Master This Skill To Become a Better Product Manager
I’ve heard people refer to product managers as the “Jack of All Trades” or “Swiss Knife” of the company. Although product managers wear multiple hats, there is one skill that sets apart a good PM to a bad one. And that skill is being a translator (read: a good communicator).
What does it mean to be a translator?
As a product manager, you are positioned in a unique place in a company. You sit right in the middle of the end user, design team, tech team, and business team. The challenge with working with multiple functions is that not everyone speaks the same “language”. The business team might not understand APIs or tech complexities, while the tech team might not understand P&L analysis.
PMs need to become a good translator to deliver the best end product for the users. Like in a game of “Chinese Whisper”, one wrong miscommunication can break the whole chain of whisper. It’s the same case when you’re a product manager.
Here are the multiple translation points that PMs need master so nothing gets lost in translation.
Uncovering The Why: Translate user needs into business goals
First and foremost, a PM is an advocate for the end users. So the first thing to master is the ability to know your users. PMs need to define the user personas and find out their motivations, pain points, needs and current behavior. The best product comes from focusing on a specific group of people with specific needs, not to please everybody.
Keep in mind that not all problems are worth solving, and not all solutions are worth buying. At the first point of translation, a good translator should be able to identify the problems that are worth to solve as a company. This step usually involves the users directly, researchers, and the business team. Collectively, you should narrow down the scope to something that is desirable in the market and has a business value.
Defining The What: Translate business goals into product requirements
From the previous steps, you should have already gathered: the target users, the problem to focus, the investments needed, timeline, and any other business goals. The next goal is to figure out what product to build that can make the users and company happy. If you work in a small start up, you are familiar with the fact that you have limited resources, so keep that in mind as well.
The brainstorming step can involve anyone in the company, but the decision making should involve the decision makers in your company. After a solution is selected, define the MVP and work with the design team to create the user flow/prototype.
Figuring Out The How: Translate product requirements into technical requirements
Once you have a clear product requirement, you should figure out how to get it done with the development team. This is another crucial skill to master, to translate our product expectations to reality.
The Product Requirement Document (PRD) should be the source of truth during the development process. Aside from having a clear and concise writing, you need to verbally communicate the goal and impact of this product to the development team. Getting the development team excited and on the same page will usually produce better results. Be sure also to make room for flexibility, the development team may discover technical insights during the development process and so the “How” to reach the “What” and “Why” might change along the way.
Delivering The Product: Translate the product feature to user marketing
By the end of the development cycle, you should have already tested the product and made sure that the product is ready to be introduced to the users. Now we come to a full circle, how can we let the users know that this product is made for them, and what value it can provide them. Some companies have their own product marketing team, and others just work with the general marketing team. The goal here is to make sure that your product reaches the end users through awareness and education.
Check your translation skills
If you have correctly translated the points above, then your product should have made both the users and the company happy. If not, then you should review and reassess each translation points:
- User x Business: Did we target the wrong users? Did we understand the pain points incorrectly? Did the business goal not align with the current market needs?
- Business x Product: Did we choose the wrong solution?
- Product x Development: Did we define and deliver the wrong MVP scope? Was the user flow define not intuitive?
- Product x Marketing: Was the product value communicated correctly? Did we use the wrong marketing channels?
Reassess and try again. Remember to also over communicate, it’s always a good idea to keep all of the stake holders in the loop. Let them know of decisions, changes, progress, blockers, and impact.
