What does a Product Manager do?

Product Manager is that person who wants to make people’s life better, by driving himself, the team and all the resources in order to develop or manage products that will achieve that objective.

In the same way that a Ship Captain´s do, read the stars, deeply understand the sea, the wind, and each detail of th ship. And do what it need, including row, in order to reach the destiny.

This new profession, now linked to technology, has its roots far before Steve Jobs. Before Tim Brown. Before Isaac Newton. When the first product has born, it was born from a Product Manager.

What does a Product Manager do?

Products.

And what is a Product?

Something that is made to make people’s life better.

“Something that is made” means that it will be produced, in a large scale, not only for the one that is producing, but for other people, the clients.

“Make people’s life better” means that it will generate a benefit, in order to generate willingness in the clients to pay for the good, maybe in currency or other way (spending time on a platform, watching ads, etc).

How does the Product Manager do it?

Well, it depends on the size of the company, but the basics (Design Thinking) is to solve an equation with 3 variables: Market, Business and Technology.

• Market: Deeply understanding people, and what will make their life better. This understanding of consumer behavior and interaction with the product guides everything.
• Technology: Find or Adapt or Transform or even create technologies that can solve the client’s problem.
• Business: Transform this problem solving in a profitable business. If the solution has value, people will somehow pay for it. If there’s no competition (blue ocean) the business can grow and attend more and more clients.

Why does the Product Manager do it?

That ‘s the secret. That ‘s the sauce. That’s the mystery.

Everybody needs a “why”. The clients who will buy, and the one who will make the product.

The Product Manager does Products to make people’s life better. The most successful products I developed in my career had a deep purpose, a deep “why” for me. I believed in those products, I believed that people (or companies in B2B projects) should have access to those resources, in order to have a better life.

In my personal case, I believed that people should have access to Technology, Transportation, Education, and put my soul in those projects. Me and all the teams in which I worked. And that is another secret: Nobody does it alone. Most of the time, you even do it. You just start the spark, and drive the collaboration. The team do it.

But you came to this page to better understand the role of the product manager, what does he do in daily life isn´t it? I will try to share my (and for a lot of references) thoughts below.

If the Product is a ship, the Product Manager drive the ship.

Day after day, product managers develop a lot of activities in order to drive the ship, or better, the product. It can be done launching the product or new features, adjusting resources, replacing the product if it’s lifecycle is over (Yes, is ok to replace, as the objective is make people’s life better), etc. And this can (and must) be done in different ways, according, for example to the size of the company. But one principle will always drive the OKRs, KPIs, Compasses and everything: Make people’s (consumer) life better.

Small ship, no wind? You will have to row! In Startups Product Managers always do more.

In the beginning, a startup usually has only the founders. Taking the definition presented at MIT´s LaunchX, the 3 starting elements are: The Hacker, The Designer and the Hustler.

• The Hustler sells.
• The Designer cares about Branding, marketing and, of course, Design.
• The Hacker develops the product.

In that scenario, the Product Manager can be: All of them :) He needs to hack the market, deeply understand consumer needs and so hack the technology, finding a solution to those needs. And hack the business, looking for a blue ocean, a scenario where the product should be safely developed, commercialized and generates profit.

Like the captain of his own ship, he needs to understand the sea, the wind, the boat structure and behavior in the face of sun and storms, and he needs to do a lot of activities, from reading stars to rowing in case of no wind!

Think about Steve Jobs: His passion drove Apple’s products, from the design to the most technical issues. He understands people, understands needs that maybe the consumers were not aware of, and finds technological solutions to solve those problems. This can be seen in his vision for Apple’s mission: “To make a contribution to the world by making tools for the mind that advance humankind.”

Now Think about Mark Zuckerberg: People are at the center of Facebook, the idea of connect people is in the center of Facebook, since the beginning. For 10 years the mission has been to “Make the world more open and connected”, and nowadays is “bring the world close together”. Aways about connecting people. And Mark worked on in, from the Design to the Coding.

And About Jeff Bezos? Amazon “aims to be the Earth’s most customer centric company”. Consumer in the center, Product developed around them.

Think about other companies, FANG members (the top tech companies) or not. They changed the world with Products that applied technology to solve people’s problems, make people’s lives better. And to realize that vision, they made what they could, put all the effort on it. Have you ever seen a Captain, willingly, let the ship sink or get lost?

