It’s long been my opinion that the Product Manager has one of the tougher jobs in an organization (see my post: In Support of the Product Manager as MVP).  This position is one of those "all of the responsibility with none of the power" roles that grind up and spit out mere mortals with alarming frequency. 

There are a number of common mistakes that I’ve observed both new and experienced Product Managers make, that if understood and avoided, might increase the survival and success rate of this endangered species.  In no particular order, these common mistakes and hopefully, helpful hints, include:

-Product Manager does not mean Product Emperor.  Your ability to create value for your offerings will come from your communications skills, business logic, strategic sense and ability to build bridges and persuade.  Sorry to disappoint you, but in spite of your lofty set of responsibilities, you have very little authority to command action.  The sooner you recognize this fact of Product Management life, the faster you will focus on developing the right communication habits.

-The Customer is Not Always Right.  This may seem like heresy to some Product Managers who take their role as internal advocates for their customers very seriously.  Blind loyalty to customer requests can and often does create an Innovator’s  Dilemma situation where an organization chases too many incremental improvements while someone else in the market is preparing to eat their lunch with a disruptive offering.  Don’t ignore your customers, but do develop a strong sense of strategy for what is/will be most valued in your enhancement plans.

-Salespeople should be some of your best friends.  Unfortunately, they are not always right.  Salespeople are most often focused in the here and now, and not thinking longer term.  Pay close attention to their input, but to succeed, you will need to develop a filter for something that might have been a pain-point in the last selling situation.  Look for consistent pain points across the sales organization.  Also, some salespeople are outstanding strategists…seek these people out and ask for their input on your ideas and plans.

-Beware the game of Follow the Competitor.  This is a no-win game if you are the follower.  The battle cry of, "We have to do this because ACME just released this new feature and now were 6 months behind," is all too frequently uttered by erstwhile Product Managers in meetings with their development counterparts.  It’s a poor argument, and the dirty little secret is that you never catch up.  If all an organization needed to do was follow a competitor’s moves, they wouldn’t need to waste money and desk space on Product Managers.

-Resist the temptation to become Demo Person for the sales force or Project Manager for the Development organization. (Steve Johnson and the team at Pragmatic Marketing have long stressed this point!) Both are valuable tasks best performed by someone other than the Product Manager. 

-Don’t get too familiar with your desk chair: the truth is in the field (just not as demo person).  Your primary job is not to generate endless reports or to product just in time product road maps, it is to listen, watch, ask questions and learn.  While I may be a bit extreme here, my rule of thumb is that after a week in the office, you should be getting fidgety and after two weeks in the office, you should be downright edgy and increasingly paranoid about what you are not learning. 

-Tradeshows are not extended work vacations, nor do they count for "quality time" out of the office.  I do like Product Managers to fill their trade-show agendas with a healthy mix of booth time (Yep, even qualifying and demonstrating), with educational sessions, influencer or media briefings and walking the halls to observe messaging and activity.  Ideally, the Product Manager should be speaking, conducting a workshop or serving on a panel discussion as well.  If the PM happens to sneak in a nice dinner or two (ideally with clients or partners) or an extended weekend, that is fine.

The bottom-line (for now):

The best Product Managers develop a keen sense of the big picture and avoid the many pressures to act in knee-jerk fashion.  As Product Manager, you are charged with a critical responsibility, and it is this sense of responsibility that often leads to the perception that customer requests and competitor moves must be answered with in-kind response and investment.  It is also this sense of responsibility that leads to, "If I conduct the demo for the big sales call, I know it will be done right."   Learning to recognize the fallacy in this thinking is essential for your growth and success as a Product Manager.  It is also essential for your organization’s success.