This book is about becoming an excellent product manager, and in this chapter, I want to be very explicit about what that really means.
But first, it's time for a little dose of tough love.
There are essentially three ways for a product manager to work, and I argue only one of them leads to success:
The honest truth is that the product manager needs to be among the strongest talent in the company.
My intention in this book is to convince you of this third way of working. It will take me the entire book to describe how the strong product manager does his or her job, but let me just say for now that this is a very demanding job and requires a strong set of skills and strengths.
The reason for calling this out so bluntly is that, in many companies, especially older, enterprise companies, the product manager role has a bad reputation. What too often happens is that the company takes people from other organizational roles—often project management or sometimes business analysts—and they say, “We're moving to Agile and we don't need project managers or business analysts anymore, so we need you to be a product manager.”
The honest truth is that the product manager needs to be among the strongest talent in the company. If the product manager doesn't have the technology sophistication, doesn't have the business savvy, doesn't have the credibility with the key executives, doesn't have the deep customer knowledge, doesn't have the passion for the product, or doesn't have the respect of their product team, then it's a sure recipe for failure.
There are lots of ways to describe this particular role. Some people prefer to focus on the raw ingredients of what makes a strong product manager. Others tend to focus on the product manager's day‐to‐day activities and what they'll be spending their time doing.
We'll cover all that, but to me what's most important to talk about is what product managers are responsible for contributing to their team. That's not so obvious for the product manager. It's not that unusual for people to question whether they even need a product manager. If they don't design and they don't code, why bother?
This is a clear sign of a company that hasn't experienced strong product management.
At one level, the responsibilities of the product manager are pretty straightforward. He or she is responsible for evaluating opportunities and determining what gets built and delivered to customers. We generally describe what needs to get built on the product backlog.
When a product succeeds, it's because everyone on the team did what they needed to do. But when a product fails, it's the product manager's fault.
Sounds simple enough. And the mechanics of that are not the hard part. What's hard is to make sure that what goes on the product backlog is worth building. And, today, on the best teams, the engineers and designers want to see some evidence that what you're asking to build is truly worth building.
But if you want to know why the product manager role is considered so important today by CEOs and venture capitalists (VCs), it's this:
Every business depends on customers. And what customers buy—or choose to use—is your product. The product is the result of what the product team builds, and the product manager is responsible for what the product team will build.
So, this is why the product manager is the person we hold responsible and accountable for the success of the product.
When a product succeeds, it's because everyone on the team did what they needed to do. But when a product fails, it's the product manager's fault.
You can start to see why this role is a proving ground for future CEOs and why the best VCs only want to invest in a company that has one of these proven product people as one of the co‐founders.
So, this chapter is really about what you need to do to succeed at this job. In that spirit, there are four key responsibilities of a strong product manager; four things that the rest of your team is counting on you to bring to the party:
First and foremost is deep knowledge of the actual users and customers. To make this explicit, you need to become an acknowledged expert on the customer: their issues, pains, desires, how they think—and for business products, how they work, and how they decide to buy.
This is what informs so many of the decisions that must be made every day. Without this deep customer knowledge, you're just guessing. This requires both qualitative learning (to understand why our users and customers behave the way they do), and quantitative learning (to understand what they are doing), which is what we'll talk about next.
It should go without saying as it's really table stakes for a product manager, but just to be clear, the product manager must also be an undisputed expert on your actual product.
Today, product managers are expected to be comfortable with data and analytics. They are expected to have both quantitative skills as well as qualitative skills. The Internet enables unprecedented volume and timeliness of data.
A big part of knowing your customer is understanding what they're doing with your product. Most product managers start their day with half an hour or so in the analytics tools, understanding what's been happening in the past 24 hours. They're looking at sales analytics and usage analytics. They're looking at the results of A/B tests.
You might have a data analyst to help you with this, but the analysis of the data and understanding you get of your customer is not something you can delegate.
Successful products are not only loved by your customers, but they work for your business.
The third critical contribution—and the one that is often considered the most difficult by many product managers—is a deep understanding of your business and how it works, and the role your product plays in your business. This is tougher than it sounds.
Successful products are not only loved by your customers, but they work for your business.
This means knowing who your various stakeholders are and especially learning the constraints they operate under. There are usually key stakeholders representing general management, sales, marketing, finance, legal, business development, and customer service. Your CEO is usually a very important stakeholder as well.
Succeeding in the job of product means convincing each key stakeholder that you understand their constraints and that you are committed to only delivering solutions that you believe are consistent with those constraints.
The fourth critical contribution is deep knowledge of the market and industry in which you're competing. This includes not only your competitors but also key trends in technology, customer behaviors and expectations, following the relevant industry analysts, and understanding the role of social media for your market and customers.
Most markets have more competitors today than ever before. Further, companies understand the value in making products that are sticky, and this means that it can be difficult for prospective customers to move from your competitor to you. This is one of the big reasons why it is not enough to have feature parity with a competitor. Rather, you need to be substantially better to motivate a user or customer to switch.
Another reason to have a deep understanding of the competitive landscape is that your products will need to fit into a more general ecosystem of other products, and ideally your product is not only compatible with that ecosystem but adds significant value to it.
Further, your industry is constantly moving, and we must create products for where the market will be tomorrow, not where it was yesterday.
As an example, as of this writing, there is a major enabling technology trend sweeping through our industry, which is based on machine learning and other forms of artificial intelligence. I feel comfortable predicting that this will be a major technology trend for at least the next decade, and this is why you need to love technology‐powered products. What is possible is constantly changing. If you're not excited about learning these new technologies, and exploring with your engineers and designers how you can use these trends to deliver dramatically improved products and experiences to your customers, then you really need to consider whether this career is for you.
