“Product Management in Practice” gives readers a candid point of view on the challenges and complexities of product management from someone who has spent years in the industry. Instead of being a conventional step-by-step guide on how to be a good product manager, the focus is on the ambiguity, contradictions, and compromises that product managers must handle each day. I see the role of product manager as a sort of “ultimate middle man” whose job it is to keep everything on track between people and teams for a good or service. The reading highlights that product management is a connective role that requires a lot of balancing. In this reading, Matt LeMay also explains that not only is the role of a product manager a bit nebulous but so is the title of the job itself as it varies across companies (e.g. program manager, growth product manager, etc.). I like LeMay’s approach of viewing product management as a practice where success is built through experience (and the helpful tips LeMay gave). I think that this idea in combination with being an ultimate middle man could make a successful product manager.
I would be curious to ask the author a few things. First, I wonder how LeMay would recommend that new product managers navigate new settings and the initial confusion that seems to come with the job. LeMay explains that asking questions or trying to appear smarter does not typically work and leaves product managers at all levels confused. However, despite explaining what product management is and isn’t, I am not sure that I would be more prepared for the first day at a company after reading this paper. I would also ask how product managers can check themselves for the negative personality types LeMay discusses (the overachiever, the jargon jockey, etc.) and make sure they are fostering a positive work environment.
