How This Product Marketer Turned a Knowledge Gap into a Collaborative Success Story

OK, so you want to know about a problem where I was not, I didn't know the product as well, right? Or is

OK. Um, I don't know, so I'm gonna walk you through the story, but I don't know if this is exactly the, the thing you're, you're asking about. So, as I go through it, like, let me know if there's another example I can provide. Uh, the most recent thing that I had, which was actually a huge problem, and it, it's not necessarily like I didn't have the product knowledge. I, I just actually didn't know how to go through this situation. And I sort of work, worked it through, kind of brought it through like, it was like riding on rims, but it it managed to work out in the end. Uh, so when I was doing the work on Nuance, uh, I had to create all the, I was basically the lead storyteller, created all the MPFs and everything. One of the, uh, messaging frameworks that I had to create was for our all new digital contact center. And that was going to be part of the, the, I'm sorry, the what? The all digital contact center, Microsoft's all digital contact center. So basically like a call center, but it's a little bit more elaborate. Um, and so I had to create the messaging and positioning framework, uh, about how Microsoft's contact center would evolve with the nuance capabilities. Um, so I was task to do this by my manager and I started doing the work. And typically what I do at Microsoft, whenever I create, uh, whenever there's any uh asset that has to be created, nothing is done in a silo. So I made sure that I involved all the teams with the, I created a V team, make sure that all the right folks were involved. So that included folks from the Dynamics 365 team, that included folks from the power platform team, that included folks from Nuance. Now, I started, I did a kick, kickoff call where I started talking about, hey, this is our task, we need to create a messaging and positioning framework. What I found out from the Dynamics 365 team is that, hey, we already created a messaging positioning framework for the all digital contact center. How come you guys are working on this? Are you responsible for this? Um, and then it got escalated to a senior director for Dynamics 365. So, I ended up inviting her to the B team because I was like, hey, I want to make sure we're transparent and I want everyone to be involved. I get on the call, we start talking and immediately she's very, very, uh, like, she's pretty nasty like I actually had been on a call with a senior director before who was that nasty, like openly on a call. Uh, she was basically saying like, hey, why are you working on this? Like, you don't, like, do you, like, do you even know how to make an MPF? Like this, like there's a certain process, like we've done this several times. Uh, and also we created the one in November for a uh for Ignite. Why, like, why is your team involved. Uh, and so I was kind of put in a odd position because I'm like actually on a live call being curated by this individual, uh, where I just said, hey, look, uh, I, I'm not sure the work you guys had done in the past. Uh, I, I'm not sure exactly, uh, you know, why, uh, you guys feel like you're not involved because that's, that's the purpose of this call. Um, we'd love to include you, uh, and then, you know, she escalated to the CBP saying like, why are these people involved and everything. So I basically, you know, we ended that call. I, I basically took a lot, I took a couple of punches to the chin, so to speak. Um, and I went and talked to my manager and I said, hey, like, uh, you know, they seem like they've already created this. And my manager was like, no, well, it's our responsibility. That's the task we have, nuances our thing. And I was like, OK, this is what's happening on this call. Do you have any recommendations? And he's like, well, I, I'm not sure. Uh, like, I know that we have to get this done, so you to sort of work through this, keep including them on the calls and just be open and transparent. And I'm like, OK, but like just I'm getting like thrashed on all these calls, or at least like this first call. Uh, and this woman, or sorry, the, the senior director, uh, was known to be very difficult to work with, but this was my first experience with her. So, I, we went on, we did a second call and the second call also ended in complete, like, it was awful. And also there were folks from the nuance side on the call. So people on the nuance site started uh pinging me saying like, hey, what's going on? Why is she getting so emotional about this, we're just trying to get this done. So eventually what I did was I I was like, this is clearly not working. Uh, the typical format I have is having these V teams and having like these interactions maybe 23 times a week as we evolve the messaging positioning framework. I usually create the framework and then we iterate over it. And that model is not working. And I have no idea because I'm getting screamed at by This person on a call. Sure. So basically, then what I did was I, I directly reached out to her because I, I had no idea what else to do. I basically pinged her on teams and I said, hey, could we have a one on one? Because I actually, I want to make sure that you're happy about the work we're doing, and I want you to be involved, but I don't, I, I feel like there's a gap. Uh, I wasn't sure if she was going to respond, uh, like, because like, I don't know, like there's like a hierarchy of Microsoft and sometimes a senior director doesn't respond to like, folks at my level, but, uh, this time she did. Uh, she did engage on a, on a one on one call and I said, hey, like, I understand that, uh, you know, you're wondering about the roles and responsibilities. Uh, I'm just telling you this is the position like I, we were asked to do this and I've been asked to put this together and we have limited time cause this, uh, this merger is gonna close in a couple months. And so we have to get this done. Uh, how can we work together and make this happen? And that's when, you know, she opened up, she felt like we were like invading her turf. Uh, she felt like, uh, all the work that her team had done in, in the, in, in November in the previous two months, uh, was something, uh, that was being thrown away, uh, that was like not being used, even though her team had done a lot of heavy lifting, had done a lot of working, and she felt like they were just being left behind. And so, I said, OK, you know, I don't want you guys to feel that way cause that was certainly not the intent. I honestly didn't know about the work you had done in the past. I literally just got this dropped on my lap, and so I'm trying to be as effective as possible. Um, and so what I said there is that, how about we start off using the work you guys have already done as the baseline. Instead of me creating that initial framework, let's like take what you have. And let's then try and work with you guys to build off of that and include the nuance capabilities. She wasn't 100% like thrilled with that, but she was basically like, she, you know, I think ultimately she realized that this has to get done and there are like directives coming. Um, and she said, OK, if that's the way we do it, then I want to be involved in all of the calls and then like, let's, let's do a bunch of turns. And also, she said, let's not do it with nuance. I don't want nuance on the call. I want it to be all internal first, and then you take it back to nuance. So, essentially, what I would do is then I would work with her team on solo calls. And work through them and work on iterations with them, then take it back to nuance and go back and forth and work it on iteration with them. So, I literally had to evolve the way I typically do one of these processes. Uh, I had to balance between two different teams and also one person who just wasn't happy, not because I did anything wrong, but they just didn't like me. But It ended up working out well in the sense that we did accomplish getting um um a messaging and positioning framework. Uh, we actually created a joint offer based on that messaging positioning framework for an all-digital contact center. Uh, currently, that joint offer has about 40 trials ongoing. Uh, based on, you know, some of the narratives and the messaging that we created and the website we created. So, I don't know if that answered kind of your question because it's, it's not a, it's just like a difficult situation, but it wasn't necessarily a product thing where I had a domain gap. But it was one of those situations where I didn't necessarily know how to, or I hadn't experienced before, uh, but I had to work through it.

