Product management is not about:
- Asking customers about the requirements
- Writing detailed specifications
- Creating prototypes instead of designers
- Instructing developers on what to do
- Verifying and accepting the work of others
- Obsessing over velocity, deadlines, and roadmaps
- Mastering the role of the Scrum PO to perfection
- Acting like the CEO of the product
Anyone can do that.
It's about:
- Understanding the market and the business in depth
- Focusing on customer's problems, needs, and desires
- Collaborating closely with engineers and designers
- Identifying opportunities, ideating solutions, and tackling the risks together
- Marrying customer goals and business goals
- Influencing others to work toward the common goal
- Being humble (it's ok not to be the smartest person in the room)
- Leading without authority
Start with those questions:
- Why are we building this thing?
- Why are we building it now?
- For whom are we building it?
- What's the unique value of our product?
- How is it aligned with the company's vision?
- How is it aligned with the business strategy?
- What does success look like? How can we measure it?
- What are the critical customer jobs (functional, emotional, social)?
- How will it affect our customers and users?
- How will it create value for the business?
- Can we buy it instead of building it?
- How can we make sure that our customers would love it?
- Can our business support it (e.g., legal, finances)?
- How can we bring it to the market? Do we have the required channels?
- Is it feasible? Can our engineers implement it?
- Should we do it at all? Are there any ethical considerations?
- What are the other risks? How can we mitigate them?
- What are the riskiest assumptions? How can we validate them?