Your Product Delivery Partner – Introducing the PDM

There are many people who help to bring a truly outstanding digital product to life – one which doesn’t just leave a lasting impression on the user, but also has a real chance of success in the market. Today, we wanted to introduce you to just one of these roles – our Product Delivery Manager (PDM).

You’ve probably heard of Project Managers and Scrum Masters, but you might not be quite clear on what the role of a PDM involves. So in this blog post, we’ll explain what PDMs do, and how we approach client cooperation at 10Clouds. We’ll also share some examples of the work of our PDMs in particular products.

A fresh approach to client co-operation

At 10Clouds, our approach to product delivery is unique. We work in agile, but we’re never attached to one set of responsibilities. Instead, we adapt our responsibilities depending on the client's needs. And in order to truly meet these needs, we often need to go beyond the tasks of a traditional Project Manager or Scrum Master.

All of this means that we’re doing a lot more than just managing or delivering projects. Instead, our client cooperation is centered around product delivery. We work on different aspects of product delivery with our clients, not only at the software development level, but also when it comes to product discovery, product-market fit, user testing, scaling, etc. Sometimes, we might even take on the role of a Product Owner. In summary, being a PDM requires a wider set of skills, specific values and a higher level of ownership.

What does this mean in practice?

Let’s take a look at two examples of the vital role played by PDMs in particular projects.

A Product Delivery Manager in the role of a Product Owner

Jędrzej Wencka is one of our 10Clouds PDMs. He’s recently been working on an NFT marketplace with multiple community building features, where he took on the role of a Product Owner.

He says: “If a team is practicing SCRUM, then a Product Owner is essential. Sometimes it’s not possible to have a full time Product Owner role on client’s side and this means that our Product Delivery Management team can fill in and act as a proxy Product Owner in a project. The primary responsibilities of a Product Owner are to represent the customer’s needs and ensure teams are working in alignment to streamline the execution of prioritized features according to the product roadmap.”

Another example might be a situation where we have a product already on the market but we don’t know how to develop the product further and how to measure its success. Jędrzej says:

”In such a situation a Product Manager is a person who identifies the customer needs and the larger business objectives that a product or feature will fulfill, articulates what success looks like for a product and rallies a team to turn that vision into a reality.”

A Product Delivery Manager in the role of a Project Manager

Joanna Kraśnicka is also part of our PDM team, and has been working with Quesmed in the role of a Project Manager. Quesmed is an all-in-one platform that helps medical students prepare for written and OSCE exams. 10Clouds worked on both the desktop and mobile apps for Quesmed, introducing new functionalities and our design team has been working to improve the user experience of the landing page.

Joanna says: “It’s been great having a long term relationship with Quesmed’s team, as well as our own 10Clouds team members working on the product. My main role has been to ensure that all our developers, designers, and testers are aligned and working together effectively and that we’re effectively fulfilling Quesmed’s product strategy.”

Product Delivery Workshops

We often have questions from clients about how they can make sure that their product is properly defined from both business and technical perspectives – so that it has every chance of market success.

That’s why we offer workshops dedicated to answering these exact questions. Recently, we held an on-site refinement workshop with one of our clients. This was a great opportunity for the whole team to work together and refine the project strategy, making sure that we are on the same page and moving in the right direction.

Joanna says: “Having a chance to collaborate directly with our client’s representatives and go deeply into the project's specifics is very exciting. With everyone in the same room, we can discuss ideas and solutions in real-time, ensuring that we are making the most informed decisions. It's because ultimately, we are all working towards the same goal – delivering an exceptional product that meets and exceeds our client's expectations.

Our workshops offer clients the opportunity to:

• Define the true value of their product and create a business case
• Ensure that the team is aligned on the product’s mission and vision
• Validate their product on the market quickly and move to delivery with the most valuable scope.
• Create a feasibility study for complex solutions and prioritize user needs.
• Create agile plan to maximize value from the start.
• Prepare an MVP/product for development directly after the workshops.

Clients leave the workshop with a clear roadmap and plan for their product and a deeper understandig of their target audience. They’re also equipped with the tools to produce an outstanding user experience.

The 10C Product Delivery Manifesto

Product delivery over project delivery

We are providing our clients with a comprehensive service to maximize the chance of success for the product that we are building together.

Flexibility in action over defined roles

We are able to tailor our approach to what is needed for successful cooperation.

Trust & accountability over low-level management

It applies both to our roles but also in the relationship between the Product Delivery Manager and the development team.

Delivering value over delivering scope

We are focused on delivering business value to our clients instead of being focused on delivering scope elements. Features come from a defined business value, not the opposite.

Extreme ownership over areas ownership

We are owners of the end-to-end delivery process and customer success instead of sharing area responsibilities with multiple internal stakeholders.

Competencies over processes

We should be constantly improving our competencies to be able to fit into different needs instead of creating procedures and processes for each case.

Looking for outstanding Product Delivery support?

Find out more about how we work and let’s have a conversation about how we can support you.