Q: Why is a Product Manager like the Office Photocopy Machine?
A: Because when it works no one notices and when something goes wrong, everyone wants to kick it.
My sincere thanks to Mike for that PM joke told to me during a particularly challenging day in the world of software Product Management a few years ago. Also, my sincere apologies to anyone I’ve just offended, along with my encouragement to lighten up!
Unfortunately, that joke rings a little too close to home to make it completely comfortable… .
Product Managers are often improperly saddled with blame for everything that’s wrong in the organization and a fair amount of what’s wrong in the world. Poor quality, revenue shortfalls, lack of leads, poor visibility, competitive encroachment, poor support, schedule delays and process deficiencies are just a few of the items that I’ve known Product Managers to be tagged with in the course of carrying out their jobs. Pretty much everything but responsibility for the Lindbergh kidnapping, and I’m sure someone tried to pin that one on an unwitting Product Manager at some point in time.
What is remarkable to me is the way that True Product Managers like Mike deal with adversity and a clearly disproportional amount of responsibility and accountability as just another hill to be taken and challenge to be met. The most effective Product Managers that I have known all share an indomitable spirit and an inherent enjoyment of the challenges that come with being responsible for everything with authority for close to nothing.
Faced with a pack of angry salespeople or customers that you would swear were foaming at the mouth over schedule delays, delivery issues or quality problems, the True Product Manager artfully lets people vent, defuses the situation, proposes a course of action, gains agreement on next steps and planned follow-up and quietly says, “Next,” or heads over to a meeting with Development to help them once again see the error of their ways with the current schedule.
True Product Managers thrive on solving problems, bringing order to chaos, and building bridges in situations where lesser mortals would run for cover. They interpret their role and responsibility in remarkably broad terms, sometimes to their own detriment. They operate firm in their belief that they are running their own business and they are truly accountable for every hiccup and bump along the way.
And when business is good, their offerings setting new records, thumping competitors and winning accolades from customers, they attend the annual awards banquet, where they watch the salespeople walk away with the plaques. There is no justice, but the True Product Manager doesn’t care. They have a job to. If they don’t do it, who will.
Well said, Art — you have accurately described the nature of the beast. That positive-neutral / negative-negative environment that Mike joked about is an opportunity for managers. If you are leading teams of Product Managers, set goals that include realistic measures of success. Use the data to give positive feedback to your team; they won’t hear it anywhere else! Managers can help improve job satisfaction and performance of Product Managers by measuring success and building recognition into their routines.
Amazingly, there is much truth in the joke above. I have made sure Product Managers on my team are never waiting for accolades from around the business when things go well. Equally, they are reminded of the skin thickness requirements to work as a Product Manager when things are not going well. When PM’s early in their career finally reach the point where they can accept these realities (I remember clearly when I did), they move faster and are usually set free from personal feelings impacting business decisions.