How Does A Successful Product Manager Think & Act ?
Any Product as an idea comes into existence and grows over the period of time, it is the product manager who ensure it is evolving, growing in right direction and is sustainable over a longer period of time.
Product Manager’s Mindset : How They Think & Work:
Have you ever imagined what goes inside product manager’s mind, how s/he thinks while s/he is preparing to take up the challenge of building a product among all the uncertainties and chaos.
So let me help you decode the product manager mindset based on my past experiences as a product leader.
1. They Start With Why ?
The first and foremost priority of a product manager is to understand the why of the product .
Why this product even exist? Without getting the answer for this question s/he should not progress. So any great product leader has this amazing ability to ask relevant questions.
Product leaders are curious soul who acts like an explorer, who always want to know the answers and learn .
2. They Are Customer Obsessed:
When their inquisitive minds gets into action they always ask this one important question to themselves and to their stakeholders.
Who is going to use this product? Who are the beneficiary ?
They try to get the answer to this imperative questions so that they can understand the requirements, the pain points the product needs to solve .
The role of a product manager is to be a champion of the customer first philosophy and understand their customers personas, and sentiments deeply. They empathise their customers a lot and this makes them a real winner.
They identify their customers, often interact with them through all possible channels either physical or digital to understand their requirements and map it to their product designing and development strategy.
For product managers customer delight is paramount.
So they work really hard to design the solution which gives awesome user experience. The first impression of consumer when any products get’s into their hand should be nothing less than a wow, this is the dream of any great product manager.
3. They Analyse Then Decide:
Product managers are great with data. They break down all possible data sources analyse them to deduce what needs to built and what needs to be left out or put into product backlog.
So if product is being developed from scratch then product manager need to closely gather all the data either through relevant sources or through survey or via third party API. They work closely with customers to collect required data points. Based on all initial set of information they gather, they create the product requirement document.
Data is a lifeline and if not captured in a right way can lead to a fractured product, which may struggle to sustain.
They are responsible to improve the existing product and scale it to meet the business needs. They work with data analytics team very closely. They need to understand how their users are behaving to refine their product requirements.
User retention and engagement becomes very crucial metrics which product managers always track in-order to measure the product impact.
4. They Are Profound Listeners:
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No product mangers can ever release awesome product without being a profound listener.
This one skill comes to them naturally, they are not only a patient listener but also a great observer. They silently pick relevant information and knows when to ask relevant question to validate their thought process.
5. They are extremely Smart & intelligent Communicator :
Being a product manager has lots of challenges
Product Management Lessons : Challenges & Opportunities Part 1
so if you really have to succeed in this domain you need to be a smart communicator. You will be required to buy in, your stakeholders, developers, designers, end user and mind it convincing all of them, aligning all of them is not an easy game.
You have to play like a true captain who manage thier troop with utter clarity and conviction. Yes there will be a moment of chaos and disappointments but you need to stand out and articulate great people management skills to communicate the product roadmap and expected outcome.
Let me summarise, with this informative graphics. It lays down the point i am trying to make very clearly.
Summary:
So remember
- Be Humble
- Empathise Customer
- Analyse Data
- Document Requirements
- Communicate Clearly
- Innovate Always
- Lead With Conviction
- Learn Always
And you will become a champion product leader for sure.
Thanks for being there with me and reading my learnings. Hope i made some sense and if not i am willing to learn through your valuable feedback.