The difference between good and exceptional often lies in a set of distinct behaviors, traits, and habits. Exceptional product managers (Product Managers) possess a unique blend of skills that enable them not only to manage products effectively but also to innovate, inspire teams, and drive meaningful outcomes. Let’s delve into six key traits that set exceptional Product Managers apart.
1. Understanding Customers Deeply
In the realm of product management, distinguishing between a good Product Manager and an exceptional one often boils down to how well they understand their customers. An exceptional product manager possesses an uncanny ability to delve into customer insights beyond what is explicitly stated. They anticipate unarticulated needs and pain points, crafting solutions that resonate even before customers realize they need them.
Why Customer Understanding Matters
Steve Jobs once famously remarked, “It’s not the customer’s job to know what they want.” This sentiment underscores the Product Manager’s role in interpreting customer needs proactively. By gaining a profound understanding of their audience, Product Managers can innovate and improve user experiences in ways that exceed expectations.
Methods for Customer Understanding
Achieving this level of customer insight requires systematic approaches:
- Customer Discovery: This involves immersive methods such as interviews, focus groups, and observational studies to uncover deep-seated customer preferences and behaviors.
- Validation through Prototyping: Product Managers validate hypotheses by launching Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) and collecting real-world feedback to refine product-market fit.
- Listening to Customer Support: Directly engaging with customer support calls provides invaluable real-time insights into user frustrations and needs.
- Data Analysis: Utilizing data from sources like NPS surveys, funnel analysis, and usability tests to uncover patterns and preferences among users.
- Customer Advocacy Programs: Establishing panels or advocate groups of loyal customers for ongoing feedback and validation of product ideas.
- PR FAQ Approach: Crafting a hypothetical press release and frequently asked questions (FAQs) document forces Product Managers to articulate the value proposition clearly from the customer’s perspective.
The Impact of Deep Customer Understanding
By immersing themselves in these practices, exceptional Product Managers not only gain clarity on current customer needs but also anticipate future trends and demands. This foresight enables them to steer product development initiatives that resonate deeply with their target audience, ultimately driving long-term success and customer loyalty.
2. Clarity on Long-Term Direction
The ability to navigate towards a clear, long-term vision is what separates exceptional Product Managers from the rest. A very good product manager possesses a deep understanding of where they want their product to be in the future—this clarity forms the foundation for effective product strategy and roadmap planning.
Understanding Vision, Strategy, and Roadmap
- Vision: The vision is a statement of the ultimate goal or end state that the product aims to achieve. It should be bold, inspirational, and futuristic. For instance, envisioning a defect-free, seamless ordering experience where customer cancellations are eliminated entirely sets a high bar for customer satisfaction.
- Strategy: While vision sets the destination, strategy outlines the path to get there. It involves making deliberate choices on how to realize the vision. Strategies may include incentivizing high-performing restaurants to reduce order cancellations or empowering them with tools for better order forecasting.
- Roadmap: The roadmap translates strategy into actionable steps—a specific list of projects and initiatives spread over multiple quarters. It details the execution plan derived from the chosen strategy to achieve incremental milestones towards the overarching vision.
Example from the Field
During the speaker’s tenure at Swiggy, they faced challenges with order cancellations, a critical issue impacting customer satisfaction. Their vision was straightforward: to achieve a flawless ordering experience without any cancellations. This vision not only aimed at reducing defects but completely eliminating them, setting a bold standard for operational excellence.
Flexible Strategy Implementation
In tackling restaurant-side cancellations, their strategy involved both incentives and empowerment. They incentivized restaurants with exemplary cancellation metrics while equipping them with advanced tools for better order management and forecasting. This dual approach aimed to foster a culture of operational excellence among their restaurant partners.
The Importance of Vision Clarity
Jeff Bezos once emphasized being “stubborn on vision but flexible on details.” Exceptional Product Managers embody this philosophy, maintaining an unwavering commitment to the long-term vision while adapting strategies based on evolving insights and market dynamics. This balance ensures alignment between short-term execution and long-term objectives.
3. Embracing Lean Product Management
In product management, success often hinges on the ability to make informed decisions quickly and efficiently. An exceptional product manager understands the value of Lean Product Management—a systematic approach to minimize uncertainty and maximize learning through iterative development.
Understanding Lean Product Management
- Purpose of Lean Product Management: At its core, Lean Product Management is about leveraging a structured process to deeply understand customer needs and validate product assumptions. It encourages Product Managers to focus on maximum learning with minimal initial investment.
