Product Management – To be or not to be

• Tweet

• Tweet

The day I joined Microsoft as a PM, I heard a few of my colleagues talking about me – “Hes joined as a PM. Let him get to know Sam (development lead) – would be fun.”. “Dude, he is PM, you should listen to him”. “What if he’s PM? Why should he tell you how to do coding?”.

The PM lives a lot more lives than the proverbial cat in a software product development company. He is at times the -

• spec writer (“Hey, lets have the spec for this ready” – General Manager, “Write the spec and then come to me” – Dev Lead). Good article

• decision maker (“Lets not do this as it will require changes to 200 lines of code” – developer. “Lets do this because we will see 30% users hitting this issue” – PM) Good article

• product designer (“Have a simple searchbox with a button titled Search” – Google PM)

• usability expert (“Hmm – wouldn’t a dropdown make it more Web 2.0? Lets do that” – PM)

• blackbox tester (“I tried logging in by hitting the return key – but I realized one has to click Login. Lets map the return key stroke to Login” – PM

• schedule planner (“So with test complete the release date should be 12th August.” – PM (thinking – God lets not slip this one PLEASE)).

• people manager (“I got to go home – my dog died” – Test guy. “Sure – my condolences for the bitch” – PM)

• meeting notes-taker (“PP can you take the notes please” – Dev Lead. “Aye Aye sir” – PM)

• whipping boy (“Why did YOU not think of this?” “Why did YOU slip this date?” “The user flows aren’t clear – what were YOU smoking while writing the specs?” “Why this requirement 7 days before release?” “Are you just plain dumb?”)

The role of a PM is a very ill-defined one in Software Development today. I remember the first day I met Ganesh Pandey, who I consider as one of the best PMs at MS.

He asked me – “Do you know what a PM is?”. He, thereafter proceeded to say “NO” about 25 times and lay bare what my presumptions of the role were.

Its not a surprise therefore that many PMs have ready answers for most questions but stumble when asked this existential one. I still don’t have a good definition of the Product Manager role (or Program Manager as they are called at MS) but I sure am learning.

What follows below is through the lens of a person who has been a PM for most of his (relatively short) professional life and LOVES his job. I firmly believe that Product Management is one of the three pillars that any successful product company is based on (the other two being Development and Testing). By successful, I mean a company that makes a good product and not necessarily a (success story like) Google or Microsoft.

What role does a PM have / Why should a company have a PM? -

The face of the customer
The PM brings the customer to the discussion table. Consumer facing products should always be driven by customer needs and that’s the most important “need” any PM should understand. At MS we used the term “Customer Empathy” which explains this delicate relationship very well. Most good PMs study and form the basis of their arguments, write specifications on this principle.

Features agnostic to technology
After the point above, the main role of a PM is to design features and write specifications. I firmly believe that features should be agnostic to technology. What this means is – while designing a feature, the constraints of time, resources and (difficulty of) implementation should be tertiary concerns. These would become very important discussions later in the product lifecycle and the PM should never let these cloud his judgment while designing his product.

Finger on the pulse – how technology is progressing
We live in very turbulent times. Technology and innovations in technology are showing changes by the day. One important aspect of being a good PM is to constantly improve oneself by reading and following the trends. Someone once said “Sometimes your best people are the ones who can look outside your four walls and see the world differently.”

Hear the market
In the mad rush to get the product out, the functions of Development and Testing do not usually study the market. PMs interact with Marketing and Business development to know the business needs. Apart from the end consumer, this factor influences the end result of the Product Lifecycle most. It is a fine balance though which the PM needs to tread very carefully.

Taking decisions
In many cases, the day to day work of a PM is only to take decisions. I have seen many highly qualified people fail miserably in decision making. Decision making, being an important aspect of Program management, and the best way to earn the respect of peers in Dev and Test, a good PM should always be discerning in decision making.

Thinking through the scenario, the need for taking the decision and the repercussions of the decision are a few aspects that other functions expect from the PM. Tracking the decision made and justifications for the decision (even without being asked) are as important as the final decision itself.

Strong opinions loosely held
Rahul Gupta, one of the best PMs I have worked with, once remarked that a PM should have “Strong opinions, loosely held”. His opinions should be formed on the basis of study, research and some amount of gut feel tempered by “Customer Empathy”. However a good PM should always have an open ear for new ideas coming in.

The best product suggestions / improvements / new product ideas I have heard have come from hallway discussions with development or testing. Those same guys almost never speak up in conference rooms which are usually monopolized by the “thought leaders”. We live in an age when new ideas are plenty – there is much chaff out there but keeping the ears open for everything surely helps. Good article

Communication
Last, but by no means the least, is communication. PMs communicate “Up and Across”. A PM thinks through the specs and conveys it to everyone in the organisation. Communication thus helps him collate his thoughts and convey it exactly to the audience. He also forms an important cog in the wheel for top down communications.

Both the other functions often look to PM for general product roadmap, company direction etc. Although it is not an essential part of the PM function, it is very important to maintain this flow of communication.

Frequently thought questions but never asked - FAQs
Who can be a PM?
Any male human being with a 20/20 vision, a good physique, blue eyes and a frog as a pet can be a good PM. Just joking . I believe any person with a passion for technology and doing things better can be a good PM.

I am in development. What do I need to be to become a PM?
Most good PMs have to have a good understanding of technology. Not just coding but Technology in general. See the points above – work on the ones you think are missing. I have also seen (in India atleast) a noticeable lack of communication skills among developers. Its not rocket science and is definitely easier than what most developers do as a part of daily work. Again, most good PMs have been developers in their previous lives.

I am in Testing. What do I need to become a PM?
Vishy (a person whose opinions I respect a lot, a colleague at Webaroo) once remarked that “Testing is an extension of Product Management”. Nothing could be closer to the truth. Good testers almost inevitably turn out to be good PMs. Apart from the skills, that I talked of in the question above, you need to be passionate about what you are testing – so that you can create it when you are a PM. To improve on your present skills you can start at Mallik’s blog

Do I need an MBA to be a PM?
No.

Topics that I am going to write about going forward -
Why typical PMs in India are not what it takes.
Challenges faced by PMs in India (and in general)
Product Management at a startup

A few good reads -

http://www.goodproductmanager.com
http://www.alistapart.com/
http://bokardo.com/
http://www.designobserver.com/
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/
http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts