Three Things I Learned About Product Management
For more than a decade I’ve been a product manager in the hi-tech industry. During this time I had many accomplishments as well as my fair share of failures, I experienced a wide range of methodologies and technologies, I worked with some crazy creative people (along side some plain crazy ones) but mainly, I learned a lot. I learned in various institutions, I learned from experience, I learned from failures, but mostly — whether it’s my teammates, my managers or the people I lead — I learned from the people I worked with.
There are many aspects to product management, but in the spirit of Steve Jobs (is it still legal to say I can’t stand the guy?) who said managing priorities is not deciding what to do or what to do first, but the art of deciding what not to do, I decided to focus on what I think are the 3 most important things for a product manager.
#1 — Create Value
Whether it’s about the product you’re building or it’s about you and the work you do, if you don’t create value than why did you bother getting up in the morning?
If the product you created doesn’t provide real value to its users it will fail, no matter how cool it is or how well it’s designed. In the long run, only true value will keep your users engaged and your product live. However, if your product does create real value, to real people, in the real world, you’ll be surprised how forgiving your users are to outdated design, UI problem and technology glitches (yes, Waze, I’m talking about you).
Same goes for you, if you feel you don’t provide value in your current position, consider changing it.
#2 — distinguish between time to doubt, discuss & debate and time to simply push through
It goes without saying how important it is for a team to have independent thinkers. People with different opinions, outlooks and believes are key for generating a creative environment which enables out-of-the-box solutions to the many challenges you’ll face on the road to a successful product.
However, not once I had to deal with team members who made being the devil’s advocate their trademark and continued to challenge every decision long after it’s been taken. This attitude undermines the product and the team instead of helping them grow.
It’s super important to challenge the conventional wisdom and break the oh-so-common group think, but (and that’s a big but), once a decision has been made it’s critical all team members, including those who thought different, will stand behind it as one and follow it through the best they can. This is twice as important if the decision turned out to be wrong or the move failed (this is the place to emphasize the importance of differentiating between a bad decision and a wrong decision. The fact a decision lead to a bad outcome doesn’t mean it was the wrong decision to take, and vice versa). It is when an outcome turns out to be less than optimal (let’s be honest — these are the most common cases) that staying united and avoid the blame-game is most important. Want to know the shortest way from my office to the door? Say “I told you so”.
#3 — keep open, attentive and ready to change
Like any other aspect of life, a good product manager needs to be able to listen to others. Keeping an open mind, accepting ideas other than your own and being able to change course (pivot) when necessary are must-haves for leading a team and building a successful product.
It seems trivial but you’ll be surprised how many times I’ve seen product managers metaphorically banging their heads against the wall, believing it will eventually see the light and come toppling down. True, it sometime works and then everybody hails the visionary product manager, the wo.man who saw the light when everyone else were blind, who went against all odds and won and so on and so forth such clichés. Sadly, life is rarely so romantic and no one (not even Donald Trump) holds the key to life’s depths of wisdom. So, if you don’t want to be like that broken clock, showing the correct time twice a day, then learn to accept criticism, admit when you’re wrong and lead the product in directions someone other than yourself suggested. This is key if you are to become a good product manager and a true leader.
These are but 3 out of many things you need to learn and qualities you need to develop if you wish to become a great product manager, however if you master these three, you’re surely on the right path.
