The tech PM role is… difficult to define, but we’ve all worked with good PMs and bad PMs - it’s usually quite quick to tell where someone falls on the spectrum once you’ve worked with them for a few weeks. But, I find it difficult to describe the difference.
Ask HN: What makes a good Product Manager
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Re: Ask HN: What makes a good Product Manager
#2Walk out of one meeting and it’s obvious what to do next — priorities, tradeoffs, all make sense.
Walk out of another and it’s more meetings, more docs, and somehow less clarity than before.
Re: Ask HN: What makes a good Product Manager
#3"Good PM, Bad PM" from back in the day at Netscape. Recreated and posted on a16z's site by Ben Horowitz.
Re: Ask HN: What makes a good Product Manager
#4[dead]
Re: Ask HN: What makes a good Product Manager
#5You need to be interfacing with customers/users and being a good navigator because you understand the mission.
Re: Ask HN: What makes a good Product Manager
#6This resonates a lot. A good PM is almost like a feeling you can sense it quickly, but articulating exactly why is surprisingly hard.
Objectively speaking, the best ones leave every meeting with crystal-clear priorities, tradeoffs, and next steps. The weaker ones tend to create more docs and more meetings, yet somehow leave the team more confused than before.
Re: Ask HN: What makes a good Product Manager
#7In the age of AI, a good PM is one who is
- clear thinker and great problem solver
- strategic ( execution chops is now taken care )
- Good at handling stakeholders ( this is least talked about. The industry jargon for this is high agency )
Re: Ask HN: What makes a good Product Manager
#8Understand your mission/output and what you are striving to solve, everything else is a sub-set which adds up to it.
Re: Ask HN: What makes a good Product Manager
#9One guy once told me, top PMs are always in bed with executive, figuratively and literally.
Re: Ask HN: What makes a good Product Manager
#10crisis management is important skill for PMs