Product manager, called PM, is the name of the company's products in demand points, research and development, manufacturing, marketing, channels and other people. Product Manager Originally this is a low-key and need to precipitate the work, but it seems that overnight, everyone is Product Manager: Crazy recruitment, high salary, intense discussion, even the college students are eager. Is the product manager really so simple that everyone can do it? Where will the practitioners go?
Suddenly, as the spring breeze, thousands of trees pear blossom
Zhang also don't know how he was put on the "Product manager" title, 2009 ago, he was a website editor, has been in this position for more than 3 years. Writing and writing every day, but also work easily. Until one day, the leader said to him, "You come to be our product manager." At that time Zhang was the first time I heard of this position, and I was in a muddle. He no longer writes, but is endlessly entangled in various conferences. He felt more like a mediator, balance the conflict between various departments on the company's resources: coordination engineer to solve the problem of Web server, and marketing department to talk about advertising cooperation, and planning to jointly plan the project activities, side and art talk about the site of the page beautification, while preparing to report KPI operations to the leadership ... A variety of demand pressure, various and other departments of the negotiations, Zhang almost every day after 11 o'clock after work, sometimes even lunch dinner to eat, and finally after a year to get the job smoothly, wages also doubled, can get more than 6,500 yuan. Zhang began to understand that product managers have a lot to bear.
Ricky started out as a programmer, and there were no specialized product or demand personnel in the company's projects, and he wrote the development requirements documentation. Later Ricky resigned and did not want to do any more development, and a company made him a demand analyst because his resume had "writing requirements documents".
Into the company, he found that in fact, the work is very leisurely, at the same time the company's process is not perfect, do not need to do the prototype method is not good enough, he looked for his own books, began to learn systematically how to do needs, contact Axure, began to learn to draw prototypes. There is a job, Ricky need to communicate with the company's mobile products Department of an interface, the other is the director of that department, lunch at noon Ricky said, I like your work ah, really want to go to your department. The Director welcomed, at the same time their department has a responsible person to leave, and then with self-study knowledge, Ricky transferred past, so became a product manager. That year, Product manager this position suddenly as the night breeze, in the major IT companies spend thousands of trees.
Behind the glory, engraved with a lonely.
Perhaps there is a little design feeling in everyone's heart, just like Luo said that he has a "craftsman dream" in his heart. and product managers seem to meet the design desire of people who live in the internet age. User needs, interactive design, user experience, it seems that product managers are doing the most fashion sense of work. At the same time, do not write code to do development, but also have a good income, but also attract people, especially the graduates of the trend as Wu important reasons. But in fact, the product manager's work is not easy, the entry of the Product Manager Assistant to do the work is very trivial, and senior product managers need more comprehensive ability and comprehensive quality.
Li Peng is a new product of the big company through school recruit, at first he is passionate about the job, it seems that he is the lone hero who can change the internet world. But after six months of work, he found that the reality is that he is far from the standard level. "Product Manager actually do is some very basic things, no one can take you go what shortcut, all to rely on their own slowly groping, are so over." His current salary is 8500 yuan, "but this is not your achievement, but the pressure and responsibility you have to bear." Li Peng said. The internet is different from many other industries, that is, small companies also have the possibility of short-term soar even affect the industry. A lot of internet companies are with small team model in advance, to the entrepreneurial mentality in the struggle, even if small, its strength can not be ignored. Li Peng feels that as a product manager can go to a giant company is the best, after all, there is a big platform and rich resources, can be paid well. But to small companies can have more opportunities and space to let you play, however, the most important thing is their own practice and efforts.
A flash in the pan or a potential stock?
Product managers are undoubtedly the upstart of the Internet industry. They often determine the lifeblood of the company's products, while a senior product manager is not paid less than a senior development engineer. But for the current Internet industry's widespread high pay will become a bubble, public opinion presents two different views: the first of the British "economist" as the representative pointed out that the irrational enthusiasm in the internet world, and "the Internet industry Globalization, means that more people may be tempted into the current false boom in online investment, make the bubble burst more painfully ", suggesting that the dotcom bubble will eventually burst; the second, on behalf of the People's Daily, said that" the internet industry is like beer, the bubbles above are just fresh symbols, the real meaning is the beer itself. " The key is to maintain a proper ratio of bubbles and beers. "Although there is a bubble, but the Chinese internet still has a huge space for development, but now it is only" how to turn the potential into a reality, go more smoothly. ”
How to view the Internet bubble? At the end of April, Sohu CEO Charles Zhang publicly warned that the Chinese concept stock had a similar bubble as it did a decade ago, but that Wall Street's mania for the internet had been replaced with the "Chinese concept", but "the illusion of the concept would have been dashed if the results were not expected in successive quarters". The Chairman and CEO of Innovation Workshop, Li Kaifu, said in a recent microblog in a group of foreign analysts questioning China's dotcom bubble, he said the central point: First, the number of Chinese Internet users, especially wireless internet users and their input on the Internet are growing, so the capital market for those truly valuable companies are not high valuations ( That is, there is no bubble); second, the emergence of some listed stock bubbles is due to speculation and misunderstanding.
Unlike traditional industries, the Internet industry from the date of birth, with the bubble, and bubble to the Internet industry's healthy development of the role is not only negative. Because high risk means high returns, without the premise, the industry will not have the charm to attract venture capitalists, and if there is no capital to participate in this game, the Internet industry can not achieve such rapid development. In fact, the position of product manager is also. The rapid development of the Internet has encouraged major companies to constantly recruit new product managers, and the frequency of new products developed has become more and more rapid. On the one hand, the requirements of product managers are increasing: there is aesthetic, understand the design, will operate, understand the market, and even independent development. On the other hand, the product manager's work intensity and the pressure also unceasingly enhances. Li Peng said, "The students envy me more than 8,000 of the salary, but they do not know, this salary is my overtime also counted." "He smiled a bit," we all jokingly called ourselves a product dog, because overtime is too common! In particular, a few days before the line, overnight overnight is also a cinch.
Everyone is not a product manager
People's energy is always limited, master some of these areas, has been rare, and is considered to be versatile product managers, but also the need for comprehensive ability outstanding. But how deep can a person understand the expertise?
One of the basic skills of a product manager is to learn how to use 22 to dial a heavy, simple and simple way to solve the problem. For their own weaknesses, will be skillfully through the team to complement. How can the product specialist be promoted to the Product manager, or is the product manager competent? A product must have a product manager, but is not given a person product manager This title, he is the product manager. When the product manager with the title is unable to take responsibility for the product, the final product manager will work, probably his superiors.
Do not rush to "user experience first" hanging on the tip of the tongue, in the cultivation of good internal strength, everyone is not a product manager. Why do the industry often say that the best products have some literature and art fan? Why do people often say that we need to develop a good product feel? Because the product manager and the director in this kind of work is similar: the use of technology to create. and creation undoubtedly needs a good feeling, and is a literary word. Of course, unlike pure literary and artistic creations, making products also requires logic and clear thinking, so the perfect situation is Ellison's comment on jobs: Both the engineer's thinking and the artist's mind.
Summary: Although not everyone can be the product manager for the industry, but the product manager is a class of people, his ideas and methods of doing things can solve a lot of practical life problems. As long as you can find the problem and describe clearly, transform into a demand, and then into a task, to win support, start a group of people, the task completed, and continue to master the mentality to track and maintain this product, then you are the product manager. At the very least, you are your own product manager, and that is the true meaning of the product manager.