“But Joe the executive asked us to do it the other way…”

Continuing along the path of my previous post about What makes a good product manager for software development I wanted to talk a little about the last attribute, obsessive enthusiasm about the product experience. The challenge is that it’s often hard to notice whether a product manager has this quality or not. So here are my thoughts on how to spot this through negative qualities, i.e. if you see a product manager do some of the following things, they’re probably lacking critical product thinking, which is key to becoming truly passionate about the product.

First, a few words about critical product thinking. A lot of people like to chat about products on a very high level, with no attention to details or whether a particular aspect of a product matter to users. Critical product thinking is the opposite of that, when someone thinks really hard about the product offering in a critical manner and with the users’ best interest in mind. It’s when you accept no compromise in delivering the absolutely best product to users. And you cut through red tape to achieve that, if needed.

So here are some of the negative qualities to look out for:

• “You can’t change that, it’s scheduled for delivery in 2 months so we have to keep working on it.” – ah, the Gantt chart wielding product manager who misunderstood his title for a project manager. Sometimes these types are good for keeping a schedule, but letting them be in control of the product as well is a horrible combination. Sticking to a schedule is never an excuse for delivering a sub-par product.
• “I just had a meeting with our VP, and he told us to do the opposite of what we had decided, and contrary to what I said yesterday, I now agree with him.” – you remember this one from school, right? The Brown nose product manager is usually easy to spot and even easier to disarm. They mean no harm but simply don’t know better and don’t seem to have a free will when it comes to building a product; it’s all about what the executive says! The best way to fight them is to arm yourself with data and take the argument directly with the executive in question. A word of warning though: don’t ignore this syndrome, since that will only make matters worse for you (do you know what being held in contempt means?), your team (we’re not going to ignore our executives!) and your product (with no prior knowledge, the chances are 50% that your executive is right; assuming your team has prior knowledge about the product space, the chances are even worse and the users will suffer as a result).
• “Here’s the PRD I created, how long will it take for you to build this thing for me?” – very few products nowadays are designed or built by a single person, it’s all about the team work. But somehow, the Dictator product manager doesn’t seem to get it. There are perhaps a few exceptions – Steve Jobs comes to mind as potentially the closest thing, although even he doesn’t seem to be a true dictator when it comes to product design – but even then I still believe true teamwork can make the result even better. This type is easy to spot, except when you have the Charming dictator product manager – all I can say then is “Good Luck” :)

There are more stereotypes to be aware of – do you have any to share? Any tips on how to neutralize these wannabe product managers?

- Gummi