- Role of MVP (Minimal Viable Product): The MVP concept, popularized by Eric Ries, emphasizes launching a product version that allows for maximum validated learning with minimal effort. This approach helps Product Managers gather crucial feedback early on to refine their product strategy and features.
Implementing MVP for Maximum Learning
- Launching into Uncertainty: Product managers often face uncertainties about customer adoption, feature relevance, and business impact. By launching an MVP early in the product lifecycle, Product Managers move from uncertainty to clarity through a systematic build-measure-learn cycle.
- Example of Effective MVP Strategy: Consider Dropbox’s initial approach—instead of building a fully functional product, they created a simple demo video showcasing their cloud-based file-sharing service. This video not only validated market interest but also significantly increased their beta sign-ups overnight.
- Avoiding Common MVP Myths: It’s crucial to dispel myths around MVPs, such as focusing too much on minimal features or prematurely pursuing revenue goals. The essence lies in achieving product-market fit—where the product resonates with customers and solves real-world problems effectively.
Case Study: Adobe’s Smart Procedure App
During the speaker’s tenure at Adobe, they developed a new app aimed at digitizing paper-based procedures for enterprises. Through initial debates and discussions, they crafted what they believed was a compelling feature set. However, it was only when they launched the MVP and gained feedback from real customers that they unearthed invaluable insights.
- Real Customer Insights: Customers highlighted unexpected needs, such as converting existing procedures from Word documents to the app’s XML format. This feedback prompted us to rethink our utility offerings, demonstrating the power of real-world validation over hypothetical planning.
Advantages of Lean Product Management
- Iterative Improvement: By embracing Lean principles, Product Managers continuously iterate based on customer feedback, gradually refining their product until achieving a robust product-market fit.
- Reduced Risk: Launching MVPs mitigates risks associated with large-scale product launches by validating assumptions early, thereby optimizing resource allocation and reducing time-to-market.
4. Prioritization
The ability to prioritize effectively can often spell the difference between success and stagnation. This skill is not merely about selecting what to build next but also about having the courage to say no—to ideas, features, and opportunities that might distract from the core mission. Let’s delve into how exceptional product managers (PM) master the art of saying no while steering their products toward sustained success.
The Challenge of Prioritization
- Why Prioritization Matters: Product Managers constantly face a barrage of requests—from customers, sales teams, engineers, and their own ideation process. With limited resources and time, prioritization becomes critical to focus efforts where they will have the most impact.
- The Power of Saying No: Contrary to common belief, saying no is a strategic move. It ensures that Product Managers maintain focus on core objectives and avoid diluting efforts across too many initiatives. For instance, during the launch of Amazon’s B2B marketplace, the decision to focus on SMBs instead of enterprises was crucial. It allowed the team to align with simpler requirements and stay on track with their initial goals.
Strategies for Effective Prioritization
- Understanding Frameworks: Product Managers utilize various frameworks to prioritize effectively. One such framework is the Impact vs. Effort matrix, where features are categorized based on their potential impact and the effort required to implement them. Features with high impact and low effort are prioritized, while those with low impact and high effort are avoided.
- Embracing the MVP Approach: Whether launching a new product or enhancing an existing one, the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) approach is invaluable. It allows Product Managers to test hypotheses with minimal resources, gather feedback early, and validate assumptions before scaling efforts. This iterative process minimizes risks and maximizes learning.
Leveraging Different Prioritization Models
- The RICE Framework: Another widely used model is RICE—Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort. This framework introduces a dimension of confidence, assessing how sure Product Managers are about achieving the desired impact and reach with a feature or project.
- The Kano Model: Product Managers also consider the Kano Model, which categorizes features into basic, performance, and delighter categories based on customer satisfaction levels. This helps in balancing the roadmap with must-have features and delightful surprises.
The Art and Science of Roadmapping
- Balancing Short-term Goals with Long-term Vision: Roadmap development is both an art and a science. Product Managers must strike a delicate balance between short-term priorities—addressing immediate customer needs and market demands—and long-term strategic bets that align with the company’s vision.
- Flexibility and Adaptability: While frameworks provide structure, successful prioritization also requires adaptability. Product Managers must be prepared to pivot based on new data, market changes, or emerging opportunities, ensuring that the roadmap remains agile and responsive.
5. Thinking 10x: The Path to Product Innovation
The difference between incremental improvements and groundbreaking innovations can define the trajectory of a company. Exceptional product managers (PM) understand this distinction well—they don’t settle for small gains but aim for ideas that offer tenfold impact. This philosophy, known as “thinking 10x,” is not just about doing things slightly better; it’s about reimagining possibilities and transforming markets.
