How Product Managers Can Work with Subject-Matter Experts

A little while ago, I Tweeted about subject-matter expertise and how it can impact your product decision-making in a B2B startup. I broadly bucketed people into 4 categories on a quadrant.

Let’s recap what these buckets mean before discussing some more general ways to approach dealing with subject-matter experts, who have strong opinions and long experience in your industry (and expect to have that experience weighted highly when planning out the roadmap).

The Potential Disruptor

They have product chops and maybe built a product in this industry before, so they know where the pitfalls are, broadly what can & can’t be done, and are the most likely to help the product team build something disruptive and new.

The Essential Informer

They know the industry inside and out, but they’ve never built a product to speak of. They are the closest equivalent of your customers, but they aren’t your customers. They can be super-insightful partners but beware of status quo bias.

The Customer Enquirer

The good old-fashioned generalist PM, who believes that good (hopefully continuous) discovery and a solid vision & strategy will see them through. Likely to have little status quo bias, but limited industry…