What are the Principle Instincts of a Product Manager?
Every product manager desires and tends to manage a product that will concur the market. A successful product should not only reach the right user and fully meet their expectations but also be well managed.
To achieve this goal, product managers should have appropriate instincts – special skills and features that will allow them to make the right decisions about the direction of product development. What are these instincts?
The author of the article on Timecamp defines 5 most fundamental instincts of product managers. Here they are:
Instinct 1. Understanding the market
As product managers, you must know how the market and your direct competitors look like, know the market trends and feel the user’s needs. Understanding market realities will allow discovering new possibilities in functionality, the product will be unique and successful.
Instinct 2. Knowing your user
Product managers must also understand the way users think and make decisions. Only the previous contact with a product will make it easier for them to understand the needs of the user and the changes that will allow them to make even better use of the product.
Instinct 3. Communication skills
Right communication with stakeholders is one of the most important skills during the product manager’s work. PMs should have highly developed communication skills and be successful in negotiations, telling interesting stories and persuading.
Talking with all stakeholders can be difficult if we are not able to properly communicate information to different people.
Instinct 4. Prioritization
The ability to prioritize is one of the key ways to success in modern product management. Good product managers have a highly developed ability to set priorities. They know what is more important for the user at a given moment. They are aware of what can wait, what functionalities will increase the scalability of the product, and what will be unnoticed.
Instinct 5. Ability to forecast
The market is constantly changing. Product managers should not only follow the current trends but also to predict important things. If you don’t want to lag behind, you have to be ahead of the competition and users’ thinking. It is enough to make one step more than them, and you will be the fastest in the industry.