Get to know the product manager (1)

Baidu Encyclopedia's "product manager" entry: product manager is the position responsible for product management in enterprises. The product manager is responsible for investigating users' needs, determining what products to develop, choosing what technology and business model according to users' needs, and promoting the development organization of corresponding products. The product manager also needs to coordinate R&D, marketing and operation personnel according to the product life cycle, and determine and organize the implementation of corresponding product strategies and other related product management activities.

The entry of Baidu Encyclopedia is a comprehensive exposition of product managers, which is not necessarily the most accurate and in place, but represents a common and comprehensive understanding. In addition, there will also be descriptions of positions and requirements in the recruitment of "product managers" in major enterprises. Common descriptions are as follows, which represent the employer's understanding of the responsibilities and requirements of the position of product manager.

1) Pay attention to the latest industry trends, market demand, user feedback and product functions, and conduct investigation and analysis; Provide solutions, improve related products, enhance user experience and increase user activity.

2) Extract new product functions from demand analysis, optimize existing functions, provide medium and long-term product design suggestions, and independently output clear product demand documents.

3) Be responsible for the functional design, prototype design and product documentation of related products, assist the development and testing team to understand and master the requirements, and be responsible for the direction and availability of product requirements.

4) Track and control the development project cycle of related products, coordinate the resources of all parties, follow up the design, development and testing stages, and promote the project progress.

1) Be familiar with all processes of product life cycle;

2) Proficient in related tools commonly used by product managers: Axure (drawing prototype), Visio (drawing flow chart), Mindmanager (drawing mind map), Photshop (processing pictures, not necessary).

3) Skillfully write product documents: PRD (Product Requirements Document), MRD (Market Requirements Document) and BRD (Business Requirements Document).

4) Other invisible ability requirements: sensitivity to user needs, logical thinking, innovation ability, communication and expression ability, self-management and team management ability, etc.

In fact, "product manager" is just a name, and the meaning behind the name is not fixed. Even those "product managers" who have been employed for many years have different understandings of the position of product manager. The specific work content, responsibilities and obligations of product managers set up in different departments of different enterprises are also different.

A product, simply understood, refers to something that meets people's needs in a market environment. Only after products enter the market circulation can they obtain commercial value and become commodities. In other words, all goods are a product. We are talking about products now, and most of the time we only talk about consumer electronics products and (mobile) Internet products. In fact, most things in our life do not belong to these two categories, including a screw, a pencil, a book, a bar of soap, a bottle of drink, a bag of spicy strips, a pair of shoes, a watch, a car, a house and so on. They are all products. It cost us a lot of money. In addition to the process of "service", it is a physical commodity, almost all of which are "products" produced by merchants.

The satisfaction of demand produces value. A product has two values, user value and business value. The former is for users, which is equivalent to the use value of goods, while the latter is mainly for producers (and sellers), which can bring benefits to producers (and sellers).

What is the process of a popular product from scratch? It is easy for us to think that we need to design, research and develop, trial-produce and mass-produce through various channels through the market and marketing departments, and finally be known and purchased by consumers (users), so as to realize the exchange of use value and commercial value with product producers.

Product manager is a profession that meets the needs of the development of modern material civilization and the specialization of social division of labor. Of course, this reason is more macro and abstract. Why do you need this job? We should start with P&G's Brand Management Law and Mike elroy, who is known as the first product (brand) manager in history.

It can be seen that "one person is responsible for a brand product" is the original intention and fundamental reason for the birth of "product manager". In order to make a brand and a product not waste resources as much as possible in the production and sales process and be competitive in the market, one person is responsible for the whole process of a product from scratch to continuous use by users. Then the person in charge is called the product manager of this product, and this person's position is also the "product manager" in this sense, regardless of whether his actual position is called "product manager".

