Marty, what is a "Real Product Manager"?

This post was "Inspired" by a recent (March 2024) conversation between Lenny Rachitsky and Marty Cagan.

I like Marty Cagan and I believe that we are mostly aligned in the way that we think about Product Management.

What is challenging though is his approach to alienating every other way of thinking about Product Management that is not his own. He doesn't believe in Process or Frameworks or Methodologies. Instead, he has a Product Operating Model with "principles".

From the inside flap of his latest book:

"This is not a particular process or methodology or single way of working; it is a set of principles that you’ll find in those companies that believe they should be powering their business with technology."

I expect that this is a method for differentiating his approach and that of the Silicon Valley Product Group (SVPG) from other competitors in the market. I can respect that from a Product Management perspective because it is just what a Real Product Manager should be trying to do.

But Marty (for better or worse) has also become a leader in the product management community that everyone turns to for learning about product management. This is where the problem starts, because by excluding all other ways of thinking about product management, in the vast range of contexts that it can apply, he creates a very binary way of looking at things.

In the interview, he even checks his previous comments on this where he used to refer to the Best PM's vs the Rest of the PM's. Us vs Them. Right vs Wrong.

In the final parts of the conversation, he refers to "Real Product Managers" vs "Feature Factory Product Managers".

"Real Product Managers" are responsible for Value and Viability. They are Creators not just facilitators. "Real Product Managers" work side-by-side with design and engineering?to produce feasible solutions that deliver that Value.

And that is a deep as his definition goes. It just isn't enough.

We are all Product Professionals

The very term "Product Manager" is really a throwback to the days a when person's job was to manage a relatively unchanging product in a relatively unchanging marketplace. Manage the stock levels, manage suppliers, manage the reporting back to the business of the number of sales or customer complaints. It had nothing to do with innovation, design, engineering, and strategy.

During the 80's and 90's, however, that started to change. Software made things move faster. The internet propagated changing software faster. Digital products could change faster. This rate of change and redefinition of what a "product" even is has changed the role of the Product Manager and its now vital importance in organisations.

When Agile and Scrum defined the term Product Owner further confusion was sown. Yes, a Product Manager might be the owner of the product within the business, but the "Product Owner" was DEFINED in Scrum as the customer and business representative in the Scrum Team. Totally different roles, but the same confusing name.

The one thing that now unifies all these roles is that, at their heart, they are still focused on creating customer and business value. If this is what you are focused on, then I would consider you a Product Professional regardless of what team you work in.

Some Product Professionals will work with development teams to clarify the strategic intent of a market opportunity and ensure that the solution that is built meets customer and business needs.

Some Product Professionals will be working directly with customers to identify unmet needs, while scanning the market for competitive gaps that can be exploited into market opportunities.

Some Product Professionals will be managing one or more mature products in their daily operating cycle, keeping an eye out for friction points or issues, or looking for ways to optimise the product to reduce costs.

These are all "Real Product Managers" to me.

The Product Professionals Team Model

For years I have been using a simple model that helps to describe these diverse ways of thinking about product roles. There are many activities that a product professional can be engaged in.

Stategic vs Tactical: Strategic activities often yield higher value outcomes in the long term, whereas tactical activities provide immediate but less scalable value.

Market Facing vs Solution Focused: Sales functions are market facing, solution engineering is internally focused. You don't want salespeople building the product and you don't want engineers selling. We do want everyone to have and understanding of the customer, but some activities are closer to the customer than others.

As a Product Professional, it is reasonable to ask where you would position yourself on this chart. Are you more strategic than operational? More market-facing or solution-focused?

When we look at the different "flavours" of Product Professionals we get four overlapping focus areas that map to these quadrants.

Strategic / Market Facing: This area is searching for new opportunities, looking for gaps in the market. A new opportunity represents new Value (for a customer) and Viability (for the business). They are outward looking and will often struggle to delve into the finer details of how a problem might be solved.

Strategic / Solution Focussed: This area will take the identified opportunities and will immerse themselves in the target user's world. To build a useful product you have understand the customer at an individual level, not a marketplace level. This area turns the opportunity into a narrative about the customer and how value can be unlocked for them.

Tactical / Solution Focussed: This area is the front line for ensuring the that the delivered solution is working as intended and will support the business if there are operational issues. They may work with a solution engineering team to help bring a product to market.

Tactical / Market Facing: This area supports (or is) the Marketing Communications function. Sales material and training is developed. Collateral is available, website content is up to date. They are the champions of communicating the Value that was uncovered in the original opportunity.

All of these are fall in the domain of the Product Professional. Sometimes one person is performing all of them. Sometimes there are specialists covering each area. Sometimes there are gaps, and the organisation will suffer as a result.

If we fold in other adjacent areas into this, we get the full Product Professionals Team Model.

I would love to know where the "Real Product Managers" that Marty describes fit on here. I think we would have a much better conversation about our profession, if we can me more specific in how we describe our roles and less fixated on the labels that we put on them.

UPDATE: AUGUST 2024

If you are interested in seeing what flavour of Product Professional you are then please have a look at the Brainmates Product Capability Assessment.

It is a self paced assessment that surveys the activities that you are currently performing across 24 technical and adaptive skill areas.

https://brainmates.com.au/product-capability-assessment/

I would love to hear any feedback that you have.