What Defines a Great Product Manager? Skills and Strategies for Success

What is the Role of a Product Manager?

The role of a Product Manager (PM) is often described as that of the “CEO of the product.” However, this analogy can be misleading. As Martin Eriksson highlights, PMs typically lack direct authority over critical aspects necessary for product success, such as user research, design, development, marketing, sales, and support. Thus, the PM role can vary significantly based on various factors. If you’re contemplating a PM position, consider these three primary factors: core competencies, emotional intelligence (EQ), and company fit.

Core Competencies

Every PM must develop a set of core competencies, which can be nurtured through education, mentorship, and experience. Essential competencies include:

• Conducting Customer Interviews and User Testing: Understanding user needs and behaviors is fundamental to product development.
• Running Design Sprints: Facilitating collaborative design sessions to prototype and test ideas quickly.
• Feature Prioritization and Roadmap Planning: Determining what features to develop based on user feedback and business goals.
• Resource Allocation: Balancing team capabilities with project demands is more art than science.
• Performing Market Assessments: Analyzing market conditions to inform product strategy.
• Translating Business and Technical Requirements: Bridging the gap between technical teams and business stakeholders.
• Pricing and Revenue Modeling: Developing effective pricing strategies to maximize revenue.
• Defining and Tracking Success Metrics: Establishing KPIs to measure product success over time.

Mastering these skills enables PMs to reflect on the outcomes of their decisions and continuously improve based on user feedback.

Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

While knowledge of product management practices is essential, high emotional intelligence distinguishes the best PMs. Key EQ traits relevant to PMs include:

• Relationship Management: Building authentic connections with stakeholders to inspire collaboration and resolve conflicts. Strong relationships can help gain support for product initiatives and foster customer loyalty.
• Self-Awareness: PMs need to maintain objectivity and avoid letting personal preferences overshadow user needs. A lack of self-awareness can lead to poor prioritization decisions and erode trust within teams.
• Self-Management: PMs face significant stress from competing demands. Those who manage their emotions effectively can maintain team confidence and focus on priorities without succumbing to panic.
• Social Awareness: Understanding the emotions and concerns of both customers and internal teams is crucial. PMs need to build social capital within their organizations to influence product success effectively.

Company Fit

Possessing core competencies and high EQ is vital, but applying these traits in the right company environment is crucial for success. Consider these factors related to company fit:

1. Technical Skill Requirements

Depending on the product and company, the necessary technical expertise can vary widely. For instance, a SaaS product may prioritize market strategy over technical depth, while a data science product may demand a robust understanding of machine learning and APIs. Here are a few of the key areas in which companies differ in what they want from a PM:

• Technical Skill Level: The type of product, who uses it, and the company’s focus will determine how technical a PM needs to be. For example, Google requires PMs to pass a technical skills test regardless of the product they’ll work on. If the company is building a SaaS CRM, there may be more requirements around experience with go-to-market and customer life cycles than around how the product is built. In contrast, a data science product may require much more technical depth to understand how to build the product and communicate credibly with customers.

If you’re an aspiring PM concerned about lacking the basic tech skills for the role, consider taking online courses such as the renowned Introduction to Computer Science (CS50) course offered by Harvard University or one of the many intro and advanced technology courses available through platforms like The Flatiron School.

2. Company Philosophy about PM

Different organizations have distinct approaches to product development. Here are three common models:

1. PM Drives Engineering:

   • Pro: Engineering can focus on coding without distractions; this approach often works well for waterfall development shops with long life cycles.
   • Con: Engineers may lose sight of the big picture and not develop empathy for customers, leading to a poor user experience. This can create unhealthy tensions when technical debt and “plumbing” work need to be prioritized over customer requirements.

2. Engineering Drives Product:

   • Pro: Breakthrough technology can offer customers things they didn’t know they needed. An example is VMware’s VMotion, where an engineer thought of an innovative solution, and a PM figured out how to monetize it, resulting in significant revenue for the company.
   • Con: Engineers may chase new ideas or over-architect solutions, ignoring PM input on priorities and basic customer needs.

3. The PM-Engineering Partnership:

   • Pro: This collaborative approach fosters joint discovery and shared accountability, leading to better design processes, improved user experience, and higher-performing teams with enhanced product velocity and quality.
   • Con: Breakthrough innovations might not receive the necessary support to get greenlit, and time-to-market may seem to lag, although what is released tends to align more closely with customer needs.

3. Stage of Company

The PM’s role can differ significantly between startups and mature companies. In startups, PMs often handle a broader range of responsibilities, while in larger organizations, their roles may be more specialized.

Startup: Beyond discovery, definition, and shipping, PMs may also be responsible for pricing, marketing, support, and potentially even sales of the product. These PMs thrive in a scrappy environment and are comfortable with ambiguity and frequent changes to direction as the company works toward product-market fit and learns to operate at scale.

• Pro: PMs are likely to be more involved with company strategy, gain exposure to senior leadership and the board, take more risks, and make a bigger impact. They also have more influence and authority over company resources.
• Con: There’s typically little to no mentorship, role models, or best practices within the company. (You may have to seek it externally.) Budgets are typically tight, and PMs may not have the requisite experience to succeed at some of the tasks they’re assigned.

Mature Company: The PM may have a narrower scope and work alongside colleagues who handle pricing, go-to-market strategies, and more. They are likely to be part of a larger team of product managers.

• Pro: PMs are more likely to have mentoring and role models, as well as established development standards and best practices. Close association with an engineering team can create strong relationships over time, which is beneficial for long-term impact and career growth. If the product has market fit, there is an established customer base and performance baseline to work from, versus guessing until you get it right.
• Con: PMs have less exposure to company strategy and are just one of many voices of the customer. They can get “lost” in the system and have to deal with more politics and tighter budgets.

Founder/CTO/CEO Relationship with PM

Especially in earlier-stage companies, it’s important to know how involved the founder/CEO/CTO is in the product process. If they are deeply involved, the PM role may play more of a support role, fleshing out their ideas or validating concepts with customers, rather than conceiving and driving ideas of their own. This can be enjoyable for some PMs who appreciate partnering with founders and C-level executives and collaborating on product evolution. However, it can be frustrating for others who prefer to take more ownership of the product direction. Additionally, if the more technical founders or C-levels prefer working directly with engineers, this can leave PMs out of the loop or undermined (sometimes unintentionally), causing not just personal frustrations but delays. When considering a PM role that may work closely with the founding leadership team, be sure to find out their expectations of the PM function and decide whether this aligns with your interests.

Conclusion

In summary, while the PM role encompasses a wide range of responsibilities, it is shaped by individual competencies, emotional intelligence, and the specific company context. Aspiring PMs should reflect on these aspects to ensure they align with their career aspirations and work styles. By focusing on the right competencies and seeking the right company fit, you can maximize your potential for success as a product manager.

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