Products have existed for a long time, but the position of product manager is actually "young". Su Jie, a senior product manager who put forward that "everyone is a product manager", pointed out that the birth of the position of product manager is actually the result of the development of productive forces. Productivity has developed to a certain stage (that is, to the so-called "abundant economy"), and some kinds of products have been developed from "demand exceeds supply" in the market, and many similar products have appeared in the market to meet the needs of users. At this time, manufacturers need to consider how to make their products stand out among similar products, be more favored by consumers and bring the greatest benefits to themselves. In order to achieve this goal, the products produced need to meet the needs of consumers, with lower cost, better sales and more competitiveness among similar products. At this time, the previous stories were connected, P&G's "brand management law" appeared, and the position of product manager came into being.

As we mentioned above, when we talk about products, most of the time we just talk about consumer electronic products and (mobile) Internet products. Why? Why do traditional industries and traditional products seldom emphasize the necessity of the position of "product manager"? Because the Internet industry is a new industry compared with the traditional industry, many things did not exist before and need to be created, such as smart phones and WeChat. Traditional products in traditional industries, their market demand, consumer groups, product functions and designs are often mature and stereotyped, and there is no need to create too much, so product management is not so harsh.

There is a book called "Steve Jobs' Product Bible", which extracts the core principles of product development, product design and product experience from 198 1 to 20 1, which Jobs "personally" said in various news media, press conferences and other public occasions. George Beam, the author, said in the preface that no matter how people evaluate Jobs, "it is an indisputable fact that some things Jobs said profoundly revealed the commercial essence of this era-the essence of products". The book also mentions a view put forward by Jobs in 2009 that inventions can change the world more than ideas. "At that time, I began to think that maybe Edison brought more changes to the world than Marx and Indian monk Nim Kaleri Baba put together."

A senior product manager said that we need to create value by doing a good job in product management activities, so we are product managers. The product manager is the creator, creating products that make users scream; Internally, he is a builder and a team that creates a good atmosphere.

The core value of a real product manager is mainly reflected in three aspects:

1) Industry Cognition and Analysis: Deciding the correct product direction is also the most core and valuable thing, and the best and most experienced product managers are doing it;

2) Requirements analysis and systematization: Doing the right thing and executing it well will directly affect the product data and relate to the success or failure of the product.

3) User experience and product design: The icing on the cake of the right thing is a kind of perfection, optimization and promotion, and it is also a necessary skill for junior product managers, which is completed together with product assistants and interaction designers.

The initiator of this view is Mr. Su Jie, who wrote a book called Everyone is a Product Manager. The following passage is taken from this book and focuses on this point:

Although not everyone can be a product manager, in my opinion, a product manager is a person who can solve many real life problems by thinking and methods. As long as you can find the problem and describe it clearly, turn it into a demand, then turn it into a task, win support, mobilize a group of people to complete this task, and keep tracking and maintaining this product as a master, then you are a product manager, at least you are your own product manager. This is the true meaning of "everyone is a product manager".

Thus, the significance of the proposition that "everyone is a product manager" does not mean that everyone can hold the position of a company's products, but that everyone can do things consciously or unconsciously in life and apply them to the thinking of "product manager" to solve problems and meet needs, that is, to find problems, describe problems, turn them into needs, develop them into tasks, and then form teams to strive for resources to complete tasks, so as to meet the initial needs. If you decorate your own house, you should design it first and then find workers, and finish it in the expected time, which needs to meet your imagination. Another example is the protagonist in The Piano of Steel. Another example is the director and producer of a movie.

The whole process of a product from scratch: analysis of target users, user scenarios, problems and pain points, core needs to be touched, differences with other similar products, solutions and product forms, market competition, possible problems and solutions, how to bring products to users, estimated workload, goal setting, needed resources, business value and business model, etc.

But what a junior product manager does is actually these: process optimization, function optimization, activity planning, product design and marketing, function design, function analysis, competing product analysis, product prototype and so on.

The product manager is the designer, promoter and operator of the product.

Designer: survey users, analyze requirements, discuss and form a plan;

Promoter: communicate product requirements with developers, promote product development and realize product launch;

Operator: maintain product content; Increase the number of users and activities and promote the market.

The ability to observe daily nuances, empathize with details, think at an empirical level, make well-founded speeches and turn them into solutions.

