How can you master the skills and tools of a product manager in today's market?

Defining vision is not a one and done activity. A vision statement is a look in the future and we are not always good at predicting the future. So, defining a vision, validating it and evangelizing it regularly periodically is an important part of a product leader's role. Keeping an eye on the market trends, listening to your customers and critically evaluatining your assumptions are activities a good product manager does on a regular basis. Ideally, through this process the original vision gets reinforced with minimal adjustments. But on occasions when the reality invalidates the vision, Product managers need to be bold enough to rethink, restate the vision and adjust the strategy accordingly.

The challenges of managing a product begin to arise when it gains traction. Priorities shift as more people start using the product, and different stakeholders have varying expectations and demands. It is crucial to establish a clear and robust vision for the product and manage it based on that vision. Additionally, it is necessary to map and minimize dependencies between squads to maximize autonomy and efficiency. A Product Manager needs to be focused on the product's vision and define that vision as early as possible.

The most common “I know what it means, but in reality I don’t” in product management is the product vision. A product vision paints the future where you fulfill your mission. Most PMs (and even product leaders) unconsciously de-prioritize designing a vision because they’re either focused on the operational and tactical part of managing the product, or they expect “someone above” (ie. CPO or founders) to take care of it. Often “those above” don’t do it either because they think they have “an empowered organization, of course the vision comes from the PMs”. Funny loop. What most doesn’t realize (and ends up missing) is that a product vision helps get your team out of bed in the morning, and they're the ones executing.

Mastering the skills and tools of a product manager in today's market requires a combination of continuous learning, practical experience, and a commitment to staying updated on industry trends. Understand Customer Needs | Learn Agile Methodologies | Enhance Communication Skills | Deepen Technical Understanding | Prioritize Effectively | Data-Driven Decision Making | Cross-Functional Collaboration | Strategic Thinking | User Experience (UX) Understanding | Leadership and Influencing Skills | Time Management Remember that mastering product management is an ongoing journey. Stay curious, embrace challenges as learning opportunities, and remain adaptable in the face of change.

The world of the internet has made learning easier. To up skill yourself it is important to always take free online short courses that are provided by companies like google, Amazon, meta. Follow companies on LinkedIn. Attend webinars

One thing that is always helpful is to consult with cross-functional stakeholders when prioritizing your roadmap. Yes, PMs set the product vision and priorities but there are so many other people that interact with customers and have great ideas they can contribute to a product roadmap.

I would like to underscore the criticality of focusing on outcomes rather than just delivering functionalities when prioritizing the roadmap. This approach can also be hypothesis-driven, as our primary objective as product managers is to mitigate risks - hence, such hypotheses must be substantiated with rationale and evidence. Nonetheless, there are instances when it is acceptable to integrate specific solutions into the roadmap, as long as there is a compelling rationale.

One thing that would help you the most in achieving your goals is to have a roadmap. The roadmap should always be split into milestones. Milestones into key features that aim at providing incremental value. After you have done that initially, the most important part is to continuously prioritize it. Agree or not what you thought on the first day may not be relevant a few sprints down the line. As you move, you discover, you learn so it's very important to prioritise ruthlessly. PRIORITISE.

There is extensive theory and frameworks to prioritise roadmaps, and rightfully as this is the hardest and most ROI step in the PM function, but I want to add two things: 1. The most common prioritisation "tool" utilised at most companies is the HiPPO: Highest Paid Person's Opinion. AKA the manager/boss/CEO calls the shots. It's part of product leadership to help change this to a bottoms-up approach. 2. There are dozens of "prio disrupting" events to consider within a company. From politics, to legacy, to promises you made the tech team, to strategic pivots, to macro-events (eg: Covid). All these affect the prioritisation. It's your job to adapt the framework to this.

In the realm of computational sciences, prioritizing a product roadmap is crucial. The use of frameworks such as MoSCoW, RICE, and Kano is not only applicable to traditional product management, but also to computational fields like Cheminformatics and Bioinformatics. For instance, in Bioinformatics, these frameworks can be used to prioritize the development of algorithms or tools for data analysis. The criteria of value, effort, risk, and urgency are equally relevant in this context, where the 'value' could be the potential scientific discovery or breakthrough, and 'risk' could be the accuracy of the computational models used.

Collaboration is key for every product manager. If you lack the skill of effective collaboration, chances are that you’ll barely get anything done in your career. So collaborate effectively because it will help you sharpen other skills and see you excel in your career

Soft skills like empathy and regular/clear communication will enable great collaboration. Here's a few ideas: Skill up: it's not just about roadmaps and backlogs. Understand your tech stack and customer psychology too. Tool mastery: from Jira to Figma, your tools are your best friends. Know them inside-out. At the end of the day, you're the link between teams of developers, marketers, and designers. Effective communication and trust-building are key to aligning everyone toward common goals.

Keep your stakeholders close. Don't surprise them. You leadership, your customer leadership, actual product users, your own engineering team. Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. Communication is the key to keeping things on the right track. The earlier you get an idea, feedback or opinion the earlier you can take an action on it. Earlier you take an action, earlier you course correct. What to communicate about? About a new problem you discovered. About a new solution you discovered. About a new approach you identified. About a failure you met. About a course correction. About a delay. About a hurdle. Communicate with the respective stakeholders as needed, in what they are interested in, about what they should be kept informed about.

