Comment gérer les attentes des parties prenantes en matière de R&D ?

As product managers, we thrive on innovation. Here's my take on navigating stakeholder expectations in the wild world of R&D: Identify Your Crew: First things first – who are your stakeholders? This goes beyond just the executives. Think researchers, engineers, designers – anyone with a vested interest in the project's outcome. Understanding their goals, concerns, and risk tolerance is key to setting realistic expectations. Transparency is King: R&D is inherently unpredictable. Be upfront about this! Communicate the research plan clearly, highlighting potential roadblocks and course corrections. Set SMART Goals (with a Twist): Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART) goals are essential.

As a seasoned Product Manager, I prioritize identifying and understanding the diverse array of stakeholders involved in my projects. From executives and investors to customers, users, and partners, each stakeholder brings unique perspectives and priorities to the table. Utilizing tools like stakeholder maps and personas, I meticulously map out their needs, interests, and constraints, while gauging their level of influence and involvement in product decisions. This holistic approach ensures that I can effectively navigate stakeholder dynamics, fostering collaboration and alignment to drive successful product outcomes.

Identifying stakeholders is a crucial aspect of the R&D process. You absolutely must develop a product that resonates with your stakeholders. Whether they're internal or external, stakeholders always play a significant role in shaping what you should prioritize. In my experience, I've observed a recurring pattern: external stakeholders primarily focus on the value propositions you bring to the table and their willingness to adopt or pay for the product. On the other hand, internal stakeholders are primarily concerned with the ROI and whether the product or project will drive tangible results. Always prioritize understanding who you're building for to ensure alignment and success.

I categorise stakeholders by level of interest and impact, it's crucial to tailor communication strategies effectively. -For high-interest, high-impact internal stakeholders, provide regular updates through meetings, ensuring alignment without overwhelming them. -For high-interest, low-impact stakeholders, like customers, offer periodic updates on product improvements and seek targeted feedback. -For low interests and high-impact external partners - engage them! Communicate collaborative opportunities while avoiding unnecessary operational details. - For low interest + low-impact stakeholders like regulators and society, provide periodic updates on compliance and ethical considerations. Avoid excessive involvement in day-to-day affairs.

I split my product into three levels: initiative, feature, and epics, which encapsulate the user stories. For each level, I set a template and populate it with information according to its position in this hierarchy. - Initiatives - contains high-level information, market and user research and competitive analysis. The development spans one or more quarters and contains a set of features. - Features - contains elevator pitch, high-level functional and non-functional requirements, wireframes, business goals, and personas that it satisfies. It includes what is in scope and what is out of scope as well as corresponding designs. The development spans multiple sprints. - Epics - epics contain the user stories and tests. One sprint development.

Once you have your stakeholder it should quite easy to understand what they are willing to achieve. Use the 5 why method and you should be able to determine KPIs from their answers.

Red onions are clearly purple. Also A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out. (This is only a problem for pre-teen crocs when their parents ask them to do chores.)

To manage stakeholder expectations in R&D, I would define the product vision and goals clearly using following framework: - Engage stakeholders to understand their objectives. - Establish KPIs & metrics aligned with stakeholder goals. - Communicate regularly to ensure alignment and address any discrepancies. - Validate assumptions and hypotheses with data and evidence. - Share insights and findings to keep stakeholders informed and engaged. For instance, in a recent project, I conducted stakeholder interviews to clarify objectives and used data analysis to validate assumptions, ensuring alignment with stakeholders' expectations.

Involving stakeholders early to ensure their input is considered and integrated in the process. Seek their feedback on project plans, priorities and decision points. This helps to build buy-in and ownership among stakeholders. Provide regular updates through documentation, reports, meetings and demoes to keep the stakeholders involved and engaged.