Why 10x Matters
- Differentiation through Innovation: Product Managers who focus on 10x improvements break away from the pack. Incremental changes, like a 10 percent improvement, often mean playing catch-up with competitors. This approach lacks differentiation and leaves companies vulnerable to being outpaced by others who leapfrog with more significant innovations.
- Disruption or Displacement: Consider Nokia versus Apple. In the mid-2000s, Nokia dominated the mobile phone market with its feature-packed devices. However, they were incrementalists, continually refining their feature phones. When Apple introduced the iPhone—a revolutionary 10x leap with touchscreens and an app ecosystem—Nokia’s market share plummeted. This stark contrast underscores the importance of 10x thinking in staying ahead of disruption.
Examples of 10x Thinking
- Netflix’s Evolution: Netflix began as a DVD rental service, disrupting Blockbuster’s store-based model. Recognizing the potential of streaming technology, Netflix pivoted to offer online streaming, ultimately disrupting its own DVD rental business. This strategic move not only catered to evolving consumer preferences but also expanded Netflix’s market reach exponentially.
- Adobe’s FrameMaker Innovation: In the niche market of technical content creation, Adobe’s FrameMaker faced challenges with collaboration between writers and subject matter experts (SMEs). By launching a simplified, lighter version of FrameMaker tailored for SMEs, Adobe addressed collaboration pain points while tapping into a market ten times larger. This move exemplifies how 10x thinking can uncover new opportunities within existing product lines.
The Challenges and Mindset Shift
- Overcoming Inertia: Despite its potential rewards, embracing 10x thinking requires a significant shift in mindset. It entails challenging conventional wisdom, questioning established norms, and reevaluating why things are done a certain way. This first-principle thinking is essential for breaking down complex problems and envisioning radically innovative solutions.
- Cultivating a Culture of Innovation: Product Managers must foster an environment where disruptive ideas are encouraged and supported. This involves not only championing bold initiatives but also creating structures that enable experimentation and learning from failures. Companies that institutionalize this culture are better positioned to lead rather than follow in their respective industries.
6. Orchestrating Success
For product managers, success hinges not only on technical prowess but also on leadership and strategic vision. Product managers (PM) serve as the linchpin of product development cycles, navigating through complexities while aligning diverse teams toward a common goal.
The Product Development Cycle
The journey begins with customer discovery, where Product Managers collaborate closely with user research teams to unearth insights that shape product direction. This phase sets the foundation by understanding user needs and market demands.
Next comes prioritization, a critical step where Product Managers sift through a plethora of ideas and features. Here, partnerships with business counterparts are crucial as Product Managers assess the business impact and strategically prioritize initiatives.
Once priorities are set, the focus shifts to product development itself. Product Managers orchestrate a multidisciplinary team including design, engineering, and data sciences. This phase requires Product Managers to foster collaboration and ensure alignment towards delivering a robust product.
Launch and go-to-market follow, where Product Managers work alongside marketing and business teams to craft strategies that drive adoption and market success. This phase demands a holistic understanding of customer needs and competitive landscapes to effectively position the product.
Post-launch, Product Managers engage with analytics teams to measure the impact of their initiatives. This data-driven approach helps validate decisions, iterate on improvements, and inform future product iterations—a crucial aspect in the iterative cycle of product development.
The Role of a Product Manager: Conductor of Innovation
At the heart of this process stands the Product Manager, akin to a conductor leading an orchestra. Product Managers synthesize inputs from various teams, leveraging their expertise to steer the product towards success. This role requires not only technical acumen but also exceptional leadership qualities.
Visionary Leadership: Exceptional Product Managers transcend technical expertise, embodying visionary leadership. They articulate a clear vision that inspires and motivates cross-functional teams. By rallying stakeholders behind a shared purpose, Product Managers create alignment and drive collective effort towards achieving product goals.
Influence and Persuasion: In a landscape where Product Managers often lack formal authority, influence becomes paramount. Product Managers wield customer insights, data-driven arguments, and learnings from experiments to influence stakeholders across the organization. This ability to influence without direct authority is pivotal in navigating complex decision-making processes.
The traits of great Product Managers encompass a unique blend of strategic vision, customer-centricity, cross-functional leadership, data-driven decision-making, and influential persuasion. By embodying these traits, Product Managers not only navigate the complexities of product management but also drive innovation and business growth. As technology evolves and customer expectations shift, these traits will continue to be essential for Product Managers aiming to lead their teams toward creating impactful products that resonate in the marketplace. Whether you’re an aspiring Product Manager or a seasoned professional, cultivating these traits can pave the way to becoming a truly exceptional product leader.
