levels up
Why is this a priority?
CONTEXT
INTENT HIGHER INTENT
INPUT OUTPUT
OUTCOME
BOUNDARIES

42. Auftragsklärung: Outcome
How will we know that
we’re on the right path?
Key metrics (specific,
measurable, tangible)
Ambition level
CONTEXT
INTENT HIGHER INTENT
INPUT OUTPUT
OUTCOME
BOUNDARIES

43. Auftragsklärung: Boundaries
What are our limits?
What must not happen?
What’s not in scope?
CONTEXT
INTENT HIGHER INTENT
INPUT OUTPUT
OUTCOME
BOUNDARIES

44. Auftragsklärung: Input
What’s needed to achieve
this outcome?
Ressources, decisions etc.
incl. Sanity Check
Expected contributions from
other teams
CONTEXT
INTENT HIGHER INTENT
INPUT OUTPUT
OUTCOME
BOUNDARIES

45. Auftragsklärung: Output
What can be experienced
by the user?
Product/Service in front of
user (incl. expected timing)
Epics & problems to be
solved – NOT features!
CONTEXT
INTENT HIGHER INTENT
INPUT OUTPUT
OUTCOME
BOUNDARIES

46. Using Auftragsklärung
CONTEXT
INTENT HIGHER INTENT
INPUT OUTPUT
OUTCOME
BOUNDARIES
PM with key drivers Stakeholders,
involved team,
affected teams
Involved teamInitiating PM

47. Auftragsklärung: Take-away
Autonomy through
Alignment!!
Put most attention on Intent
and Outcome!
Keep it short!
Iterate & Share!
It’s about dialogue, not the
artefact!
CONTEXT
OUR INTENT HIGHER INTENT
INPUT OUTPUT
BOUNDARIES
OUTCOME

48. Feel free to try it!

49. Obrigado!
@arnekittler