What exactly does it mean to be a product manager?
From the reading, foremost I take back that a product manager is a problem solver, (which btw also fits pro**** ****er). Further, the specific ways in which one ends up solving problems is a function of both their skills and the requirement of their specific sitation. This entails the following:
A product manager is a leader – one who takes less credit than they deserve, and one who takes more blame than is due unto them.
A product manager is a pragmatic inspirer – one who aligns people on personal and common objectives, so that individuals channel their energy towards a common goal, while simultaneously bettering themselves.
A product manager is an orchestrator – one who marries user demand with business goals, as well as the technical and operational capabilities of their team.
A product manager is the hidden lubricant that connects seemingly disconnected individual components of a company, and makes them work together.
Once I look at these aspects of a product manager, I see them in everyone who is a problem solver. For example, my advisor, who runs her lab is also a product manager, where the product is meaningful research, and the users are the research community at large. When my parents organized my sister’s wedding, they were product managers – the product was the event and the users were both my family but also everyone else attending. An entrepreneur trying to build and validate a brand new product is also a product manager, except their product is the primary product of their company and their team is the entire employee base; and the stakes are escalated to the point that they make or break their company. A team captain is a product manager, in say hockey (or any substantial team sport) – the product is the team’s performance, and the users are the fans.
And finally – I am a product manager; managing my own time; but also a small team of some senior and some junior researchers – our product, is small set of research products, and the users are we ourselves, our own futures which depend on the quality of our research, as well as the audience that consumes our research.
Question for the speaker – how do you ascertain whether you are doing something suboptimal, or if the team is doing something wrong, especially in times of relative failure? How do you know when to change your strategy, and when to change your team? Further, how do you do the same thing when you’re doing well?
