Good PM/Bad PM: Abridged Version
Inspired by Ben Horowitz
Are you a good Product Manager? How do you know?
One of the wonderful and frustrating challenges of product roles are the lack of any clear agreement on what is expected and what success looks like. Over the years, this pain has been somewhat alleviated by wonderful product management articles written by Marty Cagan, but before Marty there was Ben.
In the late 1990’s successful venture capitalist Ben Horowitz, then Netscape VP, wrote a popular article on the role of the product manager — Good Product Manager/Bad Product Manager. The hastily written article was born of his frustration with what he saw as poor leadership in his product group. The article introduces the idea that the product manager is the ‘CEO of the product’ and that a good product person is allowed ‘no excuses’.
The article, which you should definitely read, covers how to spend your time at work, the importance of discipline, and even how to manage the press. If I had to pick one word to describe the essence of the article, it would be responsibility.
“A good product manager takes full responsibility and measures themselves in terms of the success of the product. Bad product managers have lots of excuses.” — Ben Horowitz
Let’s look at the things a good product manager does, according to Ben:
Knows the market, product, product line, and competition.
Knows the context of the company (revenue, funding, competition).
Devises and executes a winning plan.
Crisply define the ‘what’ and give direction formally.
Anticipate product flaws and build real solutions.
Take written positions on important issues.
Focus on revenue and customers and define good products.
Think of the story they want written, not covering every feature.
Are proactive with their job and provide the the organization clarity.
Whew, what a list! You sure you still want to be in product?
As I ran through his checklist, evaluating my own performance, I sank in my chair — realizing how many gaps I have. It got me thinking, if I had to start somewhere, where would I start? What is the high order bit to being really great? What area, if invested in, would be the rocket fuel to performing in the product role?
In my view, almost all of these items, done well, are rooted in one thing — understanding. A deep understanding of your product, customers, company, and the competition. Everything else, from planning to delivering relies on this base of knowledge.
“All information looks like noise until you break the code.” — Neal Stephenson
Of course, lacking deep foundational knowledge won’t stop you from doing the operational work Ben describes. You’ll still define what to build, take strong positions, and write a status report every week. It’s just that the product direction will be wrong and the status report meaningless. The job isn’t to make things up, even though when forced we all do. The real job is to process enough noise so that you can see the signal and translate it winning.
“The signal is the truth.” — Nate Silver
Embrace the noise and the signal will come. Be patient, but don’t expect it to come without a lot of exposure to the real world. The world outside your comfortable office. Good product managers embrace this storm so others don’t get wet and leverage this hard-won understanding on their way to becoming a good PM.
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