Criteria for recruiting product managers and the qualities that a product manager should have

Article Description: How to recruit a good product manager.

This article is excerpted from the Book of Revelation: Creating a User favorite product, the author's blog, and published in "Programmer" magazine 11 07, this article is a review of his more than 20 years in the management of software products and experience to share the summary of the recruitment of product managers, as well as product managers should have the characteristics. Author Marty Cagan is a world renowned product management expert, has served as vice president of Netscape, ebay product management and design senior vice president. The translation is produced by Kang Tianji @ seven Indian tribes.

Find a good product manager

"Where can I find a good product manager?" "The CEO often asks me this question.

I always answer this: excellent product manager in the company, but in other positions, there may be software engineers, user experience designers, systems engineers, waiting for the bole to explore. Whether you plan to recruit a product manager from within the company or outside the company, you must be aware of the qualities of the right person. In this chapter, I will enumerate the qualities that a product manager should have.

Personal qualities and attitudes

Technology can learn, but the quality is difficult to cultivate, some quality is a successful product manager indispensable.

Enthusiasm for the product

There are such a group of people, they have a instinctive love of products, their own life in all things as a product, with the love of good products and respect. This enthusiasm is the quality of the product manager, they are the driving force to overcome difficulties and improve products. This enthusiasm can infect team members and motivate everyone.

Distinguishing this trait is easy, allowing candidates to talk about their favorite products and why they like it, talk about products in different areas and the products he hates, and ask each other if he has a chance to improve his favorite products. Enthusiasm is difficult to disguise, hypocrisy of affectation easily barb exhaustive.

User position

The ideal product Manager does not necessarily come from the target market of the product (which is good or bad), but he must be integrated into the target market. This trait is especially rare for high-tech companies that manufacture mass products. We tend to understand the user and the market from our own perspective. In fact, the experience, preferences, values, perceptual ability, endurance, and technical understanding of the target user are likely to be quite different from ours.

Ask the candidate about the product's target market, and let him talk about how to change his mind. Understand how the candidate feels about the target market, and the most important thing is to see if the other person is respecting the target market or trying to change the user's habits.

Transposition thinking is particularly important for internationalized products and products for specific geographies. Although there are similarities among cultures, there are also many differences. Some differences do not matter to the product, others are important. Should examine whether the candidate is enough to understand the target market, can distinguish between these two kinds of difference.

Intelligence

The level of human intelligence cannot be replaced. Product management requires insight and judgment, so you must have a sharp mind. Diligence is certainly necessary, but it is far from enough to be diligent in this work.

Recruiting smart People is a problem easier task, and the results depend largely on the ability and reliability of recruiters. As the saying goes, "Birds of a feather flock together", this remark is not empty. One way to do this is to test the candidate's ability to solve problems. Microsoft's commendable, in-depth and effective interview, that is, to examine the applicant's ability to solve problems, usually by one or more field experts on a question to the candidate for in-depth examination. The interviewer does not care whether the candidate knows the correct answer, but rather the idea and method of solving the problem (intelligence is better than knowledge). If the candidate answers correctly, the interviewer will slightly adjust the question and ask the candidate how to cope with the new situation. Repeat the process until the candidate is forced to deal with a situation where he does not know the answer and say the solution.

Professional ethics

Each team role has a different commitment and effort. Product managers shoulder The future and fate of the product, is not suitable for people who covet ease. Even with the skills of time management and product management, product managers are still putting a lot of effort into the product. Can a successful product manager have time to enjoy a leisurely family life? As long as I have enough experience, I believe I can do it. But if you expect to work only 40 hours a week, it's unrealistic to leave your work behind after work.

How much effort does a successful product manager have to pay? On this issue, I have always been frank with the applicant, product management work can not be measured in time, the amount of pay can not be too much. Most of the "firefighters" who come in for emergencies are not the right product managers.

During the long project cycle, the effort and commitment of the product manager is not static. Some stages are more relaxed, some are tense. But a competent product manager's focus on the product and the degree of anxiety and willingness to work for it will not change.

Integrity

In all product team members, the product Manager can best reflect the company and product values. Usually the product manager does not directly manage the team members and cannot ask others to execute the order, so he must influence and convince his colleagues by action. This influence is based on mutual trust and respect and requires that the product manager be an upright person.

The product manager is the pivot between the product team, the sales team, and the company executives, often dealing with a variety of issues, such as early delivery and meeting the special requirements of major customers. The way the product manager deals with these problems, his colleagues look at it in their eyes.

Trust and respect need time to develop, product managers only through the work to show their quality and ability to become a real team leader. If the product manager treats colleague lacks sincerity, has the selfish intention, a bowl of water end uneven, then certainly will affect the overall unity and the work efficiency. Although the product manager does not have to be proficient in everything, he should know what each member is best at doing, respect the willingness of everyone to exert their work expertise, and fully trust everyone.

It is more difficult to investigate whether a person is upright or not than to examine his intelligence. For those who have work experience, ask them how to deal with the pressure in the work, and more details of the work.

Confidence

Many people believe that experience can make people feel confident. If only experience can build confidence, why do many product managers who have worked for years have no confidence? On the contrary, college graduates who have just entered society are often confident (though this confidence usually stems from ignorance of their own situation).

Self-confidence is a very important quality. Company executives, product teams, and sales teams need to see the product manager's confidence that their time, money and effort will not go down the drain. Confident people are more persuasive and more likely to become leaders they want to follow.

Attitude

A competent product manager regards himself as the CEO of a product and is willing to take full responsibility for the final success or failure of the product, and never find excuses. Although he understood that the product on time to successfully listed to overcome many difficulties-the development of difficult, long development time, high cost, product complexity, etc., but he understood that it is his responsibility to foresee and solve these problems.

This is not to say that the product manager must be respectful to oversee everyone's work, but that when there is a problem he should take the responsibility in time, when the progress is smooth he should give everyone encouragement in time. Competent product managers know that although the realization of the product can not be separated from everyone's assistance, but he should be responsible for their own product creativity.

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