The People-Focused Product Manager
2 min readJan 7, 2018
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Much of the discussion around product today is focused on users, metrics, and processes. There is nothing inherently wrong with any of these things, in fact, they’re essential to building a business. But let us not lose sight of the fact that people — and relationships — are at the core of everything a product manager does.
In my few years in the role, I’ve identified a few patterns of behavior that I believe the people-focused product manager exhibits in their regular interactions with key people:
The People Who Use Your Products
Key actions:
- Communicates directly to users without intermediaries
- Is invested in the customer’s success
- Proactively helping your users solve their issues and following up afterward
- Responds to people on Twitter, Product Hunt, Linkedin, and other communities where conversations about your product are happening.
- Knows power users by name and communicates with them regularly
- Doesn’t believe in ‘user error’
The People Who Help Build Your Products
Key actions:
- Meets with each individual on the team 1–1 regularly
- Knows what motivates and inspires each individual — inside and outside of work
- Gathers input and feedback from the entire team
- Ensures that everyone understands the why
- Encourages trust through open discussion and doesn’t shy away from disagreement
- Has fun and recognizes hard work
- Does whatever it takes to help the team — including filling in for various roles and learning new skills if necessary
- Avoids pointing fingers and assigning blame — instead focusing on solutions and avoiding repeating mistakes
The People Who Support & Sell Your Products
Key actions:
- Ensures that they share the same vision and goals for success
- Goes beyond ‘managing’ stakeholders — treats them as a partner while proactively seeking input and feedback
- Meets regularly with sales, support, and marketing to gain insights and ideas into their challenges and observations
- Constructively asks questions to understand their point of view when providing feedback
- Incorporates their ideas and feedback into team decisions
- Shares the success (and accepts the failures)
