What does a Product Manager do? The profession as they have never told you

 

Those who expect to find a didactic explanation of what the Product Manager does in this article may be disappointed. The intent we set ourselves is much more challenging: we want to tell the philosophy that underlies the profession.

To do this, we will take a cue from illustrious examples, and then delve more deeply into the transversal skills that complete the identikit of this key figure in Project Management.

 

What does a Product Manager do? Identikit of a visionary

 

When the professional title of Product Manager (PM) began to spread, about 20 years ago, it immediately created a lot of confusion, creating an aura of inscrutability and mystery around the profession. And it is precisely this veil of mystery that we are going to lift to discover not only what the Product Manager does, but above all, how he manages to do it, or what technical and aptitude skills he uses to face his responsibilities.

 

Who is the Product Manager?

 

Multitasking professional, problem solver, team builder: who is the Product Manager really? Surely he is the Leader of a team, which takes care of the product and who knows how to solve and prevent problems through the application of specific methodologies. Already from this first synthetic description, it is possible to bring out the founding elements of the DNA of the PM:

• Team: no leader is alone and his success is measured only by the ability to lead the team towards the goal, making it participate in a compelling vision.
• Product: the study of the market and the analysis of customer needs define the characteristics of the product and the programmatic line of its development, in such a way as to always keep the product life cycle monitored.
• Method: the method of approach to work is an essential part of the PM profession. To successfully meet his responsibilities, the Product Manager uses methods of simplifying the process, focusing on high-impact actions. For this purpose, it uses methodological tools such as Scrum, a framework used to frame and address complex problems during the creation and management of valuable products.

“A superior man speaks through his actions. His words are matched by his deeds. In everything he says and does. You yourself want to stand up in the world, than help others to do the same. You yourself want success, then help others to do the same.” (Confucio)

 

Product Manager: definition

 

Among the various possible definitions, we have chosen that of Martin Eriksson, founder of ProductTank, and that of Ben Horowitz, CEO of Opsware.

The first one, graphically displayed the Product Manager in a Venn diagram, positioning it at the intersection of the Business, Technology, and UX segments.

While Horowitz defined the PM as “CEO of the product” by identifying the following points of contact between the Product Manager and the Chief Executive Officer:

• They set goals
• They define the contours of the mission’s success
• They motivate the team
• They take responsibility for the result

 

Product Manager: job description

 

We close this first introductory part with how we can define the classic job description of the Product Manager.

• Who?  Who is the Product Manager? The Product Manager is responsible for planning and managing the product throughout its entire life cycle.
• What?  What does the Product Manager do? During its mission he collects and defines priorities based on product requirements and customer needs, working in synergy with product marketing.
• Why?  What is the goal of a Product Manager? The final aim is to give life to the vision of a winning product, able to guarantee the achievement of the turnover objectives and the full satisfaction of the customer.

 

Do you know what the Product Manager does?

 

Now that we have defined the contours of the identikit, all that remains is to give it a soul, trying to bring out the personality traits and aptitudes of the Product Manager.

To do this, we take the best Product Managers as a reference: forward-thinking people, capable of guiding stakeholders, and able to set incredible product visions, such as Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Steve Jobs, Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer, or Tesla’s Elon Musk. and SpaceX. They perfectly embody the ideal of successful leadership and it is on that ability that they measure themselves.

Here are some of the resources that the aforementioned characters have put in place.

In 99.9% of cases the winning products are not made by a single thinker, but are the result of teamwork. The task of the Product Manager is therefore to develop, monitor and adapt the communication process and the flow of activities to achieve measurable objectives.

 

 

1. Learn from others

 

If you want to become a successful Product Manager try to imagine yourself as a gentleman thief who steals from others to return a higher value to the ‘stolen’.

It is said that Elon Musk in this skill is almost unbeatable. In the book “Elon Musk. Tesla, SpaceX and the challenge for a fantastic future “(to learn more about the topic click here) a SpaceX colleague said he was called to the Principal’s office and was put under pressure. The goal was not so much to test him as to absorb everything possible on the specialized task assigned to him.

What does Product Manager do? Practical tip. Plan the right set of questions to ask customers and the team. Listen to the answers without prejudice. Observe people in their natural environment and in normal working and operating conditions. Finally, it measures any discrepancy between objectivity and perceived.

 

2. Interdisciplinary curiosity

 

As a Product Manager, you cannot afford to limit your knowledge. All fields are investigable and each new input is potentially a generator of value output.

Once again let us be inspired by a Master: Steve Jobs. The founder of Apple, in 1972 attended a calligraphy course at Reed College, despite knowing that he would not obtain any useful training credit for the degree (never obtained, by the way!). Nowadays graphic artists and designers have unlimited fonts and creative interfaces also thanks to that apparently logical and out-of-the-way choice.

As Jobs himself reminds us in the book “I, Steve: Steve Jobs In His Own Words”: “Most people in our industry haven’t had very different experiences. So they don’t have enough points to connect and they end up producing too basic solutions, simply because they don’t have a broader perspective on the problem ”.

What does Product Manager do? A pill of wisdom! “Stay Curious”: Insatiable curiosity and relentless spirit of observation are two essential tools in a Product Manager’s toolbox.

 

3. Exciting vision

 

The vision of the product is the ability to create a stimulating perspective that welcomes the entire team within it and that reminds each individual member that any activity and initiative is directly linked to that vision.

The product manager while giving a tone and a voice to the product, understanding its weaknesses and strengths, and while making strategic decisions relating to that product throughout its entire life cycle, is also and above all the leader of a team.

His voice underlies every step of the project: “Follow me. The direction is right. We have a mission and we are animated by the same intent ”.

And the vision knows no boundaries! Think of the idea behind Tesla and SpaceX: save the Earth by aiming for sustainable energy and make the transition of mankind from terrestrial to interplanetary species.

 

 

Problems are the real opportunity

 

If “Behind every problem, there is an opportunity” (quoted by Galileo Galilei), the Product Manager knows that to carry out his mission well he will have to find not just any solution, but the solution that opens the door to a better opportunity, because it is simpler or cheaper than the current scenario. So here’s what the Product Manager does:

• He narrows the focus and focuses on the issues that are not only the most pressing but potentially the most scalable ones – those issues that offer the greatest opportunities for customers and for the product.
• Imagine how to make a difference, hypothesize an idea, apply a solution and correct the plan in progress.
• Finally, what does the Product Manager do? He lets himself be inspired and in turn, inspires internal and external stakeholders by telling stories that are easy to understand and in which to identify. Like that of Brian Scudamore, CEO of O2E Brands, the parent company of 1-800-JUNK, who brings together other entrepreneurs and visionaries like him on how he managed to surpass $ 200 million in turnover starting from his first truck trash removal (if you’re interested this is his page on Forbes).

 

Are we ready to overcome the concept of Product Manager duties?

 

We started at the beginning of this article with, at first sight, the elementary question “What does a product manager do?” and we gradually found ourselves talking about people who accept challenges, indeed who know how to invent them to anticipate change.

And it is precisely in the vision of change that the success of the Product Manager is at stake: not in the quantity of no received (they must be taken into account because they are an integral part of the plan), but in the quality of the yes won.

In between, there is everything you need to make a change of perspective and to finally bring out a competent and multifaceted professional figure who is outlined thanks to the technical, design and marketing knowledge, the application of sector methodologies, and finally, thanks to a vision that is both personal and collective.