The ability to draw lines from complex phenomena and extract simple laws, abstract general laws from complex phenomena, and then use these laws to guide the direction of products.

Have the concept of data and the ability to borrow tools. Learning ability. Industry accumulation. Team consciousness.

Team spirit; Communication skills; Imagination and creativity; Psychological endurance; Basic skills of copywriting; Time management and self-management ability.

Think hard, talk well and communicate well.

1) product project establishment and product design stage: tell the boss and department heads about the products and get their support and cooperation.

Overall product planning ability, communication ability and presentation ability.

2) Product R&D stage: Understanding technology will improve the communication efficiency with R&D department.

3) Later operation and maintenance stage: user behavior needs to be tracked and analyzed. Need to have good data sensitivity and user psychological analysis ability.

4) Product iteration stage: After analyzing the users after operation, the product manager needs to upgrade the product to realize the continuous vitality of the product. This requires us to have a good vision and a good planning ability.

Yes, a good product manager? (Ben Holovitz, 1996, then product manager of Netscape)

1) A good product manager knows the market, products, product lines and fierce competition, and performs role-playing and duties based on his strong knowledge base and self-confidence. A good product manager is the CEO of the product. A good product manager can fully perform his duties and measure the success of products. They are responsible for the right product, the right time and all the relevant details. A good product manager knows the company, basic income, competition and other related information. They are responsible for making and implementing a successful plan without any excuse.

A bad product manager has many excuses. For example, the funds are insufficient, the technical manager is an idiot, and Microsoft has 10 times as many engineers devoted to developing the same product. I am overworked and can't get direct and sufficient guidance. Barksdale won't make these excuses, and neither will the product CEO.

2) A good product manager will not be occupied by other organizations that need to deliver the right products and perform the right time. They will not spend all the time of the product team, will not formulate and manage various functions, and will not become a part of the product team; Instead, they manage the product team. Technical teams will not regard good product managers as marketing resources. A good product manager is a marketing colleague of the technical manager. A good product manager clearly defines goals, what to do (requirements) and manages what to deliver. Poor product managers feel best about themselves when they point out "how to do it". A good product manager can clearly communicate his work in written form or even orally. A good product manager will not give orders casually. However, a good product manager will collect information informally (not strictly).

3) A good product manager will produce additional materials, FAQs, briefings and white papers for reference. Poor product managers complain that they are confused by answering the sales team's questions all day. A good product manager will anticipate serious product defects and establish real and reliable solutions. And poor product managers follow up all day to eliminate defects. A good product manager will keep a written record of important issues (competitive skills, reliable architecture selection, difficult product decisions, market attacks or benefits). The poor product manager verbally stated his views and lamented that similar problems would not happen again. Once bad product managers fail, they point out that they have predicted the failure.

4) A good product manager makes the team pay attention to the revenue and customer level. Bad product managers keep the team focused on the number of features that Microsoft is building. A good product manager defines a good product that can be violently executed. A bad product manager defines a "good product" as not being able to perform or make technicians build the behaviors they want (for example, solving the most difficult problems).

5) A good product manager will consider: delivering high-value things to the market in the release plan, and gaining market share and revenue targets after the release. However, poor product managers don't know the difference between delivery value, competitive function, pricing and versatility. A good product manager breaks down problems, and a poor product manager bundles all the problems into one big problem.

6) A good product manager will consider the stories he wants the media to write. Poor product managers consider covering every function with media and ensuring (describing) accuracy in real technology. A good product manager consults questions from the media, and a poor product manager answers any questions from the media. Good product managers think that the media and analysts are smart. Poor product managers assume that media and analysts are amateurs-(think they don't understand the difference between "promotion" and "de-promotion").

7) A good product manager will make mistakes in "clarifying" and "explaining simple problems". And bad product managers never explain obvious problems. Good product managers define their work and success, while poor product managers usually need to be told what to do.

Good product managers send out status reports in time every week, because they abide by discipline. The poor product manager forgot to send it in time because he didn't pay attention to discipline.