What Does a Product Manager Do? | Intro to Product Management

WHAT IS A PRODUCT MANAGER?The role, the responsibilities and the

unexpected perks

YOU’VE HEARD THE WORD BEFORE, BUT YOU DON’T

QUITE KNOW WHAT THEY DO.

“Product managers”

(Good news! It’s less boring than it sounds.)

LET’S START HERE

Image credit: Martin Eriksson

“A good product manager must be experienced in at least one, passionate about all three, and conversant with practitioners in all.”

MULTIDISCIPLINARYProduct managers are…

@bfgmartin

Martin Eriksson, Co-Founder at MindTheProduct

STRATEGICProduct managers are…

“Your job is to deliver a product that is valuable, usable and feasible.”

@cagan

Marty Cagan, Partner at Silicon Valley Product Group

PERSISTENTProduct managers are…

“Articulate what a winning product looks like. Rally the team to build it. Iterate on it until they get it right.”

@tjack

Todd Jackson, VP Product & Design at Dropbox

COLLABORATIVEProduct managers are…

“You don’t need to have all the answers. But you do need to surround yourself with smart, experienced people and ask the right questions.”  

@simplybastow

Janna Bastow, Co-Founder at ProdPad

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THE BIG QUESTION

“What problem are we trying to solve?”

EVERY PRODUCT MANAGER ASKS:?

WHICH LEADS TO QUESTIONS LIKE…

What is our product vision?What do customers want?

What do customers expect?What’s actually doable?

What will help us meet our business goals?

SET A PRODUCT VISIONProduct manager responsibility #1:

MANAGE IDEAS & FEEDBACKProduct manager responsibility #2:

Image credit: Peter Thiel

PLAN & PRIORITIZEProduct manager responsibility #3:

Image credit: Janna Bastow

BUILD A PRODUCT ROADMAPProduct manager responsibility #4:

LEAD THE PRODUCT EXECUTION

•Support marketing, customer support and dev teams, especially for cross-team tasks

Product manager responsibility #5:

•Make sure every team is crystal clear how they’re supporting product goals

•Ensure clear deliverables product specs, user stories and release plans

SHIP!Product manager responsibility #6:

GET FEEDBACK & SHIP SOME MORE

Product manager responsibility #7:

• Collect feedback and satisfaction• Monitor behavior & usage analytics• Make a judgment call on next steps

SHIP AGAIN!Product manager responsibility #8:

PRODUCT MANAGERS USUALLY EXCEL IN ANOTHER PRODUCT DISCIPLINE FIRST

Product marketing

UX Design

Software development

(Although even this does not guarantee you’ll be a good PM.)

Customer success

BECAUSE BEING A GREAT PM REQUIRES SERIOUS PEOPLE

SKILLS.You’re managing people over projects.

You’re managing expectations over deadlines.

You’re a cheerleader - and sometimes you have to make tough decisions!

EXPERIENCE IS IMPORTANT

Because you need to understand how everyone’s jobs work so

you can work with them.

NATURALLY CURIOUS GOOD AT MANAGING PEOPLE CREATIVE

HUMBLE INQUISITIVE

BIG PICTURE THINKERS PRACTICAL DELIBERATE

AND VERY, VERY ORGANIZED.

Great product managers are:

Plus, they’re crazy passionate about the product they’re building.

(Otherwise it’s pretty hard to do.)

IT ATTRACTS PEOPLE FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE.

Trained violinist Former pizza parlor manager Former rocket scientist

@dreasaez @simoncastAndrea Saez, ProdPad Simon Cast, ProdPadMatt Bilotti, Drift

@mattbilotti

“The honest brokers who balance customer needs with engineering realities, market requirements with financial goals. We were the handful of matrixed product champions and driver-drivers who push great things out the door. Truth-tellers in the executive suite.”

LET’S GIVE IT A POETIC END, EH?

-Rich Mironov, author of The Art of Product Management

@richmironov

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