Lessons to be an effective Product Manager
By: Rohit Sinha
Tags: Product Design, Product, Product Management, Product Development, Product Manager

You are the CEO of the Product! It is perhaps the most common statement that we come across with the role of a Product Manager. Ask someone what a Product Manager does? The chances are that you would hear a wide range of vague ideas. It was not different for me either, I have faced many situations that have made me reflect on my understanding of the role. Though one of the most critical roles in Software development, a Product Manager is possibly the most misunderstood position.

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It has been almost five years since I started my journey as a Product Manager, yet I find myself learning something new day in and out. During this period, I have had the opportunity to work with few fantastic individuals who have shaped my thought process.

A Product Manager works with cross-functional teams to build solutions or features that best solve a problem. This problem has the customer experience at its heart and is of value to the business. They are not “the” decision-makers on the contrary, they are empowered individuals who help key stakeholders and teams chose the best path forward. I often find myself playing the role of the evangelist working with business, design, and engineering to drive the product vision.

Through this journey, I have found the following key lessons that have helped me work best with my teams:

1. You are not the CEO of the Product!

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Yes, you read it right. As a Product Manager, the first thing you should be clear is you are not the CEO. A CEO holds a position of authority. A Great CEO would empower you to speak your mind without having hesitation. However, as a Product Manager, you don’t have the final authority in an organization. Your job as a PM would always be about helping key stakeholders (including the CEO) to take the right decision backed by data or by solid user research.

2. Never fall in love with your ideas, they are all experiments. Treat them like one.

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It is very natural to feel passionate about our ideas. After all, we nurture them like our own children. We spend hours planning and envisioning them. As Product Managers, we should see the idea like an experiment. Even before being executed, the idea needs to be supported with the highest probability of success. And once implemented, their success needs to be measured. This kind of reflection helps in evaluating the true success of the product.

3. Build a strong feedback loop with Engineering.

It is fundamental to build a mental paradigm to treat Engineering as a key stakeholder in product development. I have seen dozens of projects get derailed because the product failed to bring in engineering feedback in their design stage. For any product MVP, you should always aim for the cheapest and best way to achieve the product goal. Developer feedbacks are crucial in ensuring a near-perfect execution.

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Moreover, building trust with the engineering team has often helped me influence decisions within a development cycle. If your development team feels confident in sharing their opinion, they will bring challenges and blockers to your notice sooner.

4. Talk to your users!

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No amount of data or mathematical model can replace taking direct feedback from the user. It’s paramount for you to understand your target users. Take customer success calls, organize interviews with users who love using your product, users who have churned over time. Go to Reddit channels where users share their feedback, look for mentions on Instagram or Facebook. Even for breaking a habit chain that your users have, you need to understand their objectives while using your product.

5. Always keep re-evaluating the priorities of the product.

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Keep asking, Of the thousands of things you can be working on, why have you picked what you are doing right now? How does it fit the vision of the product? Is it aligned to the market opportunities the organization is targeting? Does it contribute to the broader product goals? Asking these questions helps us narrow down the focus on the prime objectives that the business needs. Building a product at the right market and at the most opportune time is key to its success.

Conclusion

As product vision evangelists, we should constantly strive to free our minds of inherent prejudices. We need to evangelize the product vision and help the cross-functional teams within a product-led organization build the solutions that matter to our users and helps to add value to the business.