Jenny Wanger’s Post

Product Management is often shrouded in misconceptions that can lead to misunderstandings about the role and its significance. Let's unravel these myths and gain a clearer understanding of what Product Management truly entails 💪 𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝟭: 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 👉 Reality: Product Managers collaborate with cross-functional teams, seeking input from experts in design, engineering, and more. It's a team effort! 🤝 𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝟮: 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘀 👉 Reality: Product Managers do more than write specs. They define strategy, prioritize features, and ensure the product aligns with customer needs. 📊🔍 𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝟯: 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 👉 Reality: While they're knowledgeable, Product Managers continuously learn and adapt as markets evolve. Curiosity is key! 🧠🌱 𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝟰: 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗢𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 👉 Reality: Product Managers also consider user experience, market fit, and business goals. It's about the bigger picture! 🌐🎯 𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝟱: 𝗔𝗻𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗕𝗲 𝗮 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿 👉 Reality: Effective Product Managers possess a unique blend of skills - analytical, empathetic, strategic - that not everyone has. It's a special role! 🧩💼 It's a multifaceted role that thrives on collaboration, adaptability, and a deep understanding of customer needs. 😊🚀 #productmanagement #myths #collabration #linkedincommunity

Product Mngt./ Dev. Mindset Product management / development has different schools and styles. One can be business- focused, customer-driven, sales-oriented, technical-oriented, …etc. from leadership prospective, one can be visionary, goal-driven, democratic, affiliative, …etc. From development prospective, some product managers disassociate themselves from the development part, others demand to be on top of the development aspects including Customer journey, proces flows, processes & procedures, financial modeling, policies, technical requirements, legal framework & documentation, risk framework and so on. I say “part of” to emphasize not on one man show and do it all approach, but being aware, involved, and the actual leader of products. I believe a product manager is the sole owner of products and portfolios, I also believe in managing what I’ve developed, developing what I’ll manage, and knowing the tiney details of my products. This empowers a product manager in problem solving, portfolio management, and ensures being on top of products from all aspects. One more point, is to be economically conscious, strategically aware, and analytical and critical to have prospective & judgement abilities. It is a mindset which dectates what skill set to possess and how far in your career you can go confidently.

7 insane skills product managers need to build great products: (that aren’t JUST “product management”) 1. Productivity → time is critical. You have to keep projects on schedule + prioritize to speed up time to market. 2. Data science → how else will you make informed decisions? Analyzing user behavior and forecasting trends is how a product truly meets market demand. 3. Communication → ideas are just ideas without being able to clearly talk to stakeholders. This is how you align everyone with the product vision & goals. 4. Critical thinking → systematic and logical thinking is key. It helps you identify problems, create efficient solutions to create a better product. 5. Relationship building → stakeholder and team member relationships can be make or break for a project. Strong relationships = smoother, quicker, more innovative product development. 6. Mindset management → this is how you bounce back and adapt after setbacks. Resilience, positivity and persistence go a long way to weaving through the highs and lows. 7. Strategic thinking & execution → a vision is one thing. Understanding the steps to realizing that vision is another. A huge part of creating effective strategies and implementing accurately to enjoy market success. You don’t JUST build a product. P.S. what would you add to this?

“How did you know if you are good at Product Management?” I recently received a ton of messages and connections requests with this question. Here are some signs to help you gauge your effectiveness and success as a Product Manager: 📊 Stakeholder Feedback: Positive feedback is a great sign! Your ability to lead, prioritize, and make informed decisions matters. 📈 Product Success: Meeting goals like user adoption, revenue growth, and user satisfaction is an indicator of your proficiency. 🎯 Market Understanding: A deep understanding of your target market is key. Knowing their pain points and opportunities guides smart product decisions. 📝 Data-Driven Decisions: Relying on data and using it effectively for decision-making is a hallmark of success. 🔄 Iterative Improvement: Learning from user feedback and enhancing your product shows your commitment to progress. 🗣️ Strong Communication: Articulating your product vision clearly to your team and stakeholders is crucial. 💡 Problem Solving: Identifying problems, proposing solutions, and making decisions under uncertainty is a valuable skill. 🤝 Cross-Functional Collaboration: Working effectively with diverse teams to deliver a successful product is essential. 📚 Continuous Learning: Proactively staying updated on industry trends is a sign of a growth mindset. 👥 Empathy and User-Centric Focus: Advocating for users and aligning product decisions with their interests is key. Remember, growth in Product Management is continuous. Seek feedback and self-assessment to keep improving! 🌱 #ProductManagement #ProductManager #ProductOwner #Product #CareerTips #ProductSuccess #DataDriven #Collaboration #ContinuousLearning #Empathy #LinkedIn #ProfessionalGrowth #Leadership #hiring

If you are not a team player, I think it better you leave PRODUCT MANAGEMENT alone, because in this path you need a lot of patience and other good qualities to pull through A product manager typically needs a mix of skills including strategic thinking, communication, leadership, problem-solving, and a deep understanding of both the market and the product itself. They also need to be able to prioritize effectively, manage stakeholders, and adapt to changing circumstances. 💡Strategic Thinking: A product owner should be critical and strategic in his/her thinking, why the team is seeing all the good stuff of the product, the product manager is thinking about the how, when, why and what of the product. He/she prepares for any risk that might occure during the product development process. 💡Good Communication skills: As a product Owner/ product manager, you need to know how to communicate that vision and goals of the product to your team, this help you work more efficiently and effectively. In other words, it get the work done faster. 💡 Leadership: The product manager is a leader servant, she does not just give order and seat to watch things happen, she facilitate and coordinate things to happen . 💡Manage Stakeholder: A product manager is not the boss of the organization, he/she does not have authority over the organization, the product manager is responsible to the big guys of the organization ☺️☺️ 💡Adapt to challenging situations: This is a very vital quality of a product owner, a product manager is a fighter, he/she go all out to take different steps on producing a product from ideal generation to lunching /iteration. This are very few qualities of a product manager. You can add more qualities that you think a product manager should have.

