Product Management , the Secret Sauce

I read an interesting post in Ed Sim’s VC blog. He encouraged startups to invest early on in good product management. The comment touched off a number of thoughts and observations I've accumulated over the years. Everyone says they need good Product Management. But how many can actually define the precise characteristics that make a great Product Manager? I’ve found that most people define the role by simply listing various responsibilities – authoring MRDs/PRDs, defining use cases, gathering requirements, etc. If it were only that simple. I’ve witnessed many a product manager execute brilliantly in each of these responsibilities, yet struggle to bring their product to market. It certainly begs the question – “what separates successful product managers from unsuccessful ones?” I believe that the characteristics that define success transcend the skills necessary to execute on these deliverables. Product Management is much more than just writing MRD's and gathering requirements.

A while ago, I was asked to speak to the SVPMA, a local group of Product Managers and Product Marketing managers. The topic was Leadership in Product Management. If a product manager gets lost in simply turning in their deliverables, yet fails to exhibit adequate leadership, they will not be successful. Specifically applied to this role, the notion of leadership is largely derived from a product manager's ability to positively influence all the product stakeholders – executive management, engineering, marketing, and sales (to name the common ones). How can a Product Manager garner the political capital to do this? One solution I’ve seen is to simply have most of these cross functional contributors report directly to the Product Manager. What’s very common in Enterprise Software, however, is to give the Product Manager all the responsibility for the product, yet none of the authority to manage the cross functional team members. There is no doubt this is an extremely difficult challenge to undertake. However, the resulting situation is a crucible that can refine incredibly valuable leadership skills.

Recently, I participated as a panelist for a Norcal PDMA event. Based on the audience Q&A, many in this role are hard pressed with the day-to-day challenges and are eager to cultivate leadership skills. There are two things I always try to impress upon product managers. The first is to cultivate a reputation at your company for having the most knowledge about your product, your customers and your market. In any one area, there may be those who are more knowledgeable. However, the Product Manager must be the most knowledgeable regarding all three simultaneously. The Product Manager must understand and communicate the dynamics between these three areas. Engineers will listen eagerly to the Product Manager who rattles off anecdote after anecdote of real customers and the problems they wish to solve using the product. Executive management will eagerly listen to the Product Manager who explains very clearly where the product is differentiated and also where it is deficient relative to other choices in the market. Developing this type of credibility gives the Product Manager the necessary leverage to get things done. However, they need to go one step further. They cannot make the mistake of establishing credibility and not utilizing their clout to make decisions.

Things brings me to the second thing I try to impress upon product managers. They need to demonstrate a backbone for decision making. I’ve interviewed many candidates, fresh out of business school, who have a very difficult time making hard decisions. These candidates are extremely intelligent, and are very familiar with the classic product development cycle. However, when I ask them a simple question that has no perfect answer, they get extremely flustered. Perhaps we are programmed to look only for tidy solutions. In the real world of enterprise software development, a product manager earns respect by being able to make tough decisions when there is incomplete data and non-ideal choices for outcomes.

The big irony in all this is that Product Managers who are able to demonstrate this level of leadership eventually choose not to stay in Product Management. Their leadership skills provide opportunities with much higher visibility and much greater reward.