A Product Manager's Random Thoughts

Welcome to this new blog. I have another blog for my work where I talk about the vision I have for the products I am responsible for. I created this one to share some completely different things such as my perspective on product management.

One might think that this discipline is well-known as we all know product managers and we have some idea as to what they do. To be honest I think it is not that simple. First there is a lot of confusion on what the role of product manager is, especially as it compares to product marketing. Second companies often get totally confused as well and treat product managers as glorified presales, only in charge of helping sales close deals.

My definition, which is in line with the teaching of Pragmatic or Sequent Learning, is way more strategic. To me, there is no doubt that product management is about charting a course. Knowing the industry and the market, the idea is to figure out an innovative way to solve a business problem. Part of it is expertise and part of it is art -- product managers can't be "simply" running a list of features.

Feels like Product Management 101, and it is, but I have met many many many product managers that do not get it and keep focusing on putting on paper what is requested without questioning the WHY. Why would anyone want that feature? What are the users really trying to do? Take a step back and visualize the problem, visualize the solution, question the approach, validate the approach and never rest ;-)