20 essential traits for successful product people

How to be a good Product Manager ? This article through the observation of hundreds of product managers , summed up the product people must have 20 characteristics, together to look at it, hope to help you.

From the beginning of the question " why "

you have to be able to clearly answer questions such as why someone uses your product and what your product can do to solve their life problems. You should focus on comments that users write. Once you have identified the positioning and vision of this product, it is important to develop products around this positioning and vision. As Amazon CEO Jeff . Bezos said:"be stubborn on the vision, flexible on thedetails. "( adhere to the vision, flexible implementation ).

build products that can solve your own problems

you need to know that any good product usually starts with solving your own problems. While this is usually more than the CEO mentions, it is important for everyone who makes the product. You use your own products every day to be empathetic to the user, to feel what the user really needs.

"If you delve into the origins of successful startups, you'll find very few people are imitating other startups to develop products," said Combinator, head of Paul Graham. So where did they get the idea? Often comes from specific, unresolved issues. "

set goals, track targets

You must have a clear definition of the " success " of your team and the products you are working on . There are many goals, ambitious goals (to help people achieve their ideals), realistic goals (helping teams focus on focus), and quantifiable goals (which can help guide). There is a common goal - the team is recognized and willing to work hard. You need to keep track of the progress of these goals, and be aware that the indicators are only proof of success, not success itself.

to have a sense of market

you should be very knowledgeable about the market and know where your products are located in the market. You need to know your competitors and use their products. regularly share broader market conditions with other team members through news links, PPT, and product disassembly sessions. You will use this information to inform and guide (rather than request) the direction of your product development.

Tolearn from others and to teach others.

The most efficient way to learn is to learn from the people who have done what you want to do. You have to " Invest " in the " mentor " tobe able to consult at any time and have a real meaning to the growth of your product. After you have learned something, you also need to guide the new Product Manager so that you can constantly improve and learn, so that the product has a holistic concept and perspective.

Building Trust

you must trust others and be trustworthy. Know the difference between trust and blind faith, and act as an example to build a trusting working environment. You need to listen and try to understand the context, perspective, and perspective of the person you are looking at. Trust is commercially meaningful, the more the two sides trust, the lower the cost of communication .

you know, " How to do it."

You need to put your team's focus on the idea that you can do the work. Therefore, you must have the knowledge of technical feasibility, so as to achieve a close and effective feedback link, thus saving a lot of engineering cycle. You can't give all the functionality you need to experiment or machine learning (for example, using machine learning to determine a user's preferences), you have to do it in a realistic way.

impose restrictions on products

The most creative solutions in the world have grown from the constraints on most people. Not only do you need to understand the contradictions of choice, but you should also understand that some open-ended claims, such as " our products can do a lot of things ," will backfire.

Sometimes you should add some restraint to test user feedback, which can help you think about what kind of boundaries the product should have.

Develop your strengths and build your skills

Sometimes " doing a lot of things " means "There's very little that you're good at", so if you have a clear advantage, you should continue to invest in that advantage so that you can compensate for your weaknesses. You should eventually form your own rules (for example in development and design) and accumulate your own skills, which is more valuable than any title.

Determine priority

You should be a person who can solve complex problems in small problems and prioritize them. The core issues should be given the highest priority, and other issues need to be weighed against the core issues. In the need to reach a stage goal, it is more important to prioritize whether the core issue of the phase is resolved.

for a better user experience, you should be willing to cut some features , although you spend a lot of time and effort in developing these features. More importantly, you not only know to cut some features, but also know which features should be cut, which should be based on the scenario rather than on the feature itself. This ability can be seen from the design of the smallest viable product (Minimum viable products,MVP).

take responsibility for the first time .

You have to take responsibility, as the product owner, you should take the initiative to resolve or apologize to the user when there is a product error or problem.

Grow in Change

Few people like drastic changes and future uncertainties, but you need to think of this as a natural consequence of innovation, and this phase will always stick to a clear plan for the product.

keep a strong curiosity

you must remain intensely curious and must be " old and old." You also have to be open-minded about diverse ideas and ideas, and treat opposing opinions as an opportunity to learn new ideas (or at least a chance to meet someone).

Data-driven

you need to collect the data and make decisions based on the data, but you should do it efficiently. You do not need to perform complex, professional data analysis, only the most efficient way to get a result. You need to make decisions based on this result, combined with the results of other research, experimentation, research, and analysis. You should also learn to make quick decisions based on incomplete data results .

find the core of a complex problem

you need to learn to cobwebs the problem and then find the core problem. Any time you face a user or other audience, you have to consider " what do they really need?" " and not " what can I give them? " "

Not only do you need to be able to anticipate future problems, but you need to focus on the current risks rather than where the entire product needs to go.

Good ideas need better execution

When you start a product, you need to get started quickly, rather than spending a long time on meaningless delays, such as prototypes that can be done in one day, or questions that users can tell. Good ideas coupled with better execution, the results will certainly be better than the idea but the execution is much better.

to have " Systemic thinking "

at any stage of the product has a very accurate grasp, both the overall view and can grasp the details. It is not possible to " step back and open the sky " when there is a need to move forward, nor can it fall out of the details when bigger picture is needed.

strong opinion but weak expression

You have to express a clear, strong point of view whenever you encounter an uncertain situation that needs to move forward, but you need to be weaker in the way you behave.

This facilitates clear direction and confidence for all involved in the product, while avoiding heated debates and quarrels. Then through the dialectical process to challenge their assumptions, to get new ideas, and then start again to put forward new assumptions, so cycle up.

Become a content creator

You need to be a content creator, not just for the record, but as a means to communicate ideas and to provide repeatable guidance. It's a good idea to learn to use some simulation tools that can help you build a simple prototype when you don't have a good idea of what to say.

Search for product feedback as early as possible

< Span style= "FONT-FAMILY:CALIBRI;FONT-SIZE:16PX;" > " What is useful " instead of " What do you want to say " " Grand unveiling "

all of these things need to be done with no priority or sequencing, they are equally important. But if you want to choose what I value most, it should be 1(from asking " why " to start), (tomaintain a strong curiosity) and (to have a strong point of view, but to be weak in expression)

Source: Krypton

20 essential traits for successful product people