The biggest mistakes made by product managers

Editor's note: When people make mistakes, whether in their lives or at work, they will always make mistakes. Some mistakes do not affect much, and some mistakes may lead to the passing of their careers, in particular, Internet PM directly determines the "Life and Death" of a product due to work responsibilities ". Although the world is quite different, many errors are repeated or largely similar. Let's take a look at zhihu Q & A's two most liked answers. Others have made the biggest mistake and hope to give your work a chance to prevent it in advance.

1. risks and costs of Innovation

The core of Weibo's comment/forwarding function is the information flow and consumption mode, and the core of Weibo's information flow. The more core things are, the more mature solutions are often available. Therefore, the higher the cost and risk of innovation, the higher the capability test for the product design team. On this issue, I have had several failed attempts, resulting in several revisions to the information flow. Core users are lost and have a lot of buzz. In the end, the solution was to copy another microblog Model in China. Of course, there are other reasons behind this, and I have lost patience and confidence.

2. Want to do more

Weibo solves the "What are I currently doing" requirement. Since childhood, Chinese teachers have taught us that the three elements of a story should be "people, time, and place". Therefore, we want to build on Weibo, it also solves the user's "where am I" requirement, commonly known as LBS, and hopes to differentiate it from other Weibo posts. This step is too big for us who were not the first in terms of scale and magnitude. There is also a lack of rigorous user surveys and clear user use cases and requirements. The result is that it took nearly one quarter to follow up on the project. The final data is mediocre, which can be called "failure 」. Once a product is launched, it requires greater determination to go offline, which means more maintenance costs and higher system complexity. Weibo + lbs does not mean it cannot be done, but depends on when and who will do it. When should a product do something? This is what it means: "When you get a big step, you get it done. Don't be greedy. The Great Leap Forward has killed people. The product manager must have the determination and courage to perform subtraction.

3. Understand what users really want

Product managers think they are super users and can speak on behalf of users. But you are not a "user". It is necessary to test availability as early as possible and as many as possible. Users will vote with their feet. Do not do user observation without eye movements, or do not use research and analysis without user researchers. As a PM, we must be less emotional at this time, and find a few people around us to start work! For example, in the interactive design of page turning, do not challenge users' usage habits.

4. Find out what you are doing

What problems should be solved in the short term, what problems should be solved in the long term, and what is the basic positioning of the product? Even in large companies, do not count on boss to solve these problems. The product manager must be clear and dare to stick to it. Sometimes, do not trust others.

5. For mass products, rapid expansion is more important than detail

In the Chinese Internet market, any product has a large number of competitors. The main direction of the product is true. Rapid expansion and small run are more important than anything else. At this time, do not believe that "Details determine everything", but believe that "big strategy affects small products 」. The mistake I 've made is that it took a lot of time in the early stage to focus on the details that users don't even care about.

6. fail to recognize the global

From the user's complete use process, user incentives and guiding modes, to the complete circulation of information and the establishment of consumption channels, Community atmosphere and mechanisms; in front of a lot of available resources, is it possible for many resources? Should all be required ?... At what stage, the key link is different. The test is that the product manager jumps out of the current specific task and sees the entire event.

7. Product Manager's personal abilities are crucial

In a large-scale company or team, it is necessary for product managers to be able to handle operation teams and leaders. This includes whether your product planning and positioning are clear enough to allow them to recognize and get support from more operating resources.
There are still many errors. Some mistakes are doomed to be made and will be made later. However, you can only know whether this problem is OK after you have experienced it.

After reading the summary of the yellow ocean, let's take a look at Shen Yan's self-summary:

1. The product is huge. The bigger the things, the more problems there are.

2. Poor popularity. I once thought that I could make a great product if I was a little smart, but I later learned why they call this job a product "manager ".

3. Do not understand the market. It is too far away from money. We spent a lot of time studying what users need, but users are different from customers. They are not your food and clothing parent, but customers are.

4. Do not understand the technology. If you don't know how many logs you have, how do you design a smart furniture?

5. too knowledgeable about technology. I am a technical and design engineer. I often fall into the details of my previous thinking, ignoring the height of my problem.

6. No career orientation for yourself. Some company's product managers are responsible for the design of a function, and some company's product managers grasp the lifeblood of the company. The boss can blur his own identity, but he cannot be confused.

7. No industry positioning for yourself. Which one are you, e-commerce, cloud computing, wireless Internet, portal, community, and search?

8. Do not understand users. Put this at the end of the article because I don't think it is a mistake, but what every product manager has to do all his life, not a simple excuse.

9. Pursue details. Perfection comes from details. The reason why details are important is that they have done the right thing in the right place.

10. Do not try again or make mistakes. The product manager takes the project into consideration before launching the product. If an entrepreneur tries to make a prototype within one day, neither of them can be obtained.

11. Good user experience. In a narrow sense, "User Experience" refers to interaction design. I agree with the importance of interaction design. However, the actual experience tells me that if a rough product model does not interest users, interaction design will not help. But it can be icing on the cake.

12. Error time. In addition to the product experience, the number of users of a product also has a direct relationship with the launch time. Hard marketing can promote this process, but the timing is the best lever.

13. No love for products. A friend around me made his own small product. I saw it with my own eyes that he had completely changed it four or five times. I said that if I had been bored, he would have replied very easily, "even if I had to give me 5 million now, I will continue to do this ".

The biggest mistakes made by product managers