Product Manager

” The Job Description”

1. Technical expertise ,As a product manager, you’ll work closely with web developers to ensure the product is built and tested according to the specifications you’ve set out for them. It’s therefore necessary to understand the web development process, and the technology behind your product.
2. It’s the product manager’s job to bring products to market that generate value for the business and serve the end user/customer. They advocate for the user at every stage of the product life cycle, collaborating closely with UX designers and researchers along the way.
3. Business savvy ,Product managers occupy a strategic role, developing a vision for the product that aligns with business goals. To do this, they need a good dose of business acumen.
4. It’s important to understand how all the different areas of business work together to drive success, to have a grip on things like budgeting, cash flow, and profit margin, and to be well-versed in company metrics and KPIs (key performance indicators).
5. Having a good head for business also means being able to see the “big picture” and relate smaller, on-the-ground actions back to the overarching strategy.
6. Critical thinking ,In their day-to-day work, product managers must constantly make decisions about the product, the strategy, and the allocation of time and resources—all while weighing up what’s best for the business and the user at once. This requires excellent critical thinking skills.
7. Critical thinking can be described as the analysis of available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments to form a judgment. Most of us apply critical thinking every day without even realizing—which means you probably already possess this crucial product management skill.
8. The ability to analyze and interpret data , As with virtually any role in business nowadays, product management is highly data driven. The best product managers can analyze different types of data and use their findings to make smart decisions.
9. Product managers use data and analytics to understand the market they’re competing in, to see how users behave, to test different versions of a product or feature, to uncover issues with the product, and to measure performance and progress against relevant KPIs.
10. Research skills , To lead the development of successful products, product managers must know their market inside out. A key part of the job involves conducting research: research into market and industry trends, research into competing products, and research into the target user base.
11. Problem-solving ,Product managers are excellent problem-solvers. It’s the very foundation of what they do: create products that solve real user problems.
12. This doesn’t only apply to coming up with new products and feature ideas. You’ll also need to problem-solve internally, coming up with solutions to improve processes and finding workarounds for various challenges (such as a lack of time or resources).
13. The ability to prioritize , How do product managers make sure that everybody’s working on the right things at the right time, and that goals and deadlines are met? Through robust prioritization.
14. Strategic thinking , Everything the product manager does must be done with the overall strategy in mind. Strategic thinking informs how you make decisions and set priorities, how you define the vision for the product, and how you set goals to make that vision a reality.
15. But what exactly does it mean to “think strategically”? Ultimately, it’s about keeping your eye on the bigger picture. If you’re a strategic thinker, you don’t make decisions just to benefit the here and now; you think ahead to the end goal. You consider how your work impacts the company, and you seek to drive the entire organization to success.

Tagged as: kpis, UX