How to become an (even) better product manager.
I have been a product manager for over 12 years. At first I wasn't even aware that my role was that of a classic PM
I have been in love with product management for over 12 years. At first, I didn't even realize that my role was that of a classic product manager. In the past 12 years, I went through several promotion processes and moved into management positions in the product area by changing jobs. Especially at the beginning of my career, I often had no idea about the skills that were expected of me in my role.
Questions like “What makes a good product manager?” “What else do I have to learn to be promoted?” and “Why are others climbing the corporate ladder but not me?” have often occupied my thoughts. I didn’t understand many things until I was in a management position myself and had the task of leading product managers. After this experience, I can say in retrospect that my managers could not have answered my questions either. In most companies, it was (and is) evaluated based on gut instinct or company-wide, role-independent standards.
When I became a manager myself, I started looking for tools to make assessments easier. Methods that help me understand where I stand, what I can expect from my employees, and how I can support them in their development. Because I learned one thing quickly: All the product managers I have worked with had an irrepressible hunger to develop themselves, learn new things, and further expand their skills.
An assessment based on gut feelings leads to a bad feeling on both sides, a loss of trust, and frustration among employees. I wanted to change that.
Two Tools in Comparison
For me, two authors particularly stood out from the multitude of ideas. On the one hand, Ravi Mehta with his tool “What's your Shape” and the “Self-Assessment Tool” by Marty Cagan. Both have created categories for different strengths that, based on their experience and research, make an outstanding product manager.
Marty Cagan — Developing Strong Product Managers
In his current book “Empowered,” Marty Cagan summarizes what I have also observed increasingly. In product-centric companies, product leaders lead less and less and are increasingly becoming coaches. It is particularly important to focus on the skills that are required for the respective job and that can be specifically promoted in order to further develop yourself or the employee. Cagan divides the skills into 3 categories.
1. People, Processes, and Product
This category contains criteria in the areas of product knowledge, process understanding, and leadership skills. Under product knowledge, Cagan summarizes topics such as user-centricity, data-centric work, industry, market, and domain knowledge. If product managers do not have these strengths, the foundation for working on the product is missing. It indicates that the PM lacks the skills to put themselves in the customer’s shoes. They tend to struggle to understand the customer journey and are not able to combine it with extensive knowledge of the market, competition, and trends to create added value for the customer and the company.
2. Product Process, Tools, and Techniques
The more experience a product manager gathers, the more extensive his “toolbox” is, i.e. the tools and techniques he uses to collaboratively develop exceptional products. These include skills in the following areas:
- “Product Discovery” — the ability to discover a customer problem and develop solutions for it together with his cross-functional team.
- “Product Optimization” — the ability to optimize an existing product permanently and in small steps.
- “Product Delivery” — the ability not only to develop an idea but also to achieve a successful “Go-To-Market” together with the developers and the customer success, sales, and marketing teams.
- “Product Development Process” — the question of whether the product manager masters the entire product process and not only focuses on an excerpt such as building the product but also accompanies research and Go-To-Market.
3. Leadership Skills
Product managers in individual contributor roles do not have direct management responsibility, but in their role within a cross-functional team, they still need leadership qualities. Really good products are only created when the team works closely with one another, respects each other, and shares a common vision. Achieving this is one of the jobs of a product manager.
Skills outside of the team are also required to inspire others and keep them in the loop. Only through close cross-departmental cooperation can a product be understood, sold, and developed by the entire company. Accordingly, stakeholder management is a task that no PM can avoid.