Product Managers can be humans too!
“There is a fundamental problem with how the software business does things. We’re asking people who are masters of hard-edged technology to design the soft, human side of software as well. As a result, they make products that are really cool if you happen to be a software engineer.” — Alan Cooper
I have been in product management for almost three years, and during this time I have had the fortune of working in a market leading FTSE 100 company as well as a much smaller startup development agency. While there are a number of differences between these two worlds, something that I find rears its head quite often is the lack of emotion that goes into product management. Now before you go clicking off the page after reading what seems to be the beginning of a love story, allow me to elaborate.
If you’re a product person you can probably relate to one of these scenarios:
- Being in a large organisation where every decision has to go through so much bureaucracy that it takes a lifetime before you can take a single step forward.
- Working in a smaller setup where you are following user centred methodologies such as agile and lean startup, where you are measuring customer feedback, but still manage to focus on the analytics over anything qualitative because “Data drives results and opinions don’t”.
Sound familiar?
Along with the commonplace scenarios listed above, as Product people we get sucked into day to day activities and completely forget the people we exist to serve. This is especially the case when we become so efficient in our routines; dealing with internal conflicts, prioritising the backlog, going from meeting to meeting, conferences, clearing those urgent but not important items from our inbox…you get the idea. I can identify too well with getting bogged down in the Product Management quicksand that sucks all the humanity out of work. Here are a few hacks that I use to rescue myself:
Put Persona’s at the centre of all conversations
Persona’s are an interesting tool that tend to be more prominent in design and development communities while playing a fleeting role in the life of a product manager. To keep perspective, try placing the persona at the centre of your conversations that you have with everybody inside of your organisation. Whenever someone makes an assumption about the product, ask them “Would John do that?”. While this might sound silly in passing, the persona represents the user that you are creating for so every conversation should revert back to them.
Hug your users until they Love you
When was the last time you hugged one of your users? Ok, not literally, but when did you last get your users in a room to discuss their problems, frustrations, challenges and goals? User hugging will give you great insights into what you are doing right and wrong as a product manager, as well as clues about where you should be going next.
Don’t react to data until you talk to somebody
So, you have run an experiment, and discovered that 70% of users are abandoning your web app when they get to a specific part of the user journey. So you decide to change it, once, twice, and a third time for good measure. The underlying reason for this is a honourable one, you are trying to optimise the signup process to make it easier for prospects to get into the platform. The mistake you made is that you didn’t ask anybody why they decided to abandon it in the first place. Talking to a few people about why they acted in the way that you observed could give you the answers you need to optimise your product from a very informed position.
Relationships are everything
The cliche saying “your network is your net-worth” (I am tired of hearing that too), couldn’t be truer. I can’t tell you how many times I have been able to bypass potential bottle necks in projects because of the relationships I took the time to build with people. When you have spent time to create bonds and add value to the lives of others, you build up some equity with them that you can leverage in the future. So don’t be shy to ask people out for a drink, or offer them help, you never know when you will need them.
As Product Managers, we have to remember that underneath our superhero outfits lies a being that needs to communicate and connect with others. The human side of software is what makes products useful to others. Practice empathy today, if you want to avoid having a portfolio of products that nobody wants to touch.