I was having my Netflix and chill time this weekend. And I strangled on “skip intro” button while watching my Favourite series. This is such a powerful feature. Where as a user I have a power to select what action I want to take. Also it feels like extension to my thoughts. It’s so matured vision to create something where user feels something is just extension of his/her thoughts. How carefully this product is curated. And I got into thinking about effective product management skills. Product Management is wholistic approach to create the product. It’s not only feature centric exercise but 360 degrees vision to build the product. Few things every product manager needs to know are : 1. Strategic thinking- as a product manager you need to think beyond and above. Think about innovative strategy for product building. 2. Problem Solving - it’s very crucial skill one needs to have 3. Do a thorough research on users behaviour, market trends, competitors, target user base. 4. Art of story telling- Product managers are excellent storytellers. Really product management is beyond priorities ing the features. It’s really a whole different experience. Which requires blend of empathy, problem solving, technical expertise and analytical prowess. #productdesign #productdevelopment #productinnovation #innovation Fresh Gravity

There are numerous skills necessary for a product manager to thrive in any space but based on my experience there are a few that are indispensable. Here are the top 5 most valuable skills a product manager needs to cultivate in no particular order: 1. Empathy Empathy is the ability to feel the same emotions another person is feeling. Because we’re all humans, we share the same fundamental experiences. If a product manager can harness this power then they can make strategic decisions to derive value from the problems people face. To be a product manager, you must love humanity. 2. Courage This is one skill not really talked about in the product world but courage is highly valuable. When facing down a room of higher paid stakeholders you must be brave enough to say no to many of their requests. You live in a world of uncertainty where you might fail, yet, you must push that feature update regardless. Customers get disappointed all the time and you have to deal with those situations on a day to day basis. A product manager must face the music as it plays. 3. Creativity Now this is a developed skill that comes from exposure to diverse environments and information. Some great examples are the symbiosis between different industries or markets to bring something new. You have to be creative in order to place the pieces in a way never done before. 4. Research First off, you have to figure out what it is exactly you want to know about your topic; problem, industry, competition, regulations etc. Then, you must understand how to navigate the internet or other resources in order to find the information you’re looking for. With research skills product managers elevate to a different plane of problem solving. It might sound simple but it’s hard to do effectively. 5. Communication Last but surely not the least, and arguably the most important of the 5. Communication is developed from your ability to connect with your audience and drive them to a desired end. It just takes a little bit of patience and emotional intelligence. What to say and how to relate to the people you work with, engineers, designers, customers, your manager and other cross functional teams. It is essential to communicate! There you have it! I hope this helps highlight what you should have top of mind when you aspire to become a product manager. These skills would prove highly invaluable for you in the field. Thank you!

There will always be problems in product management. Problems aren't the problem. In my day to day life as a product leader, I see the same challenges all the time. > Inconsistent knowledge of what product is and isn't > Too much work to do > Lack of a shared prioritization model > Unvoiced and unmet expectations from stakeholders > Tech things break and no one really knows why > Someone has a bad day and it delays everything Problems come and go. We cannot escape them. What really matters is proposing solutions and taking the first step to solve them. No one likes to listen to a problem. But we all like brainstorming solutions. And leaders love a plan of action that is well thought out and documented. ***** I'm Austin, a product management leader, ex strategy consultant, former university educator and micro-PE investor. If you found this helpful, consider resharing ♻️ and follow for more content.

As product managers, we're constantly juggling data, deadlines, and stakeholder expectations. It's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and lose sight of the bigger picture. Curiosity is a vital trait that's needed to become a successful PM 🔍 Why Curiosity Matters: 1. Understanding Customers: Curious PMs dig deeper to truly understand customer needs, leading to products that solve real problems. 2. Driving Innovation: Curiosity sparks creativity and helps us explore new ideas that push boundaries. 3. Mitigating Risks: By constantly questioning and exploring, we can identify potential pitfalls before they become major issues. 4. Avoiding Bias: Curiosity challenges assumptions and helps us build more inclusive products for everyone. 💡 How to Embrace Curiosity: 1. Ask "Why?" (a lot!): Challenge the status quo and dig deeper into the reasons behind decisions. 2. Talk to Your Customers: Get out of the office and have real conversations with the people who use your product. 3. Experiment and Learn: Don't be afraid to try new things and learn from your mistakes. 4. Surround Yourself with Curious People: Build a team that values exploration and continuous learning. Check out this article to learn more on cultivating curiosity as a product manager https://lnkd.in/da_9WqWm

Staying updated on the latest trends? That's not enough for product managers. Being curious leads to breakthroughs. Let’s dig into why curiosity can make or break a project. Curiosity is a game-changer in product management. Why? → It helps understand user needs deeply. → It drives innovative solutions. → It reveals market gaps competitors might miss. → It prompts continual improvement. Imagine a PM who only follows trends. They might: 🚩 Miss hidden opportunities. 🚩 Overlook emerging user problems. 🚩 Fail to innovate beyond what's trending. In contrast, a curious PM: → Asks the right questions. → Explores uncharted territories. → Breaks the mold with groundbreaking products. Curiosity isn't just a trait. It's a mindset. And it’s crucial because today’s solutions might not work tomorrow. Don't just study trends. Stay curious. Unearth the possibilities. How has curiosity impacted your product management journey?