salesforce's director of product talks: communication in the digital age

© Divya Ashok

Salesforce's Director of Product Talks:

Communication in the Digital Age

© Divya Ashok

Communication in the Digital Age

Divya Ashok

© Divya Ashok

Hello!I am Divya Ashok

Director, Product Management @Salesforce

President, Salesforce Women’s Network

You can find me at:@diviashok divyaashok

© Divya Ashok

Journey to becoming a Product Manager

Engineering to Product ManagementObstacles/Opportunities to becoming a PM

● Language● Influence vs. Chain of command● Right Opportunity● Building domain expertise

© Divya Ashok

What is Communication?

The successful conveying or sharing of ideas and feelings…

Oxford dictionary

© Divya AshokAspects of Communication for a PM

VALIDATEFEEDBACKEXPRESS

LISTEN STRUCTURE TRANSLATE

© Divya Ashok

To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk

well.

© Divya Ashok

TRANSLATION IS AN ART &

A SCIENCE

MVPLeast Effort for Maximum Gain

Clarity on the “WHAT”

Questions on the “HOW” not a decision

© Divya Ashok

FEEDBACK & VALIDATE

❏ “Customer Churn” ❏ Customer Empathy - very

important❏ Make customers design

partners❏ Councils or Community Forums❏ Just speak to various parties!!!

© Divya Ashok

EXPRESS

❏ Reiterating requirements, progress, impact❏ Data-driven focus augmented with a Point-of-View❏ Executives always kept in the loop

❏ Do not surprise stakeholders!❏ Have basic templates for ease of use

© Divya Ashok

Your Communication Toolkit

Face-to-face Email Voice Video

Body Language

Tone

Artefacts

SMEs

Cultural Empathy

TOOLKIT

CHANNELS

Ideal

© Divya Ashok

Elicit ideas but own your product

KEY TAKE-AWAYS

Diagram featured by http://slidemodel.com

Communicate constantly and

frequentlyStakeholder

management is key

Translation is an art and a science

Know your tools, use them wisely

© Divya Ashok

Q&AThank you!

© Divya Ashok

www.productschool.com