Now we have a big ship! Captain, you need to go to the Bridge! As the company grows, Product Managers need to align the efforts of everybody, working collaboratively, to solve people’s problems.

Now the company is a ScaleUp! More challenges! Founders need to talk with investors, decide which markets attack, a lot of stuff to be done. The company has more developers, maybe designers, data scientists… But still have 2 main elements: Clients, and a Product that makes their lives better. And who needs to align all the efforts to drive the product to attend the clients needs? The Product Manager.

In this big ship, the captain goes to the bridge and has a vision of the sea, the wind, the stars, and of all the crew who is working in order to allow the ship to navigate. He needs to make bridges with the crew, share the vision, so everybody should collaborate and work together. The sails must be synchronized, or the ship will not move.

I think that is important to highlight that the first “bridge” was built with the consumer. The Product Manager understood their needs in order to develop the product. If he was alone, and he understood technology, he could translate it directly to the code. Now the challenge is to translate it to other bridges. Translate the consumer to (and together, as research is part of Design too) with the Designer, translate the consumer to the Developer, translate the consumer to the Data Scientist, and understand the Consumer from the Data Scientist experiments. And more. Build bridges between Design and Development, Data Science and Design, Data Science and Development. Translate, connect, build bridges in order to make them work together.

Taking the words of Tim Brown about Edison, “he broke the mold of the “lone genius inventor” by creating a team-based approach to innovation.” “In his Menlo Park, New Jersey, laboratory he surrounded himself with gifted thinkers, improvisers and experimenters.”And if you hate Edison, remember that Tesla, in order to make his electric technology viable, made partnerships too, with Westinghouse for example.

So, as your Product grows, you need to make more bridges, translate mission and consumer needs in a way that everybody understands and so be able to collaborate.

Great, now we have a Naval Fleet! Sail in formation to not collide! Big companies with a lot of products must align efforts of each one of them. Product Managers are in charge of this collaboration between squads.

As the company grows, it has the opportunity to offer new products. Based on the needs of the same consumers, or strategic opportunities, all those products have a common ground: The company and its mission. In that scenario, is the Product Manager duty to work finding synergies and making the company act as one.

From the ancient times, passing through the pirates era and coming to the modern naval warfare, ships sail in formation. Each ship, from Aircraft Carriers to Submarines have their own role, but must work in groups to reach their mission. Could you imagine something worse than friendly fire? Together and aligned they can be more, but in desiligment, they will be less.

In this company, a little bit complex, I think, a Product Manager needs to create more bridges. Bridges with other product managers, bridges with stakeholders, and maybe bridges with other markets, other clients.This challenge needs more effort, in order to understand complex scenarios, but generates great opportunities, to grow your product, to learn more, and to make more friends.

I believe that, as the company gets bigger and complex, it is important to follow the mission. The mission is what makes everybody work together. The client is in the mission, the motivation is in the mission, and the Product Manager needs to follow the mission, and deeply understand how that mission can link to the client and to the team.

Your ships now sails on the seven seas! Not the same ships, they need to be adapted to each sea. The Product Manager role should be divided, but the client will always be in the center.

Now think about a big company, operating all over the world. The products are distributed to clients in distinct countries, distinct realities. But with a common need: Your product. As they are distinct, maybe you need to adapt the product, or the communication, or the channels, or the go-to-market strategy. A lot of variables, a complex environment. And the Product Manager now becomes a team.

The North Sea is cold. Big waves. The Atlantic is giant. Big trips. Distinct challenges, distinct seas, distinct stars, distinct crew. But the same wish to sail. The fleets navigate around the world, equal but distinct, close but separate, united by the same mission.

Now you have big bridges. Sometimes you act as a Global Product Manager, but obviously it is hard to be aware of the world. Sometimes you act as a Product Marketing Manager, translating the product to your market, and the market, as insights, to your product. And you have to deal with the needs of PMMs from all over the world. Again, is a challenge, but is a wonderful opportunity to build more bridges.

Here, again, the mission is the guide. And the mission must be built around deep values, a deep understanding of client needs and the role of the company in the world. And, again, the Product Manager is in charge of transforming this mission in actions, working collaboratively with teams, partners and stakeholders.

The Product Manager is the captain who follows his mission, driving himself, the crew, and the boat, understanding sea, land and the stars, navigating across unknown waters, in order to reach the objectives.

The mission is to make people’s life better with the developed products, and it’s made collaboratively, building bridges between people, technology and business.