Product Manager
Summary #
URL A product manager is the person who identifies the
- customer need 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.
Correct interpretation of the diagram: #
- Really, though, he’s saying product managers need to balance all three needs and make hard decisions and trade-offs.
- People hear Horowitz’s analogy and think product managers have some kind of special authority.
- They don’t. But, like a CEO, product managers set the goals, define success, help motivate teams, and are responsible for the outcome.
Responsibilities #
He/She will spend time on a handful of tasks.
Understanding and representing user needs. #
Monitoring the market and developing competitive analyses. #
Defining a vision for a product. #
Aligning stakeholders around the vision for the product. #
Prioritizing product features and capabilities. #
- Prioritize ruthlessly
ref A colleague recently likened product management to being a politician. It’s not far off. The product manager and the politician both get an allotted amount of resources. Each role requires the practitioner to make the best use of those resources to achieve a larger goal, knowing that he or she will never be able to satisfy everyone’s needs.
Know the lay of the land #
Product managers need to know the lay of the land better than anyone else. They very rarely start with a clean slate. More than likely, product managers are dropped into something that already has momentum. If they start executing without taking the time to get their bearings, they’ll make bad decisions.
Good product managers pump the brakes and start by asking questions. If you’re just starting a product management job, take the first couple of months to talk to as many customers as you can. Talk to as many internal stakeholders as you can. Understand the business model. Understand the history. Understand how different people are influenced. Understand how decisions are made. Only then, can you start making a few decisions of your own.
Empower your team to make their own decisions #
Product managers can’t make every decision. Believe me. I’ve tried. At the end of the day, I nearly always have unread messages. I’m often double and triple booked. And I could spend all day answering questions and never finish.
Learn to influence without authority #
Develop a thick skin #
Making tradeoffs will inevitably make people unhappy. The trick is to first make the right tradeoffs, and then be able to explain why you made the decision you did. If you’re good at explaining your decision, someone can still not like it, but more often than not, they’ll respect the way you made it. And even if they don’t, great product managers figure out a way to deal with it.
Great product managers #
For me, the really great product managers are one in a million. They’re the people who can do all of the above and set incredible product visions. It’s the rare breed that’s forward-thinking, highly influential, and can walk people through the rationale behind a decision and convince them—even without data. People like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk come to mind
Creating a shared brain across larger teams to empower independent decision-making. #
Big organization #
In larger organizations, for instance, product managers are embedded within teams of specialists. Researchers, analysts, and marketers help gather input, while developers and designers manage the day-to-day execution, draw up designs, test prototypes, and find bugs. These product managers have more help, but they also spend more time aligning these stakeholders behind a specific vision.
Small Organization #
product managers at smaller organizations spend less time getting everyone to agree, but more time doing the hands-on work that comes with defining a vision and seeing it through.
JAK Observation #
CEO can play this role in small organization.