Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Virginie Nesa

Product management is an ambiguous role, that requires to wears many different hats at a time and from one company to another the work could be completely different. Sometimes the role will be focused on the business, other time on the user experience. That’s why a product manager needs to be flexible, besides having other key abilities.

What skills make for a good product manager ?

In my opinion and based on my experience these 6 skills allow the product manager to be efficient and build great products.

1/ Be Collaborative

Building a product is a collaborative work where the product manager needs to be a great communicant. The product manager needs to collaborate genuinely with other team members to guide them toward building the right product, even if nobody really directly refers to him. He needs to keeps the team inspired and informed. He has to understand the role of everyone in the team, be a facilitator and make them more productive.

2/ Ability to prioritize

One of the main product manager’s work is to prioritize the work. He needs to define the product strategy, divide it into features and to think about a logical release plan. Prioritization is based on a cost-benefit analysis which includes users and business needs. A good product manager needs to ensure that stakeholders are well informed and sometimes be able to resolve conflicts with them regarding its prioritization choices.

3/ Showing empathy

The product manager needs to have empathy skills regarding the user. He needs to understand what the user needs and not what he said he wants or the business thinks he wants. As Henry Ford put it : “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses”. He needs to take time to observe the user in its environnement, be a good listener and do not try to influence user’s behaviour.

4/ Be strategic

The product manager needs to understand the market, the user and the business to make wise decisions. He should use data to monitorize, test and drive his features. At the end, the product strategy should offer a real user experience, must have an added value on the market and help the company grow.

5/ Be creative

Creativity is another important skill for the product manager. He should be able to innovate with the product and process to keep the team inspired. He needs to monitor the competitors and new technologies, be curious and try new things. Moreover, I think that a product manager with design skills is more focused on experience design and will build a better product for the user.

6/ Passion for product

People who love what they do are always better at it. A good product manager must trust his product, he needs to be passionate about it and regarding its business market and end-users. The product manager needs to do everything possible to build an even better product.

Exercises I do to improve my skills as a Product Manager :

Case study :

This is a good exercise to stay focused on the user and improve creativity skills. I usually think about how I could I improve a feature on a website when using it.

Here is an example of case study

Reading :

It‘s a common exercise but still, I think that reading help me improve my knowledge and be a better product manager. When I read a book about processes and work, I try new things I learnt with my team. For example I’m currently reading Sprint, by Jake Knapp, and I can’t wait to try this method on a new project. I also constantly read about design, UX, marketing and sociology.

Forms :

In order to keep in touch with the users and learn from them, I frequently send them forms. It allows me to understand better the experience and find new pain points in their journey. It’s also a good way to keep the user informed and active regarding the product.

Tools :

Trying new tools helps me to keep the team’s motivation up and work in an healthier environment. This is why I try to use play tools to make meetings and workshops more interactive and productive for everyone.

Here is a good website where you can find many innovative tools to improve your collaborative work.

Any exercises to add to this list? Feel free to share your tips to improve your Product Management skills!

How to be a better Product Manager ? was originally published in Prototyping: From UX to Front End on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How to be a better Product Manager ?

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