The PM Journal | Log 09

Happy World Product Day!! 🤗🌎

(Photo by fauxels from Pexels)

Today I have decided to share a note that I created a long time ago after listening to a podcast about Product Managers staring Marty Cagan. I apologize in advance but I could not find the link. I will add it here once I get it.

The job of product management is to discover a product that is valuable, usable, viable, and feasible.

This is just a more detailed version of a simple list that I keep in my phone notes, but it has been helping me a lot to become a better product manager and to grow every day. Important to highlight that the list below was created according to my understanding and opinion after listening to the podcast.

A Product Manager should…

• Understand data: We should live & breath data. It assists us to make more reliable decisions.
• Get to know customers: Take time to meet the people that buy and/or interact with your product. Communicate with them and listen carefully to what they have to say. Any feedback on your product can turn to new insights or new opportunities.
• Test your products: Run experiments, usability tests, interviews, prototypes, POC's… anything that will support you to get answers if you’re moving in the right direction.
• Combine qualitative and quantitative feedback: In order to make a trustworthy decision, you should consider these two types of research when doing discovery as they complement each other. Combining them to make a decision provides you with different findings and points of view.
• Understand techniques for product discovery: A diversity of techniques, tools, methodologies, frameworks… exist today to perform a good discovery. As PM, we need to know which one would match properly in different scenarios to get more effective results. But before processes, the main reason is to mitigate risks and answer questions to deliver a product that people will love.
• Understand how to apply technology to solve new problems: Nowadays there is a huge variety of trends and technologies, and a PM should use them to solve problems by identifying possibilities to improve your product.
• Understand how to work with designers, stakeholders, and engineers: Part of our day-to-day is stakeholder management, and please them. It is crucial for us to do this well. Because they are the ones expecting answers and results, and we are the ones that make the bridge between them and product development, so we have to be extremely aligned. Also with designers and engineers. Those roles do not collapse either overlap. You are all equals in a team, but it is your responsibility to lead them to build the best product collaboratively and understand the purpose of the duty with our internal and external stakeholders. Share ownership and autonomy, work together in accomplishing the outcomes.
• Ensure as the top priority to make sure the team is creating a successful product: That is self-explanatory. Identify what and how the product has been a success. Create success metrics, experiment, get feedback… Learn fast to act quickly.
• Switch industries pretty quickly: It does not mean that you have to learn about every single market trend, and have a deep understanding. It means that you need to be able to change projects or companies and understand what is going on in specific businesses to target the correct audience and comprehend the markets’ risks. Keep an eye on what is happening in the world in different markets, follow trends, read the news. When migrating to another industry, make sure to research about it.
• Don’t focus on the domain, focus on the product manager skills: Hard and soft skills are extremely important for every professional. PM needs numerous skills to tackle the daily work. We always have to be learning new things to improve what we do. It does not matter that you are notably awesome in a domain if you lack essential skills to communicate the product.
• Be able to rapidly learn new domains: Do not be stuck in one knowledge, open your mind to uncover new and interesting areas. Again about being able to shift between industries, you will have to be determined and willing to rapidly absorb the new field.
• Measure product success: KPIs, OKRs, and/or any other method you use to measure your product success what is critical to keep in mind is to objectify, have goals established and aligned user needs, know what does success means to your product.
• Work directly for somebody that has done before: Find a person to mirror hers/his path. A person that inspires you and that you admire. A person that will teach you, will help you grow, and be a better product manager.
• Be empowered to make decisions along with the team: A missionary team works toward a mission, a goal. And this product team has the autonomy to build a product the way they believe is the most suitable to achieve an outcome. Working collaboratively to mitigate risks. They are the ones on the frontline. They know their users. Executives have to trust and empower the team allowing them to do what they were hired to do and make product decisions.
• Figure out customers and relevant data before starting the product discovery: As Product Manager, you must know your customers. But not all of them will be the users of your next opportunity. Create and validate personas to best address the needs and identify behaviors. Also, pull relevant reports that will help clarify uncertainties and build arguments for discussions and ideations.
• Have a sense of problems: Problem-solving is one of the most valuable and must-have skills for a Product Manager. You are dealing with problems almost every day. And your product itself should be implemented to solve problems and overcome obstacles in regular use for your audience.
• Understand how to best meet customer needs: L-I-S-T-E-N your users! Get feedback, identify different behaviors and usage. Talk to them, ask for their help. Observe them, their routine. Empathize with their pains and needs.
• Leverage the organization and the technology that drives the organization to deliver that particular solution/experience to those customers: Self-explanatory. Be a good Product Manager means that you have to lead people (read lead, not manager). Share your knowledge, influence people to be their finest, and how to do better.
• Speak customer, ux design, business, and tech languages: You do not have to wear their hats and do their jobs. But you need to be able to communicate with each one of them and speak equally.
• Have a vision to where she/he wants to take the product/solution: Not only literally have a product vision, but looking ahead to where you want to get and achieve. As a Product Manager, we should know that every product has a life cycle. And it requires us to figure out what we must do to keep it up climbing the mountain and gaining the levels of users and markets. What future demands.
• Move forward and learn new things: The worst thing that can happen to someone is to accommodate and stop growing. Carry on and do not give up. Keep learning.
• Attitude for cross-functional understanding: Maintain the understanding clear. Be a strong product person to sustain the commitment. Listen to your teammates and bring them closer to the product and users on every possible occasion.
• Response for new realities: Anything can happen at any time in any domain. We have to respond to change and act quickly.
• Have curiosity: Try new things, learn new things. Be curious to discover unconventional possibilities. Curiosity encourages you to think outside the box and to ask various questions, that contribute to brainstorms.
• Be humble: The most valuable soft skill we must have as Product Managers. Think positively. Be proud of your achievements. Find good in every situation. Be optimist! Things will always work-out 🙂

We are a united product community that is committed to delivering products that people love! I hope you find this list as helpful as it is for me.❤️

(Please notice that I’m not native in English and I apologize for mistakes)