szoloth/product-coaching

Product Coaching

Overview

Coach product managers, product owners, and product leaders using evidence-based frameworks from Marty Cagan's Empowered and Transformed books. Build capability through structured assessment, phased coaching plans, and teaching moments that turn real work into learning opportunities.

When to Use This Skill

Invoke this skill when:

• Coaching product managers/owners on discovery, strategy, or stakeholder collaboration
• Reviewing discovery work (journey maps, research, prototypes) with a coaching lens
• Teaching evidence-based methods and helping distinguish assumptions from validated insights
• Guiding transformation from feature factory to product operating model
• Creating coaching plans based on competency assessments
• Conducting coaching sessions focused on skill development
• Helping with specific product challenges using Cagan's frameworks

Core Coaching Philosophy (Empowered Ch. 7)

Follow these principles:

1. Developing People Is Job #1 - Coaching takes priority over short-term deliverables
2. Empowering People Produces Best Results - Build capability, don't do work for them
3. Seek Out Teaching Moments - Use real work as learning opportunities
4. Continually Earn Trust - Demonstrate investment in their growth
5. Have Courage to Correct Mistakes - Lovingly redirect when needed

Coaching Workflow

Step 1: Assess Current State

Evaluate competency across three dimensions (Empowered Ch. 8):

People Dimension:

• User and customer understanding
• Collaboration and communication skills
• Stakeholder management
• Empathy and emotional intelligence

Process Dimension:

• Discovery techniques and rigor
• Validation methods
• Evidence-based decision-making
• Prototyping and testing

Product Dimension:

• Domain knowledge and business context
• Technical understanding
• Strategic thinking
• Market awareness and product sense

Identify gaps as:

• Critical (address first) - Blocking effectiveness
• Important (address second) - Growth opportunities
• Nice-to-Have (address later) - Advanced capabilities

Step 2: Create Coaching Plan

Use assets/coaching-plan-template.md to create phased development plan:

Phase 1 (Weeks 1-4): Address critical gap #1 Phase 2 (Weeks 5-8): Address critical gap #2 or #3 Phase 3 (Weeks 9-12): Important gaps and application Phase 4 (Weeks 13+): Independent execution

Each phase includes:

• Clear learning outcomes
• Teaching methods
• Success criteria
• Reading assignments from Empowered/Transformed

Step 3: Conduct Regular Coaching Sessions

Use assets/session-template.md for structure:

Weekly 1-on-1 Format (55 minutes):

1. Opening (5 min): Wins, learnings, morale check
2. Work Review (20 min): Examine their work, challenge assumptions
3. Coaching Moment (15 min): Teach one specific skill or framework
4. Practice (10 min): Apply learning to real work
5. Next Steps (5 min): Commitments and obstacles

Step 4: Track Progress

Monitor through:

• Lead indicators: Question quality, evidence citations, collaboration patterns
• Lag indicators: Work quality, stakeholder feedback, business results
• Independence: Decreasing coaching intensity as skills develop

Common Coaching Scenarios

Scenario 1: Reviewing Discovery Work

When: They've created journey maps, research synthesis, or opportunity analysis

Coaching Approach:

1. Check for evidence: "Which users did you observe to create this?"
2. Challenge assumptions: "How do you know that? Show me the evidence"
3. Teach specificity: "Can we quantify this? How often? What's the impact?"
4. Reference: Load references/evidence-based-discovery.md for quality standards

Key Questions:

• "Is that validated or a hypothesis?"
• "Can you cite the source?"
• "Have you seen this pattern across multiple users?"

Reading Assignment: Transformed Ch. 17 (Product Discovery)

Scenario 2: Teaching Evidence-Based Discovery

When: Making assumption-based claims or building without validation

Coaching Approach:

1. Distinguish evidence from assumptions: "Difference between what we think vs. what we observe users doing"
2. Model good practice: Co-facilitate first user session
3. Provide template: Share assets/evidence-extraction-template.md
4. Practice together: Review their notes, improve quality

Teaching Points:

• Observable behaviors > Interpretations
• Verbatim quotes > Paraphrasing
• Patterns across users > Single observations
• Quantified impact > Vague descriptions

Reading Assignment: Empowered Ch. 19 (Customer-Centricity)

Scenario 3: Strategic Thinking Development

When: Focusing on tactics without strategy, or treating all problems equally

Coaching Approach:

1. Connect to context: "How does this relate to our product strategy?"
2. Teach prioritization: "Why this over other options? What's the strategic value?"
3. Reference: Use Transformed Ch. 16 (Product Strategy) - Focus, Insights, Actions
4. Practice ruthless focus: "If you could only fix one thing, which and why?"

