Passion
Someone asked me recently: What's the most important unteachable trait to look for in a product manager?
Passion.
All the skills can be learned. The procedures taught. Business strategy can be picked up by experience (or maybe even in business school). Agile development can be learned on the job. Even leadership skills and public speaking can be coached.
Passion can't be taught.
A passionate product manager believes in her products. In fact, it's hard for a passionate PM to work on products that she doesn't believe in. When that happens, she may decide to move on. Matching people to their passions is important in hiring, and in management. It's crucial to recognize that different people are passionate about different things - one person may be excited about digital imaging applications, while another is enthusiastic about eLearning systems.
When a PM believes in a product, its success becomes important on a personal level. Failure becomes, as they say, not an option. The product vision becomes a kind of a mission for an engaged PM, something that he cares deeply about and wants others to care about.
There is no substitute for passion when it comes to understanding customers. Sure, you can interview or poll customers and collect information in a methodical way - that's the least a PM has to do - but a really effective product manager cares enough to really connect with these customers. By listening and understanding the customer's pain, on a gut level, a PM obtains a crucial insight that mere observation rarely provides. Uncovering and even empathizing with customers' emotional responses to problems provides a way to discover opportunities for products that might never occur to a detached observer. These insights only come from doggedly pursuing customers and listening to them zealously.
A passionate product manager can communicate these insights in a way that helps to engage a development team. Dry requirements documents rarely communicate how a product can captivate a customer's imagination and make them really want it. It's up to the PM to explain his observations in ways that personalize the customer to the development team - perhaps by creating really meaningful personas, or better still, introducing the team to the customer via video or even in person. A product manager can only connect the team with the customer if he's really engaged himself, and really cares that the team shares this engagement.
And, obviously, a passionate Product Manager cares enormously about the quality of the product. User experience, in particular, becomes a major focus, since the PM is often in the best position to understand how actual customers will view the product. A really engaged PM is a strong customer advocate, and may sometimes have to struggle to de-prioritize less important features, keeping his passion in check in order to achieve objectives.
Even if passion can't be taught, it can be inspired. A passionate leader can help other team members realize that it's OK to care about customers, and that it's a good thing to be enthusiastic about product quality. Most people have the ability to be passionate about their work. Sometimes it just takes someone with plenty of enthusiasm to help unlock their passion. Who better than a product manager?
Passion.
All the skills can be learned. The procedures taught. Business strategy can be picked up by experience (or maybe even in business school). Agile development can be learned on the job. Even leadership skills and public speaking can be coached.
Passion can't be taught.
A passionate product manager believes in her products. In fact, it's hard for a passionate PM to work on products that she doesn't believe in. When that happens, she may decide to move on. Matching people to their passions is important in hiring, and in management. It's crucial to recognize that different people are passionate about different things - one person may be excited about digital imaging applications, while another is enthusiastic about eLearning systems.
When a PM believes in a product, its success becomes important on a personal level. Failure becomes, as they say, not an option. The product vision becomes a kind of a mission for an engaged PM, something that he cares deeply about and wants others to care about.
There is no substitute for passion when it comes to understanding customers. Sure, you can interview or poll customers and collect information in a methodical way - that's the least a PM has to do - but a really effective product manager cares enough to really connect with these customers. By listening and understanding the customer's pain, on a gut level, a PM obtains a crucial insight that mere observation rarely provides. Uncovering and even empathizing with customers' emotional responses to problems provides a way to discover opportunities for products that might never occur to a detached observer. These insights only come from doggedly pursuing customers and listening to them zealously.
A passionate product manager can communicate these insights in a way that helps to engage a development team. Dry requirements documents rarely communicate how a product can captivate a customer's imagination and make them really want it. It's up to the PM to explain his observations in ways that personalize the customer to the development team - perhaps by creating really meaningful personas, or better still, introducing the team to the customer via video or even in person. A product manager can only connect the team with the customer if he's really engaged himself, and really cares that the team shares this engagement.
And, obviously, a passionate Product Manager cares enormously about the quality of the product. User experience, in particular, becomes a major focus, since the PM is often in the best position to understand how actual customers will view the product. A really engaged PM is a strong customer advocate, and may sometimes have to struggle to de-prioritize less important features, keeping his passion in check in order to achieve objectives.
Even if passion can't be taught, it can be inspired. A passionate leader can help other team members realize that it's OK to care about customers, and that it's a good thing to be enthusiastic about product quality. Most people have the ability to be passionate about their work. Sometimes it just takes someone with plenty of enthusiasm to help unlock their passion. Who better than a product manager?