I see the value of a product manager’s job to be the center and leader of a given product. This means that they must take the delivery and produce a valuable output in an ever changing environment.
This reading made it crucial that the most important part of the job is to ensure that every person on the team for a given product is working at full potential. This means to begin by making sure that everyone is on the same page, ensuring that they are all doing what they are supposed to, unblocking all fellow coworkers. Additionally, it is important to ensure that each member is willing and eager to contribute, as LeMay noting that the best product managers make employees “feel excited to show up for work in the morning.”
Additionally, it is clear that a product manager’s role is not a set definition with a set amount of rules. Different projects require different skillsets, inputs, and objectives. Thus it is important that a product manager be willing and able to take on different responsibilities as they arise so that they can best assist in the development of a given product.
A few questions that I have left are first, how does a product manager strike the balance of holding key stakeholders responsible without being an authority figure? LeMay stresses that product managers are not overbearing ‘bosses’ yet I wonder what techniques they implement to ensure the team is delivering at a high quality.
Another question is what level of technical understanding across each key category (design, eng, business operations, etc.) do successful managers have? Again LeMay notes that having a rigorous technical understanding is not crucial, but I wonder what level is important to have.
