What makes a good product manager? - Move Closer - WE CRAFT YOUR DIGITAL IDEAS
5 min to read, 5 February 2019
albert.kempa
Many companies derive the definition of a Product Manager, from the description of the Brand Manager position and usually such a person deals with product marketing, i.e. communication activities. Creating a product is completely different to informing customers about it. Of course, these two roles are usually interwoven with competences, and often people in such positions fulfil the function of a product manager and marketing product manager at the same time.
Leadership, efficient communications and the ability to deal with crisis situations are the perfect interpersonal features of each good manager. What professional qualities should a good Product Manager have?
Check out 3 selected opinions from our experts!
It is ideal if you can hire a product manager that has experience in your industry but in reality you won’t. It is very rare to find somebody that is good and has relevant industry experience. At the minimum, the product manager you hire should have deep empathy for your target customer.
If it is a consumer product, you have to be extra careful that the product manager is not projecting their needs and ignoring the larger target customer base. Ask them as to who the target market is and how is different from them. The candidate should respect and empathize with the customer.
Denis Dinkevich, Full-stack Recruiter at Preply
Danielle A. Harrison, Product Manager at WalkMe
Prioritizing Correctly
Products that are well planned and managed achieve success. The method of creating and launching a product on the market indicates from the beginning, its future success or failure. Good product managers have a highly developed ability to set priorities. They know what is more important for the user and what can wait, also which functionalities will increase the scalability of the product and which will go unnoticed.
Being Knowledgeable in the business rules is the skill necessary to identify market opportunities and anticipate consumer trends. All products are different, it is impossible to apply the same measure to all of them. However, the tips presented above are suited to each specific case.
Ihor Udod, Product Manager at Move Closer