From Pole Position to Product: What Product Managers can learn from Formula 1 · Fahad Hossain

When I first started Product Management, an old co-worker compared the Product lead to a driver in a Grand Prix. A Grand Prix, is one of the many contests the teams perform in throughout the year in Formula 1 Racing. Ultimately, just like Sebastian Vettel and the best of them, you rely on the team: from the engineers, to the designer to the strategists, to ultimately take your place past the finish line with the car.

As a product manager, it’s corny (even funny) to say we’re aiming for a podium. But at the same time…the Constructors, like AMG Petronas or Ferrari, work with the driver to ensure the car’s brilliancy and prove it’s worth. It comes down to a team effort, with the helmet holder responsible for driving (ha) the team’s success. Any Product lead should notice the connection.

Product Managers can learn a couple things from the way F1 teams operate, from the engineers to the driver. They are not directly, but it is clear that race teams in the sport have perfected the method one can adopt rather easily.

Constant Improvement

In Formula 1, teams are constantly looking for ways to improve their performance, whether it’s through constant refinement of their car, experimenting with new strategies on the track, or optimizing pit stops for maintenance and tyre changes. Similarly, as a product manager, you are always looking for ways to improve your product, whether it’s through listening to constant refinement of your features, monitoring OKRs and product goals, or finding ways to maintain support for your product.

Enhancing, refining, improving should be in a Product team’s best interest as a Constructer team on the track is doing the same. Constant feedback loops both internally within the team and externally with your users will gain the most advantage here. As a PM, I’ve found my largest feedback when talking to my users and just simply asking how something works. In the beginning, users often forget their biggest qualms (especially if your product is solid, it probably won’t have any big remarks that are worth remembering) but if you keep a consistent feedback loop, you may find something that could be improved.

Data-Driven Decision Making

Formula 1 teams rely heavily on data to make decisions about everything from tire selection to pit stops. Similarly, as a product manager, you should let data drive your product strategy.

This means analyzing data from a variety of sources, including user feedback, competitor analysis, or market research. By using data to inform your decisions, you can better understand the needs of your customers, thus make more informed choices on how to allocate your resources and prioritize your roadmap.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport team used data to make a strategic tire choice during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in 2018. By analyzing data from previous races, determined to use the ultrasoft tires during the initial run of the race before switching for a faster performance. This strategy proved to increase their time advantage and ultimately a victory.

Product Managers can get a lead for users by analyzing key metrics:

Customer Conversion Rates
Churn
NPS (Net Promoter Scores)
Daily Active Users / Monthly Active Users

Beyond that, Product Managers can take advantage of SQL, tools like Snowflake and other data driven tools to gauge understanding of your technical products. I’ve found when PMs focus on the data and then the why behind it, they end up coming closer to the underlying value add or the issue that will pose the biggest value to fix.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

In Formula 1, success depends on the collaboration between the driver, the pit crew, and the technical staff. Similarly, as a product manager, you need to work closely with a variety of teams in order to create and launch successful products.

This may involve collaborating with designers to build an experience that delights your users, or working with developers to build new features that can scale, or partnering with Marketing to create effective messaging and campaigns for your Product’s launch. By working closely with these teams, you can ensure that everyone is aligned on the product vision and that each team is contributing effectively to the product’s success.

In an agile product development environment, cross-team collaboration is further facilitated by practices such as daily stand-up meetings, sprint reviews, and retrospectives, which provide regular opportunities for teams to communicate and collaborate. It is in your best interest to have your trifecta (in my case they are the engineers and the designers) involved in these practices. This is so no one loses sight of the strategy and product’s goal. It is also a good idea to understand the language of your trifecta. Get familiar with design practices, or UX tools. Understand how a Database works, how an API is used to read information. This will not only increase your skill set, but lessen any friction.

Spencer Davis — Unsplash

Fast-Paced Environment

Formula 1 is a fast-paced, high-pressure environment where split-second decisions can make the difference between winning and losing. Luckily, it is not as intense being a PM, but there are many times when decisions may need to be made quickly in an agile environent. This allows you to be nimble to business needs, or when the environment shifts to impact your product.

This may mean making quick decisions about which features to prioritize, or responding rapidly to negative customer feedback or competitive threats. In any organization I’ve worked, there will be times when a user come back with an issue that needs urgent review or prioritization. The issue could be in a Production environment, or it could be impacting several users at a time. By staying agile and adaptable, you can ensure you can strategize and be able to not only prioritize and solve the problem but align expectations and escalate risks for any implications this may have caused to other work the team’s efforts were in.

While product management and Formula 1 racing are completely different fields, there are actually some interesting similarities between the two that are aligned by one true goal: a team effort to build the best product and to drive it to its success. As a Product Manager, you are relied on to make sure you execute with excellence and confidence, and have the feedback, data and agility to keep things driving forward. Adopting some of the same principles and strategies used by Formula 1 teams, product managers can improve their products, better meet the needs of their customers, and stay ahead of the competition.