Because the definitions we have stink
A New Definition of Product Management
There’s a lot of confusion about what it takes to be a successful product manager. Understanding that product management isn’t a role – it’s a set of principles – is an important start.
In 2008 Ben Horowitz penned the now infamous-in-some-circles definition “a product manager is the CEO of their product." In 2015 Martin Eriksson published an article that traced the history of modern product management to the role of the Brand Man at Procter & Gamble. The Brand Man exists in the promotions department and uses field studies to create sales improvement plans. Both articles miss on critical points: they classify product management as a role rather than a set of principles, and they don’t address how product management is about exercising power.
A New Definition of Product Management
Product management is more than a tactical field study of “dealers and consumers.” It’s not a department, or a role, or a set of duties, or a pumped up title.
Product Management is a set of principles about using power to get customers what they want even when customers don’t know what they want.
“A product manager is the CEO of their product.”
“Oh really? Can they fire people who aren’t performing?”
Why Implement Product Management
When it works well, product management creates Confidence, Clarity, and Customer Connection within your organization. If you don’t have these three, you’re not practicing product management.
1) Confidence
We know what we’re doing and we know where we’re going.
2) Clarity
We can explain what we do to our grandmothers, and they say, “Oh, that’s cool!”
3) Customer connection
We love our customers enough to see them clearly, and they love us back enough to send us referrals.
We can’t sell without confidence and clarity, and we don’t know what to sell without customer connection.
Just like I’d like a world with no police because everyone obeys the law, I’d like a world with no product managers because everyone practices the discipline of product management.
Product Management Skills
What are the skills required to meet this new definition of product management? Glad you asked.
| Skill | Why it matters inside your organization | Why it matters outside your organization |
|---|---|---|
| Emotional intelligence: the ability to understand what others are feeling, what you’re feeling, and how the two interact. | To lead you need to appeal to people’s emotions. How else are you going to get people who don’t report to you to do what needs to be done? | You need to know when it’s OK to ask for a reference, when it’s OK to upsell, and when you need to apologize. It’s amazing how often we get these wrong. |
| Negotiation: getting something you want by giving up something you don’t. | You have to prioritize and say no while building enthusiasm for your objectives. | Customers must always feel like they’ve won, even when you made out like a bandit. |
| Patience: understanding the value of time. | Time is more precious than money; it cannot be renewed. | No one runs on your time, and it’s irresponsible to think you can make them. |
| Responsibility: owning performance. | What you can achieve depends on the people you work with. Performance requires your responsibility for people, especially if people aren’t responsible for themselves. | A frank admission of fault goes a long way toward restoring trust. Never whitewash. |
| Curiosity: a desire to hear opinions and ideas that challenge your own. | You don’t know what’s best because best is limitless; something else could always be best. | There is so much to learn. Only fools are certain and assured. |
Skills can be improved by applying intelligence. Being smart does not makes us bad or good; it helps make us competent.
Alexander the Great gets a lesson about virtues from Aristotle. It worked out well for him. It will work out well for you, too.
Product Management Virtues
With much thanks to Aristotle these are the virtues that are essential for practicing the discipline of product management.
| Virtue | Why it matters inside your organization | Why it matters outside your organization |
|---|---|---|
| Truthfulness | This should be obvious. | Ditto. But don’t tell everything you know. |
| Generosity | There’s lots of ways to be generous. Most are very cheap and easy. The cost of stinginess is greater than the savings. | This may be the only virtue that’s universally admired. Generosity attracts a crowd; everybody loves a big tipper. |
| Courage | The future is always uncertain. Moving into it requires courage. | Our customers are our children; we have to keep our heads and project confidence to them. |
| Right Ambition | Over ambitious leaders are ultimately destructive, though their fall may take a while. Under ambitious leaders are too small to attract the best. | We are always a small part of our customers’ lives. We have to respect that. |
| Customer focus | Don’t be selfish. We’re nothing without customers. | Ditto |
Virtue and vice are byproducts of your actions. Thoughts and intentions have nothing to do with virtue and vice. It’s what you do that matters, not what you think.
Elizabeth I was product manager for a whole empire. And you though you were busy.
Product Management Duties
A lot of duties besides “get customers what they want” are often associated with product management. Here’s a partial list:
Product Iteration - Do-overs, a.k.a. “Don’t ship the prototype.” Harder in practice than people like to admit.
Product Vision - The thing that keeps changing, unless it doesn’t.
Product Strategy - How to reach the vision. In World War II, the vision for the western democracies was the unconditional surrender of the Axis powers. “Europe first” was the strategy. Everything else was tactics.
Product Experience - What is it like to consider, purchase, and use the product? This is where you show your love. Think long term, happy marriage. As Betty Davis famously said, “Product management is no rom-com.”
Product Position - What do you wear to the dance, where do you stand on the floor, and what do you say to your prospective partners? Yes, it’s that hard.
Market Research - What’s everyone else wearing to the dance?
Product Alliances - Who should I go to the dance with?
All of these activities are helpful, but none are core for understanding and delivering what customers want. At worst, they become tedious, bureaucratic distractions. What we do – processes and tactics – are always changing. Our principles should not. If you get the principles right, you’ll get the processes right. If you put processes before principles you get how agile is implemented in most organizations: all ritual and no spirit.
You don’t need product managers, but you need product management principles. Master those in your organization, and you’ll win your customer’s love.
Core Responsibilities of a Product Manager
So if product managers aren’t mini-CEO’s and they aren’t Brand Men, what are they? What do product managers do?
Product managers use persuasion, negotiation, inspiration, and other forms of soft power to get customers what they want in ways that build value in the business. If you’re using soft power to influence others to get customers what they want, and you’re doing it while building value, you’re practicing principles of product management.
Here’s a link to great list about what tasks an effective product manager might tackle in a week. Spoiler: It’s lots of difficult discussions with a wide variety of stakeholders to solve undefined problems. To do that well, you need to practice the skills and virtues of product management.
Margaret’s duty is to inspire you. You have a duty to inspire, too.
Who are some famous product managers?
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