I like to think of the product manager much like I think of the mitochondria. Like the powerhouse of the cell, the PM is the powerhouse of the team that ultimately delivers.
In the preface and first chapter of “Product Management in Practice,” Matt LeMay emphasizes repeatedly the conception that PMing is all about building products that people love, when really it involves so much more. I wanted to try a PM role because I always loved building cool stuff and talking to lots of people. Seemed like the perfect fit for someone who was interested in CS/tech, no?
Before ever experiencing a PM position, my idea of a PM was kind of that of a people pleaser (which I now know is flawed). I knew that a PM should be making the customers happy by giving them great stuff. I also thought that everyone had to like the PM, since they’d be asking their team members to do things they didn’t always want to do. And sales/marketing must love the PM since they’re shipping out more products that could better the business.
My idea has changed. In my 12-week internship this summer, I was tasked to create something from the ground up and see through the entire product lifecycle. After this, my perception of PMing has shifted from “people-pleaser” to “need-fulfiller.” It’s not about an exact person you have to make happy, it’s about taking concrete problems or pain points and translating them to tangible solutions that address these problems. PMs aren’t just great presenters; they can speak well because they’ve done TONS of listening to their customers and their team.
LeMay also brings up the idea of “lots of responsibility but little authority” that Christina discussed in class. I’m especially worried about this as someone who might be a lot younger than everyone on my team as I enter work right after college. Something that a mentor brought up with me was the importance of building personal relationships with the people you work with, so that you can feel comfortable asking them things (probably to do things for you) in the future and that they might be more open to help you out. (Of course, this isn’t to say that PMs’ relationships are strictly transactional, just pointing out one huge reason why being a friend in the workplace is important for a PM.)
So, what is a PM? A listener, an empath, a decision-maker, a friend, a deliverer.
Question for Matt LeMay: under the profile of a bad PM, you described the “Overachiever” and the “Product Martyr,” which was both relieving and confusing to see. What, if anything, distinguishes the desire to do better than your assigned task / go above and beyond from the Overachiever? And can you say more about why the Product Martyr is bad — is it because of the way they treat other people, or is there something about the act of “product martyrdom” itself that’s harmful?