To summarize, these are the four critical contributions you need to bring to your team: deep knowledge (1) of your customer, (2) of the data, (3) of your business and its stakeholders, and (4) of your market and industry.
If you're a designer or engineer, and you've been asked to cover the product manager role as well, then this is what you need to sign up for. I warned you—it's a ton of work.
One additional note: In some companies, there is so much in terms of industry and domain knowledge that the product manager may be supplemented with what are called domain experts or subject matter experts. Examples of domain experts can be found in companies that build tax software or create medical devices. In these cases, you can't expect the product managers to have the necessary level of domain depth, in addition to everything else. But these cases are fairly rare. The normal case is that the product manager does need to have (or be able to learn) the necessary domain expertise.
It normally takes about two to three months of dedicated work for a new product manager to get up to speed. This assumes you have a manager who can give you the help and access you need to gain this expertise, including lots of access to customers, access to data (and when necessary, training in the tools to access that data), access to key stakeholders, and time to learn your product and industry inside and out.
Now that we've seen what the product manager needs to contribute to the team, let's consider the kind of person who thrives in this environment.
The successful product manager must be the very best versions of smart, creative, and persistent.
The successful product manager must be the very best versions of smart, creative, and persistent.
By smart, I don't just mean raw IQ. I especially mean intellectually curious, quickly learning and applying new technologies to solve problems for customers, to reach new audiences, or to enable new business models.
By creative, I mean thinking outside the normal product box of features to solve business problems.
By persistent, I mean pushing companies way beyond their comfort zone with compelling evidence, constant communication, and building bridges across functions in the face of stubborn resistance.
The passion for products and for solving customer problems is not something I think you can teach. That's something you either have or don't have, and it is among the first things I interview for when I'm evaluating potential product managers. I assume that you have this.
Maybe this is a good time to be very honest with you about the demands of this role.
The product manager position is not a 9‐to‐5 job. I'm not saying you need to be in the office 15 hours a day, but I am saying that there is a ton of work, and it follows you home every night. Pretty much any other role on a product team is better if you're looking for a good work‐life balance. Now, I know it may not be politically correct to say that, but I don't think I'm doing you any favors by misleading you. The level of time and effort required by the product manager role is extremely tough to sustain if you're not personally passionate about your products and your role.
Perhaps the most important thing I can tell you to help you succeed is that you simply must take very seriously your preparation for this role.
I'm not saying that doing all this is easy; it's not. But believe me when I tell you it's table stakes for being a successful product manager.
In addition to giving you the theory and techniques in this book, I make a point of introducing you to real people—product managers who have done their job and done it well. These individuals include:
Anyone who's ever worked in product for any amount of time knows that creating products is never easy. I selected these particular individuals to illustrate the very difficult but essential contribution that comes from a strong product manager.
The products I highlight are all iconic, and you will immediately recognize them. But few people know the product managers behind these products, and even fewer know their backstories.
Each of the product managers I selected went out of her way to emphasize to me just how amazing their product team was, and how in no way was the success due to their efforts alone. But hopefully these examples help make clear to you the true and essential contribution of the product manager.
The big points I hope you take away from these examples are:
No matter what your title or level may be, if you aspire to be great, don't be afraid to lead.
You've likely encountered the term product owner, and you may wonder how it relates to the product manager job.
First, product owner is the name of the role on an Agile team for the person responsible for the product backlog. Keep in mind that Agile is used in all types of companies, not just product companies.
In product companies, it is critical that the product manager also be the product owner.
In product companies, it is critical that the product manager also be the product owner. If you split these roles into two people, some very common and predictable problems result—most commonly, the loss of your team's ability to innovate and consistently create new value for your business and your customers. Moreover, the additional responsibilities of the product manager are what enables good product owner decisions in a product company.
Second, while I always encourage product managers to learn the development process their team is using, taking a class or certification on the product owner role covers a very small part of the responsibilities of a product manager.
To summarize, product owner responsibilities are a small subset of product management responsibilities, but it's critical that the product manager covers both.
Product managers come to the role from any and all disciplines. Certainly, many come from computer science, while others may come from business or economics. But you'll find great product managers that come from politics, philosophy, art, literature, history—and everything in between.
If you want to be an engineer or a designer, there is an academic education to be had that will prepare you for a career in those fields. That is not the case with tech product management. That's because what's most essential for this job is the smart, creative, and persistent qualities I've discussed.
That said, I believe there are two specific academic courses that every product manager should take:
Introduction to Computer Programming
If you have never taken a course in a programming language, then this is your first necessary class. It doesn't really matter which language but not HTML. You can try to do this online, but I will tell you that many people struggle with learning their first programming language; therefore, an actual course for which you're accountable for turning in programming assignments every week is what it usually takes.
You may love it, or you may hate it, but either way it will fundamentally expand your technology horizons and enable you to have much richer discussions with your engineers and designers. It will also give you a better appreciation for the power of enabling technology.
Introduction to Business Accounting/Finance
Just as you need to know the language of computing, you also need to know the language of business. If you have never done so, you need to take a course in the basics of business finance.
You will need to understand how for‐profit companies work and the main business key performance indicators (KPIs) that are important to your business—including, but not limited to, lifetime value of customers, average revenue per user/customer, customer acquisition cost, cost of sales, and contribution margins, among others.
A good general marketing course will often cover these topics as well. The key is to make sure you gain a big‐picture understanding of how businesses work.
You can easily do this through a community college course or through self‐study, especially if you ask someone in your finance department to guide you a little. This is a good thing to do in any case.