Generally, it seems that the term jack-of-all-trades has a negative connotation; no one wants to be considered a “master of none”. However, the discipline of product management challenges this perception, shedding light on a professional role that is founded on the need for individuals with wide and diverse skillsets. In the corporate world, the “master of none” is actually one of the most integral players in the day-to-day operations of a company. If every employee was able to function perfectly, communicate effectively, negotiate intelligently, and collaborate respectfully, perhaps there would be no need for a facilitator. But this is never the case; product managers are needed because they form the glue that binds individuals together in a fast-paced and ever-changing work environment.
LeMay’s most memorable point was that “the skill of actually figuring out what you need is probably as important as what you do after you figure it out.” There is always a major focus on what to do, but almost never a spotlight on the process of figuring out what to do. I experience this all the time in group projects; my teammates and I are excited and ready to conduct our tasks…but not as excited about investing time in outlining what exactly those tasks are (or what the most effective strategies are for deciding which ones to tackle first.) Lemay describes how this problem persists in companies of all sizes, from startups to mid-sized organizations to some of the largest corporations in the world. Work and workflows are ambiguous, and it’s not enough to just summarize them into “let’s make products people love.” I felt that this first chapter was a very rich introduction into the PM space that helped shift my perspective away from that five-word summary.
I found LeMay’s discussion regarding ADPRs (ambiguously descriptive product roles) fascinating, mostly because I have always grouped product managers, program managers, product owners, etc. into their own miscellaneous category. Not only are the names similar, but the general job descriptions seem identical as well. I was surprised to read that in LeMay’s opinion, an ADPR would never truly gain clarity on their job; I had always assumed that I was unique in my confused understanding of the role. But the truth is, an ADPRs role can never truly be defined, and a big part of the job is embracing that uncertainty.
Finally, this chapter made me appreciate further the abstract values that PMs decode and instill into their teams. In class, we discussed Bruce Tuckman’s ‘Developmental Sequence in Small Groups’: Form, Storm, Norm, Perform, Adjourn. At first, it was challenging for me to grasp these five abstract terms. How can an employee dissect the importance of “forming” and “storming”? But after discussing Tuckman’s proposed schema and analyzing LeMay’s thoughts on a PM’s role, I felt that i understood better the ways in which PMs must embrace these abstract action verbs and transform them into real action items for their teams.
