PRODUCT management roles are among the most in-demand positions in the technology sector.
A quick scout online shows that companies including ABC, Qantas, Canva, Microsoft, Telstra, Amazon, Twitter and countless others are all currently hiring for product managers (usually multiple at any point in time) in Australia.
Product as a domain really came to life at around the same time as digital products became a ‘thing’ in the late 1990s, escalating rapidly upon the release of Apple’s App Store in July 2008.
For context, the App Store opened with 500 apps available for download. Now, Apple’s App Store and Google Play combined have about 6 million on offer (websites/web apps are in addition to that).
This doesn’t necessarily mean all these platforms, games and marketplaces have product teams supporting them, but it is an indication of unbelievable growth.
It’s a field not many applicants have direct experience in and is more established in big tech markets such as Silicon Valley.
In addition, there are still limited formal education options for product management wannabes. Subsequently, there’s no obvious career path; they might come from engineering, marketing, medical, design, or anything in between.
Many eventually progress to become chief executives. For example YouTube chief executive Susan Wojcicki started out in product teams at Google and was in fact its first marketing manager.
Founder of image sharing platform Flickr and team messenger Slack, Stewart Butterfield, started out as a product design consultant and was later director of product management at Yahoo.
While product management is still largely misunderstood outside of the tech arena, in short, the role involves: setting direction for the team; understanding what needs to be done/ what problems need to be solved; sequencing those priorities; and doing everything possible to get things done. Somewhat akin to the life of a chief executive.
Here are some other similarities. Many hats It’s a multi-faceted role. A good product manager needs to have depth and expertise in several areas.
They need to understand technology, user experience, the users, the market, the domain.
Only then can they make informed decisions. And they make a lot of them. Communication Communication skills might sound like a cliche line in a job advertisement, but they really are critical in the work of a product manager.
Their job is to talk to stakeholders at multiple levels, from the development squad to the C-suite executives.
They also must be able to engage in technical dialogue with engineers and have intuitive, creative conversations with designers, all while factoring in must-have requirements from the legal team and listening to feedback from user research experts.
A product manager needs to be able to communicate a vision and align people along a well-thought-out path – at speed.
Identify value A product manager must be customer centric.
They must weigh up the value of a user story versus the story size, outcome for the customer versus output of the team.
Some stories are imperative, others are just bonus features. Some take hours to build while others take months.
The product manager knows that bigger doesn’t equate to better.
They should know the customers so well, be so good at listening to stakeholders and drawing on the expertise of the team, that they can foresee when the simplest of features carry a lot of value.
Consider this in reference to an app or website you use, which has a simple feature you likely love and a big feature that may seem totally unnecessary.
Inspiring leaders Among the most obvious strengths a chief executive needs are the ability to sell the vision and take people on a journey.
It’s much the same for product managers, who need to listen, learn, be open, communicative, convincing, make informed decisions and constantly provide clear guidance.
Usually, products form the centrepiece of tech organisations and therefore feature ideas, opinions and random thoughts that come in from far and wide.
It’s critical to be able to listen to customers, users, stakeholders, and others, but perhaps the most important job of a product manager is learning how to say ‘no’. Keeping a vision and roadmap clean, focused and agile is key to success, much like a chief executive having an informed, clear, adaptable approach to steering a company.
• Chloe Constantinides is a consultant, adviser, and founder of multiple startups. She works in marketing, technology, and strategy.
A 2018 40under40 winner, she also featured on SmartCompany’s 2018 Smart 30 Under 30 list
