Product Leadership

Part III. Working with Customers, Agencies, Partners, and External Stakeholders

Every business has a solar system of partners, agencies, customers, external stakeholders, and vendors that orbit their core business and help them deliver value. In these enlightened customer-centric times, it might be more accurate to say that each product company is orbiting the customer. Whatever your point of view, there are lots of things to consider when you work with people outside your immediate team. There are so many different market environments, different size companies, and external personas that there could never be a single generic solution. What we’ve learned is that product leaders who have the skills to manage stakeholders and partners are more likely to get what they need. Throughout this book we’ve discussed strategies and tactics for getting closer to your customers. In this part, we broaden this conversation to include all partners in the product creation process.