product-management

The life of a Product Manager is no walk in the park, that is a fact. Whether you are a PM yourself or have already read our previous article about what a day in a PM's life looks like, you probably know how challenging the job is. 

Being a product manager requires a great deal of coordination, patience, and of course the key to success, effective communication. PMs need to first, set a vision for the product, and then carry it out throughout the whole creating-making-branding-selling-and-everything-in-between process. 

But even if the overall tasks seem tough and scary even, being a PM superhero is very much doable.We curated a list of the must-have superpowers that all great PMs share, and how to acquire them.

Predict-the-future superpowers:

A PM superhero has to learn to predict the future and act accordingly in order to prevent delays and issues that might rise.How- Using previous experiences and learning to notice the signs is key. Just think about it as economists preventing another depression based on what lead to the previous one. Or even as simple as a doctor noticing your symptoms and helping you prevent a more serious disease.

Tech-wizardry:

Technical issues are bound to happen no matter what. Period. Whether we like it or not, bugs and delays are part of the tech world. How we manage them is what matters most.

‍How- Even if your developers are not the most conversational of your project team, you can always reach out to them to make sure that everything is going smoothly.

‍*Bonus*- Try to get a better understanding of what your tech people are developing. They would appreciate the support and you could learn a thing or two in the process. Plus, they would love to talk to someone who at least doesn't think they're speaking alien!

Perfect execution powers:

Make things happen. Be it meeting deadlines, reaching your metrics, hitting a milestone, you have to make things happen on time.How- There are many tools and software at your disposal today which makes this particular part both the easiest and the most difficult to achieve. You just need to organize your priorities and look for the best means that will help achieve your goals seamlessly.

Psychic Communication powers:

A superhero PM can communicate with EVERYBODY! Internally (Sales, Marketing, Operations, Technical, R&D, etc.) or externally (Customers, Partners, Suppliers, Media, etc.)How- (a) know your people, and (b) talk to them. Everyone is different, that's for sure, but also everyone loves to feel special, important. They love to feel that they valued members of the team and that their opinion matters. You need to emphasize the importance of each and every single individual in the success of your product. You need to reach out to them, get their feedback, and let them know that their contribution is critical to the project.

Clarity superpowers:

"A superhero PM knows how to get 80% of the value out of any feature or project with 20% of the effort.

"How- Avoid gibberish. Meaning: try to explain things as simply as possible, but also make sure that the other end is assimilating and fully understanding what it is that you are asking for. Make your tasks/calls to action as clear and concise as possible. And FOLLOW UP.

Now that you know our secret superpowers, try implementing them in your projects and let us know if they work as magically as they do for us! Also, if you're still suffering from communication problems, and information overload.

We love sharing all sorts of tips and hacks that will get that PM superhero inside of you out, so if you want to know more subscribe to our blog and share it with your fellow PM superheroes-to-be friends. You know what they say, sharing is caring!