It’s funny because going into this article, I had the question — “So what exactly does a product manager do?”
And coming out of this article, I have this answer — “So a product manager does… everything? And no one really knows what this ‘everything’ means.” I heard a whole lot of “it depends” and “it’s ambiguous” from this article. In the “What makes a great product manager section,” the author answers in vague paragraphs about being generally tech-savvy and business savvy and how there’s no classic mold. But in the “What makes a bad product manager” category, the author lists out specific, bullet-pointed traits and personas that DO NOT work. And perhaps that’s the real secret behind product management — when it works, it works. No one cares about your background and howyou got there — you are responsible for it working, and when it works, however it works, you have succeeded as a PM!
But I realize that that’s the charm of being a product manager, and that living in the ambiguity is a particular skill. In reflection of my own background, I’ve always been pretty indecisive. My undergrad is in AI, which I honestly feel pretty pessimistic about. I pivoted to HCI Master’s to get a taste of design, and my background in Visual Arts makes this part of the job very satisfying to me. I also like the broad, big-picture view that business offers — instead of being a builder in the passenger seat, being a businessperson puts you in the driver’s seat of the vision of the product. Maybe this propensity to wear different hats is exactly what would make me a great PM. But also, maybe this indecision in ambiguity would be my downfall. I guess we’ll have to see to find out.
I liked the difference between the skills required to be a designer, engineer, and businessperson VS. the skills requied to align them. What intrigues me about product management is how people-oriented the role is. You are only as good as the designers, engineers, and finance heads who work under you. Not only that, but you are only as good as how well you can sew the people who work under you into one effective team. In my previous SWE jobs, I hated that the job was so lonely and independent. No one cared if I showed up the office except the CCTV camera. Overall, I feel optimistic about my fit to product management — and if it doesn’t work out, I guess it wasn’t meant to be.
Amazon always needs more SWEs anyways.
