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
- Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Method 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
