Initial Impressions
I found this reading to be particularly helpful because prior to this class, I honestly had no idea what product management was. I had seen TikTok skits where product managers threw around buzzwords like Scrum and Agile in daily standup while engineers complained about how much of an impediment they are in actually getting work done. Of course, I understood these videos to be a bit hyperbolic, but what exactly a product manager does still eluded me, at least until this reading.
What is a Product Manager Anyway?
As the reading alludes to, many people misunderstand what product management is, myself included. As I understand it now, at a high level, a product manager is someone who helps manage building products. In practice, this involves facilitating communications between the many teams working on different parts of the product as well as between the people in these teams.
One point that resonated with me is that a key responsibility of a product manager is to “deal with ambiguity,” followed by the notion that there is no single correct definition of product management. On a day-to-day basis, this means that what a product manager does can vary greatly, from meeting with developers and designers to conducting interviews with prospective users or contractors. As such, the roles and responsibilities of a product manager depend on what the company needs. As the reading puts it, “if it needs to get done, it’s part of your job.” Rather than being the boss of a team or actually building the product, a product manager serves as the kind of connecting glue that ensures the different teams in a company can coordinate with one another to get things done. In practice, this involves attending a lot of meetings to ensure that everyone is kept up to date, similar to what the TikTok skits I had watched suggested.
Given that a product manager may have to wear many hats, there really is no such thing as a typical profile for a good product managers. Some PMs come from business backgrounds, while others come from technical backgrounds. In my experience, a lot of people whom I have known to go onto product management roles have come from computer science programs. But what is fundamental to a successful product manager is being proactive in communication. While one person cannot know every single detail that goes into building the product, it is the PM’s responsibility to connect with the right people to figure that out. As such, product managers are essential to the smooth operations of the company.
My Questions
If I were to sit down with the author, Matt LeMay, I would ask how a new product manager can balance all these responsibilities without being overwhelmed. As someone from a technical background, I would want to know how I can prioritize learning skills to become a good PM. I would also be curious to hear his thoughts on how AI is impacting product management.
