The Most Incredible Product Managers

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Product Managers (PMs) are an interesting breed. From being called 'CEOs of the product' to being called 'Janitors of the product', they have seen it all. To be honest, I believe they are both. I see Product Managers as shapeshifters who do whatever it takes to drive building and growing viable, usable and feasible solutions to problems/opportunities.

Contrary to a lot of belief out there, my fundamental take is that PMs are the primary representatives of customers/users (henceforth called customers) within the organisation. They are business functionaries who work at the intersection of customers' needs, business goals and technological capabilities building/scaling products.

While anyone from any background or career path can become a PM, there is a difference of night and day between just any PM and the most incredible PMs. If you have come across organisations where there are one or more scaling products, where everyone is hyper busy but knows what they and others are doing, where there is coordinated action right from customer discovery to development to release and scale, where business is booming, but no PM in plain sight, there are most likely one or more PMs working very hard in the background orchestrating these coordinated actions to produce the harmony.

The Most Incredible PMs are like Orchestra Conductors

For me, the Orchestra Conductor most closely represents the Most Incredible PMs. The conductors do not play any instrument on the orchestra but when the collective sounds of all the instruments played by the different musicians is heard, it is magical. The funny thing is most of us don't know or understand what the conductor is even doing but it becomes magical. That is exactly the definition of the most incredible PMs for me.

11 Traits and Skills of the most Incredible PMs

There is something very fundamentally different about these incredible PMs. Overall, they are essentially very aware of exactly what they need to achieve, extremely fluid and flexible about the how of getting things done and don't do any of it for the glory.

However, if I were to break it down in the form of skills and traits, this is what those skills and traits would look like to me. What is also important to note is that I don't believe that even the most incredible PMs are able to show these skills and traits at all times, but most of the time they are trying and in a lot of cases exhibit a few in unison (but highly likely - not all together!)

1. Data-informed decision makers

• Don’t blindly follow/trust visible data
• Use a blend of quantitative data + qualitative inputs, together with their intuition to make decisions
• Rapidly become industry experts (not just company!) to build that intuition

2. Master communicators in all situations

• Bring together EPD team, stakeholders through clear, unambiguous communication and storytelling
• Bring the right tone in conversations reflecting their persistent empathy
• Even better listeners than orators

3. Operate with a ‘First Principles’ mindset

• Have the ability to execute inductive and deductive reasoning (fundamental building blocks) on-demand to find valuable opportunities
• Know that humans are emotional beings and only design for logic will not result in the best product

4. High agency individuals with focus on getting shit done

• Proactively get in wherever needed and get done whatever needs to be done
• Make good of any situation and use available resources to achieve intended goals (alternately, also able to sometimes change situation to do so)
• Relentless in the pursuit of shared goals, have unwavering grit and perseverance

5. Adaptive in all situations across work to be done, processes and documentation

• Know they are a business functionary - always do work to make business win
• Understand and internalise good design, tech trade-offs and other constraints
• Adapts processes as and when needed, prioritises business goals over team/self wins

6. Always trusted

• Team members and stakeholders trust them without reservation - have the best interest of business in mind
• Speaks for & against theirs/others ideas without bias
• Able to win arguments through rationale, without authority, with empathy

7. Curious, self actualised & driven

• Finds satisfaction and drive from their product careers and enabling that of others they work with
• Not in to primarily make name/money or build authority, but build solutions to challenges that people have
• Spends time learning and honing craft more outside work than at work

8. Bring EPD team members as equals along the journey

• Create shared ownership across EPD team through continuous involvement
• Bring EPD team to shared understanding and context of the product being built - any member can interchangeably represent at any forum

9. Share success, own failure

• Share success not only with EPD team but also involved stakeholders from other depts
• Owns failure, speaks about it extensively with EPD as well as shares learnings broadly

10. Think big and prioritise

• Identify and prioritise highest ROI opportunities for business to work on- Identify and prioritise highest leverage work at most times
• Missionaries over mercenaries - making company mission their priority

11. Play the long game of lasting impact to win

• Don't strive for the quickest next comp raise or promotion (know these are lagging indicators)
• Strive for making lasting impact through their work

Hope you enjoyed this edition of the my newsletter. Stay tuned for the next edition.

Here are some previous editions of the newsletter.

(you can Subscribe to my newsletter here and follow me - Priyadeep Sinha - here)

• Breaking into Product Management - Product Resources
• Good Product Managers need Good Communication Skills
• 74 Top Books for Product Managers and Tech Leaders
• Crossing into the 0-to-1 Product Track