I actually pulled in a couple other folks from our team, uh, because this may sound silly. Uh, but there is a hierarchy. And sometimes when folks who are, are at the same level, are having a conversation, it's a different type of conversation because like things can, so I actually engaged some folks on our team who were actually on that same level as this other person, uh, who were there sort of as my, uh, like, not champions, but sort of like folks who said, hey, like the way he's talking about this and the way we're thinking through this makes sense. Um, and this is why it makes sense. So that actually helped, uh, uh, move the process forward a little bit too. So I sought help from not just my manager, but I also thought, uh, they, they technically, these folks are technically my peers on our team, but they're like 5 levels above me. It's just because I was put in this big position, so, so that, you know, like I said, they were dangling that car in front of me, but uh that was one of the things that helped, basically, cause what I was trying to do is I, I sort of assessed the problem as being like, hey, like, I think part of this is that Uh, this person doesn't care what I'm saying cause it's like my, my position. And so I need some folks who are almost at her position or at her position who can actually help have this conversation as well. So I brought some of them into the call. Um, If I take a step back also from this, um, Let me, cause your initial question, now that, uh, like, it's a little like, now that I, you know, it seems like it's a little bit more clear to me. I can give you an example of where I go into a process or a predicament where I actually have no idea what the outcome would be, and because, and I don't have that domain knowledge. Um. Because it's it, and those are basically one of the things that I had to do when I was managing the power platform is I used to create all of our,

That's a good question. I actually thought of that myself in I know, I, I, to be, I'm I'm gonna be frank, I don't know because I had actually brought her team in, uh, cause like what I, what, like, if I hadn't done this, this is what I would have done. I would have brought her team in right from the get-go, understood what they had done, and then worked with them. But that's actually what I did. Like I actually had brought their team in from the get-go. Uh, I had involved them in the initial process and the thought behind, uh, uh, about why we need to create this new messaging framework. Uh, and that's actually what got it to be escalated to, uh, the senior managers. One thing that I think could have helped is that when I chatted with my manager and he first told me, I could have asked him like, hey, have you spoken with this person and that team and do they, are they fully aligned cause I'll set up the V team and that way, like we can keep going. I think that's the only thing that I could have done differently in this case, where uh it felt like maybe this person just wasn't even aware that this work was going to be happening and that's why they questioned the whole thing. Um, and it would have been good, I guess, maybe if I just ask my manager, like, hey, have you spoken with that person? Do they already know? Um. And then we could have created the V Team. In this case, I created the V Team because I, you know, going in, I, I felt like this is the best way to do it because I want to include them from the get-go. But it seems like they had no, no clue that this was even something that was gonna happen. So that would be maybe the one thing.