2 types of product managers — experimental or follower — Google vs. Apple
All successful product managers use data to make decisions — some are just better at calling it vision and intuition
A while back, I hired a new product manager to my team.
She had a strong sales background and in the interviews, she proved strong product sense and a good understanding of what she will be taking on if she took the new role.
After she joined, I asked her to build her first business case for a new feature we were thinking about —the business case should have data, assumptions and a model (actual projections).
“But how do I know the potential takeup rate for this feature?” — She asked.
“Use a proxy. A similar feature we offer or someone else in the market offers and extrapolate from that” — I answered.
“But this feature is very innovative, I don't have any proxy, what do I do?” She replied.
“Congratulations, you found where you need to find more data, you found where you need to test and experiment — once you have enough data so not to just guess, the case is probably ready” — I answered.
