I am not a Product Manager…but I talk to them. Episode 5: Loïc Hersant (New Relic; ProductTank Barcelona)
Loïc Hersant is a Senior Product Manager at New Relic and co-organizer of ProductTank Barcelona. He holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from UTBM (France), and an MBA from ESADE (Spain). He is passionate about Product Management, technology and data and doesn’t miss an opportunity to learn more about these topics.
1) If you were a product, what product would you be? Why?
I can’t think of anything specific, but it would definitely be a tech product (hardware or software). I’m fascinated by how electronics and computing can impact the life of people.
2) In your own words, what is a Product Owner? And a Product Manager? Which one do you prefer to define your job?
This is an interesting question, as many companies seem to have different definitions of these two roles.
The way I see it, the Product Owner’s responsibilities are mainly assimilated to what is described in the Scrum framework. Their role in the team is to understand and represent the user, write the user stories: make sure the team understands who is going to use the product, what is needed and why. The PO also defines the definition of done and helps testing what has been developed, as well as taking care of the product discovery, backlog and the roadmap.
All these tasks are also the responsibility of the PM, who is additionally often responsible for the communication with the stakeholders, the product’s performance on the market, the definition of KPIs as well as the product strategy and vision. She is involved in the entire product lifecycle, including doing some market research, working with PMM, the Go-To-Market team (to launch the product), measuring its performance, adding new features, and even pivoting to a different product or retiring it from the market if necessary.
I have been PO and PM; and I personally prefer the PM role as it is broader and deeper.
3) Why do companies need Product Managers?
Companies need to deliver value to the customers and need to deliver it fast. Building, launching and iterating on a product is a company effort that requires many teams and departments to work together. Companies need a Product Manager to drive this effort.
Development teams, Marketing, PMM, Sales, every department involved have their own objectives. If a company wants its products to thrive, it needs to have someone in charge of that. That’s the PM.
4) What is the difference between a good Product Manager and a bad Product Manager?
There are tasks every PM needs to do, like understanding the needs of the users, managing a backlog and a roadmap, having a product vision and strategy, among others. PMs can have more or less proficiency at doing all that, and that can make a difference between doing a good or a bad job as PM. This can also be learned reading some books, attending training sessions or getting advice from more experienced colleagues.
However, I think that four personality traits make a difference: passion for Product Management, growth mindset, empathy and business awareness.
People who are passionate about what they do for a living have a better chance to have an impact. Working with someone passionate makes us push our own limits and is somehow contagious. Product Management is also evolving, new ideas and processes are regularly presented in blog posts or books, tips are shared at meetups and conferences. If you want to be equipped with the latest tools, you need to invest time — and sometimes money — in keeping your skills up-to-date; and in the long run, that can be difficult and tiring to do if you are not passionate.
Having a growth mindset is also key. A good PM won’t stop learning, has a positive attitude, a desire and a plan to grow and help everyone around growing too.
You also need to be empathetic. You are here to build the best products for your customers, products they want to use and that fulfill a need they have. You need to be able to understand them. Empathy also makes a difference at the workplace; good PMs work with their peers and collaborate.
My fourth point is related: business awareness. By that, I mean understanding the big picture: what is the strategy of the company? How and where is it spending and making money? Being able to work towards a common goal with your peers and everyone you work with is essential to be a good PM. Your products are part of the company’s portfolio of products, and while it is true that you need to give it all for your products and users, you also need to understand what the company needs, what is its strategy and how your products fit in it.
5) What do you enjoy the most as a Product Manager?
I love Tech, as I mentioned earlier, I’m fascinated by how electronics, coupled with computing and design can change the life of people. Being a PM allows me to be in direct contact with every side of the product creation: to do my job well it is important to talk to customers, developers and designers (among others), but also to understand and act on the business part of it. That’s everything I love, that’s the perfect job :-)
6) What is the worst part of being a Product Manager? What frustrates you?
Sometimes the role of PM is not understood well and it is difficult to have everyone see the value it brings. Some people see the value the developers bring, the value of Sales and Marketing, but not always the value of Design or Product Management. Others, of course do see it, and this role is more and more common and valued.
7) If you could ask any question to any product owner on Earth, who would you choose and what would you ask him/her?
I’d ask experienced PMs to tell me anecdotes and ask them for pieces of advice. I love good stories and every time I meet product people, I’m delighted to listen to them and learn something from them.
Note: this post is the fifth of an ephemeral set of articles based on my conversations with eight Product Managers. I will publishing a new article in the next three days. You can read Episode 4 — interview with Emilio Sixto from Wallapop- through this link.