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How to Spot a Good Product Manager

Product manager roles rolls vary based on the company size but typically focus on the 7 P’s (People, Product, Packaging, Pricing, Placement, Promotion, Positioning).

The short answer, ask the right “what if” questions to the right people to solve meaningful problems for customers in creative ways.

Product Strategy

  • Deliver on Business Objectives
  • Own Product Life-cycle
  • Evaluate COGS
  • Promote Innovation
  • Build Channels
  • Manage Risk
  • Create Markets

Good product strategists are always two steps ahead of everyone else, answering critical questions before asked.

  •     What are the front lobe issues of customers or users?
  •     What new products should we develop?
  •     What existing products should we discontinue?
  •     How long will it take for a sales cycle?
  •     Is the a market or financial window we need to hit?
  •     Do we need to diversify the revenue mix?
  •     Do we have under used assets we could leverage?
  •     Do we have a sustainable value prop?
  •     Should we product bundle or package differently?
  •     What pricing strategy should we use?
  •     Do we have the resources to deliver?
  •     Do we need to generate demand?

Product Owner

  • Budgeting, Forecast
  • Requirements & Use Cases
  • Competitive Analysis
  • Market or Technology Expert
  • Segmentation Research
  • Prototypes & Pilots
  • Feature Backlog
  • Product Launch
  • Cross-functional Team Leader

Daily duties of a product owner focus on the 4D’s (Definition, Design, Development and Delivery).

  •     Establishing goals for your team
  •     Aligning them with corporate business objectives
  •     Developing product specific road-maps
  •     Working cross-functionally to deliver the product or prototype
  •     Conducting market research
  •     Technology assessments and competitive analysis
  •     Developing business cases
  •     Pricing strategies
  •     Build/buy/partner development or manufacturing
  •     Iterative design UI/UX and A/B or multivariate testing
  •     Develop product positioning
  •     Conducting webinars, and press briefings
  •     Speaking at industry events
  •     Analyzing performance, win/loss and conversion metrics

A few basic rules have served me well as a product manager.

  • Listen twice as much as you speak
  • Learn about who you are building product for, not what to build
  • Have genuine empathy for users and customers
  • Never get caught in features race with competitors
  • Eat your own dog food but never forget you are not the customer
  • Pay attention to details they really count