Thought
What do Product Managers Actually do?
The role of a product manager varies across organisations depending on the industry, stage of the company (e.g. start-up, scale-up, mature), company size, nature of the product and company culture. For example, start-ups may focus on frequent incremental delivery and experimentations to determine product market fit while a mature company may spend more time researching and validating to minimise impact on existing large customer base.
The responsibilities may also vary between product managers in different companies. I’ve seen product managers who are responsible for product delivery but don't own the product strategy. I've seen product managers who are accountable for establishing the product strategy but don't get involved in the execution of their strategy. As the responsibilities of a product manager can vary greatly, the role demands a diverse set of skills.
What sets an average product manager apart from an outstanding one?
"A role of a Product Manager is to discover a product that is valuable, usable and feasible" says Marty Cagan, the author of one of my favourite product management books, 'Inspired'. I love this quote because it reflects Marty's product philosophy on the importance of creating products that provide value to users, solving real customer problems, and delivering a delightful user experience.
In his book, Marty talks about three types of product managers:
- A product manager who likes to escalate all decision making to a CEO or the senior management. Marty describes these type of product managers as the ‘backlog administrator’ – they simply manage the product backlog and works with the delivery team on execution. I see Certified Scrum Product Owners often falls into this category – obviously not all but many do.
- A product manager who likes to escalate decision making to a group of stakeholders. Marty describes these type of product managers as the ‘roadmap administrator’ – they are seeking design by committee to prioritise the roadmap features. From what I have experienced design by committee doesn’t work because you end up with a mesh mash of ideas and a very mediocre outcome.
- A product manager who can make decisions and is accountable for the outcomes. Marty describes these types of product managers as the ‘real product managers’ – they have a deep understanding of the customer, data, industry knowledge and their business. I see this group of product managers making data driven decisions and understand both customer and business needs.
A product manager’s role is so much more than managing JIRA tickets, running scrum meetings and facilitating stakeholder meetings. It requires strong leadership skills and business acumen.
A great product manager:
- Understands customer needs and is able to create value for customers while creating value for the business
- Empowers the cross functional team members to deliver products that solve customer problems while ensuring the business objectives are met
- Balances strategic thinking with tactical execution and is constantly seeking ways to improve the product and drive growth.
What do you think?
Julia, the product gal
August 2020