Managing expectations is a crucial aspect, particularly when it comes to R&D projects that often involve a high degree of uncertainty. Therefore, engaging stakeholders early on in the process becomes imperative. In my experience, when key stakeholders have the opportunity to collaborate in co-creating the project vision and participate in the dialogue around time, scope, and risk constraints, it fosters a sense of empathy towards the project and enables them to relate better to future updates.

The only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible is the cat. A cat's jaw cannot move sideways. (Probably why cats got left out of the Bible.)

Create an approach towards communication that makes sense for the stakeholders. There might be one in place already, or you might need to make one yourself. In essence, nobody likes the valley of uncertainty. Question how you're going to keep people in the loop and how you're going to provide reassurance of the steps you're taking (whether successful or unsuccessful).

Managing stakeholder expectations in R&D involves clear communication, prioritization, and scope management. When there is a pressure from stakeholders to include numerous additional features during development, conduct a thorough requirements gathering sessions to prioritize features based on business value and feasibility, establish a clear scope document outlining agreed-upon features and functionalities, establish a formal change control process to evaluate and approve/disapprove feature requests, facilitate regular communication with stakeholders to provide updates on project progress, and leverage agile methodologies to deliver incremental value while preventing feature creep.

To prioritise features, I use RICE scoring framework: Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort by assigning scores to each feature based on these criteria: Reach: Estimate the number of users who will be impacted by the feature. Impact: Assess the potential impact of the feature on users & business. Confidence: Evaluate the level of confidence in the impact estimation and the success of the feature. Effort: Estimate the time, resources, and complexity required. Multiplying Reach, Impact, Confidence, and dividing by Effort. Prioritize features with the highest scores. One should always keep in mind the product vision and its competitive advantage - how to answer customers' pains the quickest while pursuing the product's competitive advantage.

If you yelled for eight years, seven months, and six days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.

Listen actively and respectfully. Show genuine interest in the other person. Ask open-ended questions and find common ground. This creates connection. Maintain positive body language and follow through on commitments. Be reliable. Be transparent and honest. Positive reinforcement builds trust further.

Um relacionamento deve ser construído genuinamente. Descubra os pontos de interseção entre vocês e trabalhe focado neles. É preciso estar atento para não ser um tirador de pedido e também para não ignorar todas as sugestões demonstrando falta de empatia com a perspectiva do stakeholder. Tente chegar no problema e discutir sobre ele.

In R&D, keeping stakeholders in the loop with regular meetings and clear communication is key. By sharing updates, addressing concerns, and involving them in decisions, everyone stays on the same page and can work towards shared goals effectively.

Unlike traditional projects, R&D initiatives could take longer and span multiple weeks, months, or even years of development, before you get anything production-ready. To that end, it's vital to set expectations with stakeholders, particularly ones who may be used to seeing immediate output akin to that expected from feature factory teams. R&D projects may require frequent experimentation, scrapping things that don't progress anywhere, and could be the result of lots of trial and error, all of which requires room to breathe. While stakeholders need to be apprised of progress (including failures), breathing down the R&D team's neck to meet a deadline will only choke the initiative in the longer run.

Anticipate and address potential conflicts or disagreements among stakeholders in a constructive and respectful manner. Act as a mediator or facilitator to resolve conflicts, find common ground, and reach consensus on key decisions or trade-offs, keeping the focus on achieving shared objectives.

In R&D, managing stakeholder expectations requires open communication. For example, inform stakeholders on a regular basis about the status of the project, its milestones, and any difficulties encountered. Give realistic deadlines and goals while highlighting how R&D is an iterative process. To keep tabs on developments and distribute updates, make use of Gantt charts and project management software. In order to guarantee that stakeholders' interests and concerns are met, include them in decision-making processes as well. This will promote cooperation and confidence.

Don't make promises, and certainly don't make promises regarding dates. Discuss expectations in the form of initiatives and milestones, instead of tasks and deadlines. Not only does this lead to more open communication around your work, but it also explains that you may or may not pursue everything as you initially shared. Things can change, it's part of the grand plan.