There are 3+1 categories of Product Managers
The misnomer Product Managers (the “+1”)
- Product Manager is such a fashionable title that again starts with “P” and ends with “M”. That’s why when line managers cannot figure out a suitable title, they default it to “Product Manager”. Welcome to meet my latest Product Manager, Office Division, who will happily dispense stationary for you!
With real Product Managers, they do one of the following.
Make the possible impossible
- Sounds impossible? But I have seen too many of such cases… If you want to sink a ship, send them over!
- These guys probably can’t even do the right “trade-off”. They are either sleepwalking, or their logic is so bad…
Make the possible happens
- No surprise. These people do their job and get on with their life, and they are not going to turn your company great by any means. Question is, why do you want to pay someone so well (Real Product Managers are handsomely paid!) just to do something that is going to happen anyway? Must well spend money on donuts.
- This group of Product Managers really know how to do “trade-off”. They know it so well that they manage to make the right trade-off decision every time. Give me 2 choices, with well-articulated reasoning, and I can choose. So do you. Have you ever seen a company raise above all competition because they do trade-offs so well? If you can, so can I!
Make the impossible happen
- Product Managers must only fall into this category. That’s why great companies invest so much in getting the best Product Managers.
- And no, these Product Managers hate trade-offs. Everyone can do a trade-off. And these guys become great by doing what their competitors can’t do.
- Hating trade-offs is easy. Hating doesn’t mean you can avoid it totally. And being an asshole who just insists unreasonably usually doesn’t work too (occasionally it works!). A great Product Manager can see through the trade-off and design a solution that’s having the best of both worlds. A great Product Manager will also make sure the solution is perfectly executed.
- They never give up.
And now, I think a great Product Manager is a misnomer. They should be named as
Genius
That’s why universities shouldn’t have courses on “Product Manager”, because genius can’t be taught.