«Dear PM, you are not paid to have ideas»

When I started working as a product manager (PM), I knew that a big part of my role would have been to identify the best future trajectory for my product. And it involved translating ideas into a compelling vision and identifying the required next steps, to be validated on the market.

And I still think that this is a crucial part of a PM job.

However, at the time, I also thought that I, as a PM, was responsible to generate these ideas, and I felt frustrated whenever I was not able to do so.

It took me a while to understand that my expectations were too big.
That my frustration was unjustified.
That I was considering myself as too important.
And that I was misinterpreting my role.

So, let me tell you something that took me a while to understand:

“A PM job is not to come up with ideas, but to find them inside and outside the organisation.”

As a PM, you have no fault if you cannot come up with ideas.
But you are responsible for creating the preconditions for ideas to come to you.

So, a good PM should work to:

• Maximise opportunities to gather ideas.
• Be at the center of information flows.
• Explore the thinking process behind the solutions he is asked for.

Get ideas from coworkers, get ideas from competitors and, especially, get ideas from customers. Challenge them, test them and incorporate them in your vision.

How? That’s the tricky part and I have not yet found any magic solution. But, if I had to give a short advice, I would tell you:

“Be approachable.”

Talk with customers (interviews, surveys, sales). My first product role was in such a small startup that I was also taking care of sales. It was an exceptional opportunity to talk directly with customers and know their problems. Today, talking part to key account management calls with partners is an enlightening part of my job in B2B.

Set periodic meetings with people that deal directly with customers (sales, customer service, account management, UX researchers, etc.). When the company gets bigger, it is easy to lose contact with customers. And this phenomena is even stronger in case of B2B products, where the user is often different from the payer. Periodic meetings with customer-facing coworkers can help a lot.

Copy from competitors. Define competitors in the right way (in a non-mature industry, competition is more likely to come laterally, from substitute products, than frontally) and get inspired by activities done by companies with a similar business model and target customer, even if they operate in different industries.

Shadow your customers (especially useful if they are internal), talk with potential partners, spend time at the coffee machine, etc. etc. etc.

Be there. Be the go-to person when there is something new to discuss. And allow others to interrupt you. They will do the job for you, serving you with (good and bad) new ideas.

So, if there is something I wish you could remember from this article it is the following:

Do not get frustrated if you cannot come up with good ideas. That’s not what you are paid for. Insights are around you and your role is rather to go and gather them.

Realising this has allowed me to reconsider my responsibilities, relieve stress and focus on what matters. And I hope this article will help you to do the same.

Have a good (PM) journey,
Livio

22/09/2019