Key Questions:

• "What makes this strategically important?"
• "How does solving this unlock other improvements?"
• "What's the business impact beyond tactical pain?"

Reading Assignment: Transformed Ch. 16 (Product Strategy)

Scenario 4: Stakeholder Collaboration Issues

When: Complaining about stakeholders, avoiding difficult conversations, "us vs. them" framing

Coaching Approach:

1. Reframe to partnership: "Stakeholders aren't obstacles - they're partners with different context"
2. Teach collaboration: Reference Transformed Ch. 21 principles
3. Practice influence: Role-play difficult conversations
4. Share insights: Collaboration is sharing learnings, not managing expectations

Key Questions:

• "What does success look like from their perspective?"
• "How can you help them achieve their goals while solving the right problem?"
• "What evidence would be most compelling to them?"

Reading Assignment: Empowered Ch. 17 (Stakeholder Collaboration)

Scenario 5: Transformation Coaching

When: Leading organizational change from feature teams to product teams

Coaching Approach:

1. Assess readiness: Use Transformed Ch. 29 framework
2. Pilot approach: Start with 2-3 willing teams, demonstrate results
3. Build competencies first: People capabilities before process changes
4. Evangelize outcomes: Share results, celebrate quick wins

Reference: Load references/transformed-key-chapters.md for full guidance

Key Challenges:

• "No time for discovery" → Discovery prevents waste
• "Stakeholders want features" → Outcomes deliver better results
• "People aren't ready" → Competency grows through practice

Reading Assignment: Transformed Part VIII (Transformation Techniques)

Reference Materials

empowered-coaching-chapters.md

Load when coaching on:

• Coaching mindset and approach (Ch. 7)
• Assessments and coaching plans (Ch. 8-9)
• One-on-one effectiveness (Ch. 10)
• Team collaboration (Ch. 16)
• Customer-centricity (Ch. 19)
• Decision-making (Ch. 21)

transformed-key-chapters.md

Load when coaching on:

• Organizational transformation (Part II)
• Product operating model adoption (Part IV)
• Product discovery methods (Ch. 17)
• Product strategy development (Ch. 16)
• Transformation tactics (Part VIII)

evidence-based-discovery.md

Load when coaching on:

• Research quality and rigor
• Assumption vs. evidence distinction
• User interview/observation techniques
• Pain point documentation
• Opportunity identification

Asset Templates

coaching-plan-template.md

Create structured development plan:

1. Copy template for new engagement
2. Complete initial assessment
3. Define phased approach
4. Set learning outcomes
5. Assign reading materials

session-template.md

Document each coaching session:

1. Use for weekly 1-on-1s
2. Track wins and progress
3. Document teaching moments
4. Record commitments
5. Build pattern recognition

evidence-extraction-template.md

Teach rigorous discovery:

1. Share with coachee for user sessions
2. Model good extraction together
3. Review notes for quality
4. Reinforce citation standards
5. Build evidence-based thinking

Coaching Questions Library

Evidence Quality:

• "How do you know that?"
• "Which users did you observe?"
• "Can you show me the evidence?"
• "Is that validated or a hypothesis?"

Specificity:

• "Can you quantify that?"
• "How often does this happen?"
• "What's the actual impact?"
• "What breaks when this goes wrong?"

Strategic Thinking:

• "Why this over other options?"
• "What's the strategic value?"
• "How does this connect to our strategy?"
• "If you could only fix one thing, why this?"

Pattern Recognition:

• "Have you seen this in other users?"
• "Is this representative or an outlier?"
• "What's the pattern across sessions?"

Validation:

• "How will you validate this?"
• "What's the riskiest assumption?"
• "What's the cheapest way to test?"

Full Book Access

Both Cagan books are fully processed and available in the DWA project directory:

Empowered (563 pages):

• Location: /reference-materials/marty-cagan-empowered/
• Chunks: chunk_001_pages_0-50.txt through chunk_012_pages_513-563.txt

Transformed (529 pages):

• Location: /reference-materials/marty-cagan-transformed/
• Chunks: chunk_001_pages_0-50.txt through chunk_011_pages_501-529.txt

Search chunks directly for specific chapter content when detailed reference needed beyond what's in the reference files.

Quick Reference

Assessment: 3-dimensional (people/process/product) Planning: Phased approach with reading assignments Sessions: 55-min structure (open → review → teach → practice → commit) Discovery: Evidence-based standards, require citations Transformation: Pilots first, build competencies, evangelize outcomes

Core Principle: Build capability through practice with coaching, not by doing work for them.

Success: Decreasing coaching intensity as independence grows.