Product managers don’t build software, and don’t sell software either. So, what is our value to an organization?
Every product manager will have their own answer to this. Here’s mine: product managers capture and distill knowledge.
Product managers leverage their knowledge to enable people to build software. We assemble knowledge of our customers, their goals and pains, and what they need our product to do for them. We often call that “the user story.”
Product managers also leverage their knowledge to enable people to market and sell software. We distill our user stories into documentation, translate back into what our customers needs, and create presentations and assets for sales and marketing to use. We often call that “enablement.”
So, we need knowledge. But how do we find it? And how do we communicate it back?
So, everything’s tied back to knowledge, but knowledge expressed
Specifically, the knowledge to enable people to build software, sell software, and do everything in between.
We need the knowledge to write epics and user stories, and communicate to designers, engineers, sales execs, and marketers why a feature is important in the world of our user.
We need the knowledge of our user’s everyday situation to prioritize one feature idea over another, to know what order to release in, and what can be cut out of scope.
And we need knowledge for everything else in the role. Industry knowledge to understand and connect with stakeholders. Knowledge of where the organization’s key metrics are. And, of course, the knowledge of why the company is performing the way that they’re performing.
So, how do you go about learning as a product manager?
Maps: big-picture research
There are research methods that help you to understand the big picture. Industry histories and reports can explain the broad nature of your problem space, and personas (if your organization has them) help to paint an overall picture of your user. These research tools can help you get a picture of the problem space, what it is, and how it evolved to its current form now.
However, big-picture tools can’t do everything. They’re like an overhead map of an area: they can capture major roadways, heights, types of ground, but they don’t capture what it’s like to be there. You would probably struggle to place a pin on the map and say, “I know for 100% certain this would be a great spot to camp.” Likewise, you wouldn’t read a Gartner report and say, “I know exactly what product to build to take 10% of the market”
Big-picture tools work to
Photos: small-scale research
So, we supplement our big-picture research tools with small-scale, but extremely detailed research. We interview users about their backgrounds and experiences, study the success of specific accounts, and follow our users through their daily activities. These research tools give us an immediate, grounded understanding of how things look at one point in time.
However, small-scale research can’t do everything either. They’re like a photo of an area: they tell us what the lighting’s like, how many trees there are, whether it feels ominous or cozy to stay within. You can look at a single photo of an area and say, “hey, that looks great to camp in!”, but you’d probably struggle to know for certain if it were your favourite if it was only one photo. Likewise, small-scale research can’t confirm if one customer’s complaint is the right problem to fix next. For that, we need the big-picture.
Great, now I know something. Now what?
When I often find myself tempted to “take photos of everything” by interviewing a thousand users,
Personas, if your organization have them, help you to understand the gist of who you’re serving.