Products are ruling the world. And in turn, so are product leaders! So what makes one a great product leader? For starters, they know the market well, the product even better, and the customer the best. A good product manager is the CEO of his product. Here are five essential things all product managers have:
1. Happily Dissatisfied
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When you are building a product, you will encounter failure. The service might freeze, or you might be at a technological dead-end. Most people will get frustrated or just plain live with it, pushing imperfect features and advancements.
Great product people are actually excited by this kind of failure in the products they're working for. The roadblock engages them, their curiosity piques, and they use that energy to solve problems.
2. Personally Engaged In Feedback
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A product maker who locks himself up in a room coding the entire day far from users may be making valuable headways, but he can never build a great product on his own. You have to be emotionally invested in your target audience’s reactions, turning a user's disappointment to delight. You should settle for nothing less than providing the best user experience to your audience.
Great product makers “are interested” in the people who use their products. They’re excited to reach out to them since they want to please them and they’re confident they’re going to show them something great.
3. Guided By An Articulate Philosophy
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Almost all of the highly successful products are guided by a great philosophy, or a good aim, at best. Products without a good aim may find some success, but the lack of a path-breaking vision may render them to achieve the wrong kind of growth, to bloat, to confuse their audience and perish with time.
A product that doesn't understand why it's successful will not know as to what features are imperative to its success, and how it can better user experience in these dynamic times. The product engineer needs to be deeply involved in developing first, the principles for the product, and then the features to achieve the intended level of activity.
4. Experts In The Technology Involved
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Would the iPhone be as successful without a multi-touch UI? Would Gmail or Google Maps be as successful without excellent Javascript development?
Great products use the best of technology and a great product maker benefits from understanding that technology in and out. Therefore, it is almost imperative to know the intricacies of a product and its building platform to build a commercially successful software product.
5. Thinking Big And Small
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There are two types of people — the visionaries who often run into the trouble of conceiving only the big picture but are clueless of the daily workings of a product. While the Daily Dalliers are only concerned about getting past the present / interim roadblocks, without pondering about the future of the product, forcing them to compromise on the scalability.
Great product developers should be able to switch from grand plans to the minutest details, so that they can build a wholesome and useful product at the end.
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