I’ve recently started studying about Product Management and what it takes to be a Product Manager.
I’ve enrolled in this Udemy Course on how to be a Product Manager, and so far so good. I’m really enjoying the course content as well as how the information is being delivered.
Moving forward I will be creating blog posts about my learnings, so hopefully you would also get a thing or two from the things that I will be sharing.
One of the first core idea that I learned is what is a Product Manager.
First, being Product Manager does not make you a manager of anyone.
You are not somebody else’s boss.
Initially, I found that odd, but as discussed in the course, if you are somebody else’s boss and you are asking for feedback, they might not give you an honest answer. Imagine yourself being asked by your boss if you liked his work or not. What would you say in that situation? I’d bet that you would say you liked his work. Why? Because we fear that there are negative consequences coming from your answer.
Second, you are an enabler for engineers and designers.
Engineers are good at building things. Designers are good in designing. A Product Manager allows the engineers and designers to do things they are good at.
Third, you collaborate between different stakeholders.
As a Product Manager, you collaborate between different stakeholders to get different ideas and suggestions for the feature or product that you are building. Being a Product Manager means you have to communicate quite a lot with different sets of people. The ideas do not come from you. You are not just idea guy.
Fourth and final, is that you are responsible for the ultimate success of the product.
Whatever happens with the product, you will be held responsible.
A successful product? Good job. It’s your fault.
No one uses your product? Too bad. It’s also your fault.
Most of the time, there is no definite role or responsibility for a Product Manager. Usually, it varies from the company that you are working for. So be wary of this when you get into the Product Management world.
There are 3 types of Product Managers according to the course. These are:
That is it for now. I will be creating more posts about my learnings from the Udemy Course I am taking about Product Management, so stay tuned!