Rockstar Product Leaders

Recently I did a post about Rockstar Engineering Leaders. This time I’m going to focus on their counterparts in product. An outstanding product leader can have an enormous impact on both engineering and the company’s bottom line so it’s a critical position to get right.

Here are 10 attributes I’ve noticed about rockstar product leaders:

1. They are always looking for the highest ROI problems to solve. And they’re constantly re-evaluating whether they are in the midst of solving them. They also set up an appropriate mechanism in the company to do this (e.g.?a Product Steering Committee).
2. They lead both the business and engineering sides by pulling those teams together and pushing to solution problems. They love ideating on solutions with both groups. They don’t seek credit — just answers to problems.
3. They know the tricks for communicating effectively with both the business and engineering. They speak both languages. And they know how to be the bridge between the two groups when it’s necessary. Communication is a strong suit.
4. They don’t just assume that what they inherited in terms of products or strategy is what they should focus on. They are constantly asking if they are maximally aligned to and driving success for the business.
5. They are mostly positive. Perhaps 80/20 positive to negative. They don’t ignore problems, but they don’t dwell on them either. They are solutioning, always. And they know their role is to rally the troops to always keep looking ahead.
6. They have the strength of leadership to be honest with the CEO if the company direction seems misguided or unrealistic. And they can be a great helper to the CEO in moving the ship in the right direction during tough times.
7. They break down the walls between Product & Engineering and create a “one team” atmosphere. Of course, the two teams have different roles to play but the best product leaders still make the two groups feel like one organization.
8. They have a deep and intimate connection to the customers, but they don’t automatically do everything customers say and neither do they discount the opinion of customers. They are good at finding the sweet spot.
9. They can build a great roadmap that gets people excited and yet is realistic and doable. None of this constant redesigning of the roadmap that you see. Sure, we should be flexible, but all too often average product leaders use this as an excuse.
10. Rockstar product leaders almost always have some special or unique skill. Here are my favorites: strategy, organization, discovery and requirements writing or customer knowledge. There are others of course.

Closing Thoughts

Those are my top ten traits. There are ones that didn’t make this list and that’s okay. One of the perks of being a leader is when people surprise you with something new.

Maybe that is the bonus 11th trait: Great engineers aren’t constrained by top ten lists. They find their own unique mix of creativity and problem solving and use that to make those around them better.

If you like this content, you can get more by signing up for our free newsletter at https://www.technocratic.io for free. A new article will appear in your inbox every week.