The best method to collaborate stakeholders is to establish rapport and trust. This is done via great and recurring communication, with keeping your promises (ideally by underpromising and overdelivering), and by empathising with what is success for them. The greatest mistake Product Managers do is creating an environment of us (product team) vs them (stakeholder). If everyone is after the same thing (company success, revenue growth, product adoption), find the common grounds, and communicate with empathy.

Effective collaboration with stakeholders is pivotal in product management. It's not just about managing tasks but also about building relationships and trust. A product manager must excel in communication and empathy to align diverse teams toward a common goal. They should leverage tools like Aha, Monday.com, and Jira, to name a few, for transparency and regular check-ins to ensure everyone is on the same page. In today's fast-paced market, a PM's ability to facilitate cross-functional collaboration can make or break a product's success.

Testing and iterating should be as much a phase of the product process as is writing the code to make the product work. It's a necessary step to achieve market fitness. Many product teams fail to understand that iteration is the necessary step post shipping. Now not everything needs testing, in the sense that some ideas, decisions or even iterations are small enough OR have high conviction enough that a production build is enough of a test, as long as you're tracking the data and iterating accordingly. Big developments need proper testing to avoid allocating resources that lead to negative ROI.

I believe the best Product Managers are strong T-shaped, highly adaptable operators. They start from why, quickly cut through the noise, and can dissect the principles behind a problem space or a type of role. To do this you either need to be exposed to different product stages (0-1, 1-N, growth stage, expansion), verticals (B2B, B2C, SaaS, governmental) or roles (growth, core, verticalized like AI or Web3, etc). It's unlikely you get this at your company, so up-skilling externally is a must. I'm biased but One Month PM covers all this.

50% of the skills can be mastered if you have the interest & rest 50% while practicing as a PM Anybody who wants to master skill has to invest time and that is the interest shown in: 1. Exploring the latest trends going on 2. Doing research and finding out the competition 3. Being organised and disciplined 4. Building a habit of writing (never know you may have to write documents/ product copy/ act as a storyteller) 5. Find out the tools used. Can try out the free ones. 6. Ready to play with data While practicing PM, you can master: 1. Communication skills 2. Collaboration skills 3. Empathy 4. Adaptability 5. Managing different stakeholders 6. Negotiation skills 7. Ability to say No 8. Being assertive

In the rapidly evolving field of product management, continuous learning is necessary. As product ecosystems become more complex, PMs must stay abreast of emerging technologies, user experience trends, and agile methodologies. Engaging with a variety of learning resources fosters a growth mindset, enabling PMs to innovate and adapt strategies effectively. As Darwin states, " It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." The one who is most adaptable to change is the one who is the most innovative and disruptive. The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists. ~Japanese proverb

Expert tip. Try out all methods, frameworks and templates that you can get into your hand and that seem useful. Like this, you develop a rich toolbox of your own. Then, learn when to use what. And then, learn that most of them are not pragmatic enough. But knowing what you could do to help yourself with guidance, when things get ambiguous and hard, is a key element. Sometimes it's good to trust the framework to move forward. Sometimes it just holds you back. A good product manager can juggle around with methodologies.

While it is important to be savvy about the tools available and to choose them wisely, it is crucial to remember that the tools are just a means to an end. The primary focus of a Product Manager should always be on effective communication. Tools like Jira, Trello, Figma, Miro, and Mixpanel can certainly help in managing tasks, designing, brainstorming, and analyzing data, but they cannot replace the need for clear and concise communication with your team and stakeholders. Ultimately, the success of a project does not depend on the tools used, but on the ability of the PM to effectively communicate goals, expectations, and feedback, and to foster a collaborative and inclusive environment.

Don't get too hung up on specific tools. In the end, work on your general tool-savvyness, and your approach to master tools quickly, when needed. The more you've seen, the faster you can get started with a new tool. This is where tutorials, "getting started"s, GPTs and Google can be of big help!

I would say that in today's evolving market, it is more lucrative to be a polymathic product manager who should have the following skill set - - Learn to have an open and growth mindset - Have a broad curiosity and thirst for knowledge - Mastery over evaluation, reflection and openness to critical feedback. - Ability to see patterns and synthesize disciplines. - Have a drive for self reliance, perseverance, and adaptability.

Few people talk about it, but it is necessary to calculate the adoption of new features as well as the adoption and retention of the functionality and not just the whole product (as the majority does). It is also necessary to make it clear that the NPS is not sufficient to evaluate the satisfaction of the functionalities, as it measures the experience of the product as a whole, as an alternative I suggest an adaptation of the CES. Basically, measuring the adoption and satisfaction of EACH FEATURE helps a PM to make better prioritization decisions versus just measuring the entire product.

Product management is increasingly becoming data-driven, with a strong emphasis on user analytics to inform decision-making. As AI and machine learning continue to advance, product managers must be adept at leveraging these technologies to predict user behavior and personalize experiences. Furthermore, the rise of remote work has highlighted the importance of digital collaboration tools for product teams. Staying ahead in today's market means being agile, embracing continuous learning, and staying attuned to the evolving digital landscape to deliver products that truly resonate with users. Moreover, active participation in PM communities can lead to valuable insights and collaborative opportunities that sharpen one's skills.

Only one tip Master Softskills. Tech skills varies industry to industry but skills such as stakeholder management, presentation, communication, developing the mindset of 4Ps, risk forecasting etc will open up doors for product managers to enter in any industry/domain.