The growth of product managers: self-cultivation and forced growth of products

Article Description: The History of Product manager evolution.

The "monster" of the product manager

At present, the domestic Internet Product manager industry is strange, on the one hand in the company's product manager definition and responsibilities are different, online search product manager, will find a lot about what is product Manager, Product manager's responsibilities, product managers need skills and quality. Of the 3 companies I work with in a product position, the exact scope of the job is similar, but there is a big difference. On the other hand, there is a transformation from technology, design, market and other product managers, the background is not the same, working methods and thinking is not the same, and some companies like technology-oriented product managers, and some like the market-oriented product managers.

This article, based on my own background, describes a design product manager's evolutionary history, for everyone to reference, hoping to help friends on the product road.

Self-cultivation of products:

into the product line, some interest-oriented, most of them are unintentional intrusion. But the same thing is that before the university there is no product-related skills to learn, relying on the accumulation of the acquired. (some schools now seem to have related courses)

1, product peer exchange, share growth: Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai and other strong internet atmosphere of the big city, there will often be some peer rallies, such as UCD book, UPA, South China UE Group, such as online QQ Group, offline interactive communication, experience sharing can often break your limited thinking, open thinking. and online sharing blog, website, is a product of the pioneering experience and experience, is a rapid learning and growth of the road.

2, reading can solve the puzzle, books are the ladder of human progress. At present, there are many foreign classic translation of books, such as the user experience elements, the essence of interaction design, there are domestic predecessors of the book, such as a glance. Although the pressure of work, space is compact, but one months will also maintain 1-3 reading volume. At the same time, reading product books, but also to read a number of related books, such as economics, management, psychology books, such as influence, long tail theory, grotesque behavior, lala promotion. I believe that the accumulation of long-term, thick and thin hair, there will be a harvest moment. Interested friends can look at my watercress , which has recorded some of the books I have read.

Product managers are not necessarily professionals, but they must be generalists.

Forced to grow:

Some people who know me will say, you are so fond of reading, or say, self-motivated. In fact, I was forced, I am a lazy person, below to talk about my years of product "evolutionary history":

First into the product, as a product rookie at that time:

1, Functional structure chart: when entering the job, in order to let me as soon as possible familiar with the website structure, let me organize a website map. So I put up with hardships, draw a good afternoon painting, at that time with Word. Now: With Visio, MindManager, can manage the function list and straighten out the function structure.

2, Flowchart: The first drawing flow chart, with the inverted is also Visio, but at that time 忐 Ke uneasy, rules, logic, etc. are not familiar with the internet to find some case control painting. Now: With Rose and Visio, the business process can be well articulated.

3. prototype: because design origin, just started to draw the prototype is using DW, PS, FW and other tools, in fact, with PS, FW, etc. to show the prototype, the effect is also good, the back of the magic of the Axure, the one to learn the tools, first look at the tutorial, the back download library, and then Self-sensing tools are now well applied.

4. Conceptual Design: What is conceptual design? No one can teach you. I have been groping for a long time, just started to see the concept of Flickr map, on the Ucdchina read some articles, behind their own slowly toss, experienced several major projects, with several tools, Rose, Visio, MindManager, etc., is entered the door.

As a product manager, business planning, conceptual design, requirements analysis, process, prototyping and so on are the skills that must be mastered, and these skills are basically not learned in school. Once you step into the product path, you will encounter a threshold, in the face of bottlenecks, you need to take a proactive attitude across. So I say that product managers are forced to grow.

About selection:

When I was just getting started, I greedily absorbed all the knowledge I could absorb. Products, design, interaction, I joined a lot of groups, read a lot of web articles, read a lot of books. I thought the product manager was omnipotent. So, I feel very tired.

2009, I think my biggest growth is to be able to clearly separate product managers, product design, interactive design and other differences, learned to do a good product demand documents, and very wise to select their own should go to improve skills, should take the initiative to learn skills, abandoned a lot of the original learning direction. Now, UE user experience I'm just concerned, as fun; product design is the basic skills, I pay more attention to product planning, strategic analysis and other levels, learned to do demand management, chopping function.

The mountain and the line, you always at the foot of the hill, standing on the shoulders of giants, in order to leap. Find your own product path and be a good product manager.

It's a matter of confusion:

Career, who will encounter career planning problems. Whether the job has a career prospect or not, the job can be worth it. Then the mentality of impetuous, affected by external causes, will tangle, oneself make very unhappy.

I think that a job can bring you challenges, opportunities and growth, can be happy to work well. The choice lies in oneself, better is responsible for oneself.