Thanks to a good friend and the person I credit with the creation of the "Why is a Product Manager Like the Office Photocopier?" joke, I recently unearthed a listing of questions that we had established with the PM team to help teach and remind everyone of the True Role of a Product Manager. 

Rather than develop these on high, I recall a fair number of iterations across functions and through the PM ranks to refine the questions down to a list that we believed captured the essence of the role and its priorities.  Of course, we dutifully passed these out as laminated, wallet or desk-drawer size cards.  I think the questions still hold value and provide much needed context for the Product Manager in pursuit of his or her very challenging role.  They are reprinted here for your use, adaptation or disagreement, in their original, unaltered format:

The Product Manager’s Questions for Success:

  • Do I understand the company’s business strategy?
  • Do I understand the role that my offerings play in pursuit of the strategy?
  • Do I understand the interdependencies between my offerings and others within the Company?
  • Can I explain my product/market strategy and how it supports the corporate strategy in sixty seconds or less? Would a ten year old understand my strategy explanation?
  • Do my constituents in other parts of the organization understand my strategy and their role in supporting its accomplishment?
  • Do I regularly re-evaluate my product/market strategy based on measurable results and target market feedback?
  • Do I understand the strategies of my key competitors?
  • Can I explain what we are doing to beat the competition?
  • Do I have a clear understanding of the actions that I need to drive in order to ensure timely progress towards goal accomplishment?
  • When confronted with obstacles do I remind myself I am responsible for the “whole product,” and all that this encompasses?

Upon further review…

It’s interesting to go back and read these after a number of years and many changes in how organizations structure and charge Product Managers.  This was certainly an environment that did not bifurcate the role into Product Marketing and Product Management, and I instinctively still prefer the holistic PM versus the split form. 

I am still good with the grounding in strategy and external environment.  This fits my evolving Strategy-Fueled theme.  I also like the emphasis on the ability to articulate the fit between the PM’s offerings and the overall strategy.   The emphasis on communicating with clarity and brevity as well as educating and coordinating across functions is hard to argue with.  I do suspect that our goal to have a 10-year old understand the strategy was a bit aggressive and I might edit that one out of the mix if I were to rewrite these.  Nonetheless, it makes a point on the need for simplicity. 

The emphasis on "understanding the actions that I need to drive…" was intended as a clear reminder that it was up to the PM to drive the organization towards outcomes and output that would serve customers and create value. 

Finally, the reminder about the PM’s responsibility for the "Whole Product" serves as the reminder that the physical product was only part of the client experience, and everything from the packaging to the literature, the purchasing process, the quality of the support services and anything else that goes into creating the "whole" experience was the responsibility of the PM. 

The bottom-line:

A broad charter, indeed. Upon further review and in spite of the changes in structure and deployment of the role of the Product Manager, I stand behind these questions.  That’s my final answer, and that’s why I believe the Product Manager truly is the organization’s MVP.