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Episode 116: Beyond the Basics: Non-Traditional Approaches to Product Management and Leadership with Yasi Baiani

42 min • 26 april 2023

In this episode of Product Thinking, Melissa Perri talks with Yasi Baiani, Senior Vice President of Product and Marketing at Cleo. They explore product management in some non-traditional senses, as well as how to set up a winning structure for your product teams and what good product leadership looks like.

Yasi Baiani is a highly accomplished executive in product and strategy, startup advising, and investing, boasting a proven track record of delivering state-of-the-art products that are widely adopted by millions of people and defining new categories and markets. Under her expert leadership and strategic guidance, Cleo successfully launched two new product lines, Teens and Eldercare, which unlocked a market opportunity worth over $270 billion.

In addition to her role at Cleo, Yasi is a Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at Raya Capital, where she advises founders and CEOs on business and product strategy and invests in technology and health tech companies. Furthermore, Yasi is an investor through FlyBridge HBS Alumni Fund and a Global Leadership Advisor at How Women Lead. Her impressive achievements have earned her recognition as one of The 27 Most Impressive Harvard MBAs by Business Insider, and she has been acknowledged three times as a LinkedIn Top Voice in technology and digital health.

You’ll hear Melissa and Yasi talk about:

To successfully launch a digital product, the product team and leader must collaborate closely with all other teams. The focus should be on effectively bringing the product and its user experience to the market. Achieving a remarkable digital solution requires establishing excellent touchpoints with all stakeholders.
It's important to ensure that the internal structure of the organization doesn't affect the external experience, which should be seamless for the end user. The functions must operate so seamlessly that the end experience is solid and effortless for the ultimate user.
The COPA model is an excellent framework that emphasizes the importance of complementary skills among team members. The acronym COPA stands for Complementary Skills, Ownership of OKRs, Process, and Alignment of the product and engineering team structure.
If the product team consistently falls behind and struggles with delivering on the roadmap, it could indicate issues with the engineering team's performance, weaknesses in the R&D processes, or a lack of clarity regarding your objectives and how to achieve them.
This can be identified through three key indicators: product quality is not there, there is a lot of confusion within the team about who does what, and falling behind in delivery. If you notice any of these signs, you should investigate the root causes and take steps to address them in order to improve the overall performance of the product team.
The essence of product management lies in the art of effective influence and collaboration throughout the company. It's a challenging role that demands a deep understanding of the business and the ability to shape its direction. To be successful, you must back up your vision with relevant data and information and be willing to partner with other teams to understand their constraints and leverage their strengths.
There are four components to make a product strategy successful. First of all, you have to involve multiple functions. Secondly, be super customer obsessed. The third piece is the competitive advantage of the company itself. The last piece is stakeholder interviews to understand how everyone sees the growth of the company and their vision and align them.
Teamwork is essential to developing exceptional products, and every team member must perform their job effectively to create a winning product that resonates with the end-users.
An excellent product leader prioritizes the customer above all else. They immerse themselves and their team in the customer's voice through frequent touchpoints to build a customer-obsessed team. Understanding the customer's needs is key to effective problem-solving and creativity. Additionally, a strong product leader is process-oriented, values data and analytics, and possesses the power of influence.

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Resources:

Yasi Baiani on LinkedIn | Twitter

Cleo | Raya Capital | How Women Lead

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Previous guests include: Shruti Patel of US Bank, Steve Wilson of Contrast Security, Bethany Lyons of KAWA Analytics, Tanya Johnson Chief Product Officer at Auror, Tom Eisenmann of Harvard Business School, Stephanie Leue of Doodle, Jason Fried of 37signals, Hubert Palan of Productboard, Blake Samic of Stripe and Uber, Quincy Hunte of Amazon Web Services

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