This reading had a very interesting perspective on the role of a product manager. From class, we discussed how PMs have more ownership of Strategy, Goals, and Projects. However, I think that the reading argues that PMs have much less ownership/power than we think they do. According to the author, PMs have a lot of “responsibility” without a lot of “authority.” PMs get work done through “politicking” in the company. Getting products worked on may mean meeting someone for coffee to convince them that the work you are proposing is worth working on. I’m curious if this is the case for all companies. In larger companies with a more structured PM organization, do PMs still have to “politick”?
PMs are also responsible for all work in the project. According to the reading, PMs in small companies may even take over the role of an HR representative or a designer or a researcher. It seems like PMs have to be jacks of all trades in order to make sure that they can serve in any role that is more needed. As the company gets larger, the role of a PM becomes more specialized since there is less need to cover roles from other people. I definitely noticed this at my SWE internship at Square this summer. Since Square is such a large company, the PMs do not do much work in design, but they still do a lot of user research with a research team.
Finally, PMs have to connect people and be the glue of the team. Whenever there is a lot of people working on a project, there are many different visions. PMs have to champion one main vision to make sure that everyone is on the same page. PMs also have to manage the emotions of the team. People skills are crucial.
