Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication
The greatest inventor and an ancient product manager – Leonardo Da Vinci
If you really want to be a product manager, then the first question should be why and not how. However, keeping product thinking in mind, I must cater to the whims of the users, so here is the link to the part focused on becoming a Product Manager.
Why?
Why should you become a product manager? It could be –
- You have a flair for solving important problems, with solutions that magically fit, that others can’t or won’t solve
- You want to develop the skillset to identify, prioritise and solve your target market’s problems
- Both! 🚀
See the highlighted words? They are highlighted to emphasise –
Important : The Product Manager needs to cater to real genuine problems of the user, not slight inconveniences. Why you ask? Well you will only pay good money to rid yourself of a real problem, not a minor whine.
Magically fit : Well not magically, but a real Product -Market fit is kind of like snuggling with a loved one – it all just fits! The product needs to suit the market. Let’s imagine that its a rainy day outside and you don’t feel like cooking too much, or ordering fancy food. Let’s say you make yourself a homely tomato soup. What cutlery would you use to drink it? Suggesting a fork for drinking soup is criminal, even a ladle would work better, but a soup spoon, oof! Just hits the sweet spot doesn’t it?
Can’t or won’t : Here is where the fun lies. Real good Product Managers just solve the real tough problems that other Product Managers can’t, or won’t pay enough attention to! How you ask? We will come to that later, but for now, just remember this answer – Data! Great Product Managers have a good eye for data, which in the context, means anything that could be used to verify, validate or diagnose real problems.
Think of this – Have you ever solved someone’s pain point and made them smile? Deployed a quick/hot fix or “jugaad” and brought a smile to someone’s face? Thats kind of what Product Managers do!
What?
So what is a Product Manager? A Product Manager, is someone, who manages a product or part of it, and caters to his users’ real important needs, using the technology he can think of, in a financially sustainable way.
So what does being at the intersection of three very competitive fields mean? Does a Product Manager need to be an expert in all three? 😫
Nope! He just needs to be a jack of all trades 🤹🏼♀️, who can communicate with, juggle deadlines with, and get work done with all the three departments! You just need to understand their work, their language and their constraints to be able to deliver good products.
How?
Well this is the easiest part. Because here, you have a series of steps, which you can follow.
1. Build a tech understanding : if you don’t already have one. Every PM role has some tech involved, so you can’t avoid it altogether. You know web? that works. You know apps? That works too. You know nothing? We can still make it work. Read on here.
Focus is on the basics and to getting clarity in just a barebones architecture. Much of what you build in one platform, can be extended to others. It all boils down to an architecture like this –
a. UI
b. Database
c. Communication between components and to external systems
So whats the best thing you could do, if you haven’t already done? Build a product. Any product. Any lame ass product you could think of. It could be a HTML, CSS website, an iOS app, an Android app, an Angular or React website or a Flutter App. Anything.
2. Build a Design Understanding : No one wants an efficient as **** product, that they have to take tutorials after tutorials to use! Your users just don’t have the time. The Product has to be intuitive and catchy. It needs to be aware of –
a. The natural way that a user would choose to interact with your product (Human Computer Interaction – HCI or Interaction Design – ID)
b. Users’ visual, and textual vocabulary : Come on man, you have to know the symbols they can identify and use! Everyone thought this 💩 was something else, while it was originally designed to be an ice cream 😂.
c. Some basics of UI design, to make sure you can identify the basic faults at least. We all know the three tap rule for mobile apps right? (Any feature/part of the app must be accessible within three taps)
3. Get your hands dirty : Product thinking is something that comes with one of the following three –
a. Designing a product from scratch : Think of a problem, identify any ONE feature that is most important, and design it from scratch! How? Use something like this tool!
b. Product teardown : Take a product, which you use daily, and conduct a teardown – Which means dissect it. Still clueless? You are at the right place! A teardown is nothing but a critical review of a product or any one of its features, to see how it works, what it does to onboard and engage users, what are its faults, how successfully it solves their problems, etc.
c. Solve product case studies : Download a host of sample Product Management case studies from the internet, and create pitch decks, solving the problems asked. Get these graded by qualified PMs, or contact us!
4. Understand and get along with – People! : A real Product Manager, might not have ANY authority to impact change! (Wait, I thought he was the mini CEO 😫)
Well he is, and he is not. Confusing? Let me explain.
A real PM, starts off with just a mandate, a charter or a corner of the app, which he or she owns. He does not have direct reportees. He does have access to the Design department experts, to the Tech developers, and to the Business and Account managers, handling the product. So how does he –
a. Create new features
b. Solve operational problems that crop up with his section of the app
c. Decide and oversee the execution of the roadmap of his section of the app
d. Get feedback and interest from the team, in his work
Well a real PM, would simply do all this, by getting buy-in! It means, he/she would do his homework, research the problem at hand, develop an ass kicking solution, and then pitch it to his team, as if they are VCs and he is an entrepreneur! The team would then decide the prioritise his feature/enhancement, design would create the mockups, tech would develop the features and business would oversee the go-to-market strategy implementation and support. Wait wait wait. So what would the PM do again?
The Product Manager would create something called a Product Requirement Document or PRD.
So where does the human touch or a PM’s soft skills come into play? Well, obviously, if a Product Manager shares a nice rapport with his team, his work gets done faster! So play hard but play well. This is especially true, since most teams would have autonomy, and almost no work would get done, without their combined support. Since Design, Tech and Business people would be slightly busy at most great companies, without good social skills, your work could end up, slightly towards the bottom of the pile!
Thats it for now, stay tuned for more content, aimed at helping you understand – How to be a Product Manager? Click here for part 2