Good to great Product Manager

A friend of mine recently asked me about what makes a good product manager. There is vast material available on internet around this (see this, this and this), so I will not delve into those details. Instead, based on my own experience working as Product Manager, here are three important things that would probably make you from good to great!

• Work on 80-20 prioritization - Figure out those 20% things from feature backlog that would get 80% value to customers. Use whatever aids in that 20% selection, from number crunching around customer value, to using customer prioritization models, to 100 dollar tests, to market analysis, to competitor analysis, etc. but don’t underestimate your intuition value. Navigating your way through various quantitative models and deciding on final prioritization is an art that is mastered over time!

 

• Knack for a sharp user experience- Take a cue from Apple products aka Steve Jobs factory! No matter how good the back-end system is, the product user interface has to look sleek to be able to sell. Although most companies will have a team of Usability Designers to design your product, having an acumen for usability is an important aspect of product management skillset. 

 

 
 

• Ability to influence  All- Successful PdMs are great negotiators and influencers. Make friends with all, including key customers, engineers on the product, and internal stakeholders. You should be able to convince and motivate your team about what they need to build and in the time asked for! Internal stakeholders have to be sold of the idea at each level and battling politics even before its sold to customers .

 

Photo Credits
http://hardcourtlessons.blogspot.in/2010/10/influence-is-like-flowers-and-candy.html
http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/should-apple-make-a-macbook-ipad-hybrid
http://simplify360.com/blog/listen-and-say-80-20-rule-of-social-media/