Random thoughts on the twofold nature of Product Management and what makes it both challenging and interesting
This is something I've been reflecting on, now that I’m fully focused on product management, so I can more deeply understand the challenges and what makes it interesting, or special.
The more I think about it, the more I realize the twofold nature of the role and the discipline.
On one hand, PMs need to operate in the world of outcomes, of how we add value to the customers, and with that to the organization and so forth. That’s what truly matters at the end. It's the priority, job #1 for a PM.
A great PM understands that and can always articulate value from different meaningful angles: product value, value against business strategy and goals, but also value over time (how things are progressing, what is being focused on from a delivery point of view).
This is where things start to get interesting, and complex in a big way.
The world of outcomes is tangible when it comes to their definitions, but it’s often intangible how to get there, how to accomplish the goal. It’s the realm of (potentially infinite) possibilities. So, we attempt to reduce the uncertainties through coming up with ideas or hypotheses. Making sure our assumptions are put down, and with that, making something more tangible, until we have something we can deliver upon, an output.
In other words, to get where we want to in the first place, what truly matters, the outcome, you need to figure out the relevant pieces of work that need doing now, park what can be done later and discard what shouldn’t be done at all (or not in foreseeable future). It’s much easier said than done, obviously.
That’s to say: the world of output, how we execute, get stuff done, it’s a means to an end.
But here’s what makes it most challenging: it is what truly "makes or breaks"” at the end. Although not our priority, as PMs.
The world of output is, therefore, tangible in what has to happen, but largely intangible when it comes whether it will or not help us drive the outcome we wanted in the first place. And when the outcome is what truly matters at the end, we are only done when that’s accomplished, not when we deliver the output currently prioritized.
See what I mean? It’s constantly dancing around those two worlds of diverse nature. It’s what makes it challenging, but also engaging and interesting (for those who like a bit of complexity and nuance, that is).