Last year, I came upon Ben Horowitz’s article entitled Good Product Manager, Bad Product Manager. Ben initially wrote this when he headed Product Management at NetScape. What’s impressive is that even though this was first written 20 years ago, it’s still very relevant today. As a trainer and consultant in Product Management and Product Marketing, I really have come to appreciate the importance of Ben’s thoughts.
I leveraged this article to lead a session at ProductCamp Austin 13 in August 2014. Below are the slides I used and the notes from the discussion.
Why is There So Much Bad Product Management
There is a lot of bad Product Management going on. I see three key reasons for Bad Product management (and Product Marketing):
- Many Product Managers/Marketers and Company Executives don’t have a clear understanding of the role and the strategic contribution the role should make to the organization.
- Too many decisions are based upon opinions and not strong knowledge and evidence from the market.
- Product Managers & Product Marketers don’t understand the levers of control they have to really make a strategic impact.
What Can You Do To Become a Great Product Manager
- Get Training!!! Way too many PMs have never been through training. My informal survey says less than 20% and other survey’s say even fewer.
- Get out into the market and really understand your market, customers and competition, etc.
- Get a great mentor or coach.
- Keep learning and developing yourself as a Product Management & Product Marketing professional.
Speak Your Mind