Sorry, you aren't the CEO of your product
In this week’s What and Why I address a notion that’s rankled for some time. Product managers are not the CEO of their products.
I attended Pragmatic Marketing's Practical Product Management course
Meanwhile, our industry morphed this notion into cultural mythology. Blog posts, books, articles, and presentations persistently spread the myth. I interview candidates claiming to be their product's CEO, which translated means ultimate accountability for their product’s success
So, where did the myth come from? Product managers generated and perpetuated the myth as a self-defense mechanism. They fantasize about a world where teams execute their decisions because they are the product manager.?
What the books, blogs, and articles mean to say is product managers must make everyone believe they are the CEO of the product, which is entirely different from being the CEO. The difference is simple but essential. CEOs possess a superpower product managers don’t: authority.
If not CEO, then what are product managers, really?
Product managers, I quickly learned, cannot just waltz into planning meetings, unleash proclamations, and expect everyone to comply dutifully. Your job is to convince. You cajole and bribe to do what you know in your heart–and what your data tells you–is best for your product’s customers.
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You have to get everyone to believe in the What and the Why.
Product managers are anthropologists, psychotherapists, speech writers, and evangelists. The job is simple enough, turn a snowflake into a snowball, as long as you are prepared to explain snow often and in great detail
Product managers are the ‘volunteer coordinator of the product
You can make a product without being its CEO.
VP of Product Management & UX - Acxiom
1 年Great post Eric! I think this debate about the ‘PM as CEO’ has been going on ever since the PM role initially emerged. How might your perspective change if we re-phrased your statement from, “Product Managers aren’t the CEO of their product” to “Product Managers aren’t the CEO of their company.”?
CEO & Co-Founder @ Valo | Discover. Observe. Resolve. In Minutes with AI.
1 年It was great catching up and love the write up. CEO has all the direct resources and product leader has none. This makes me think that some PMs have to have true passion towards their product, customers, category, industry or team. What if it’s not the case and it’s just a job and you’re executing vs loving it (with gusto). Can you still do a good (or great) job? Does it mean you can only be a great product manager within what you love (or like, enjoy..)
Founder & Principal - B2B Tech Product/Business Strategy & GTM
1 年While there is a basic truth to the idea that Product Managers (and others in an organization) have to influence rather than dictate action, I would add: Anyone who wants to make a significant impact on a product has to understand the "business" of that product, not just the bits and bytes - it is in this sense that Product Managers are also the CEO of their product. They have to understand the customer base, the financials, the market,...better than anyone else in the company. They have to put on their business cap as well as they techie cap. Even the dictates of a CEO has limits. Even CEO's have to ultimately be influencers. There is a limit to their power to dictate things. They have many ways of influencing of course, including vision/mission/value propositions that everyone can self-organize around. This is true for any leader in a company. If the only thing you have in your bag of tricks is a stick to beat people with when you don't get what you want, then that approach will eventually run its course. All that said, relationship skills in general, and influencing skills in particular, is probably something that should be up their in the education system with English, Math, and Science.