After reading the preface and first chapter of LeMay’s Product Management in Practice, I see a product manager’s job as a much more fluid list of tasks and objectives than before. Whereas I thought a product manager was essentially a liaison between the engineers, designers, and users prior to reading this, I now have a much more nuanced understanding of the job. I had also heard the saying that a PM is the “CEO of a product” which led me to think that they are directly building it or managing the people building it, but I understand now that this is not the case. Instead, the PMs are held responsible for the success of a product at every stage, and it seems like they are expected to communicate with other teams and users to turn complex data into actionable insights and make sure that a product not only delivers what it promises but continues to improve after launch. However, I also learned that they do not necessarily manage these other teams as I was led to think previously. I was also surprised to find out that there is such a high degree of ambiguity in the job, which means PMs are constantly adapting to new information and learning new things.
Questions I have for the author:
- I assume there is a steep learning curve, as mentioned in the chapter. Knowing this is the case, how can a PM get used to this ambiguity without feeling overwhelmed or making costly mistakes?
- How do you think the PM role will evolve with the rise of AI and data-driven tools becoming more prominent in the product lifecycle?
- Since different teams have different areas of expertise and priorities, I assume people do not always agree with each other or the PM. When there are disagreements between teams, who decides what to do or prioritize and how do you decide which direction to take a product?
