Tips, tricks, and hacks that help you to be a better, more clever, Product Manager.
There’s a very famous quote that’s used quite often when people are expressing their dislike of lawyers:
“First, kill all the lawyers.”
This, they posit, is something that good old Bill Shakespeare himself advocated for, after all – and what better way to stabilize our society than to dispose of the bottom-feeding trolls and sharks that feast on the noble, honest people of the world.
The trouble is, they’re entirely wrong about the quote, from beginning to end.
I’m sure you’ve heard of the allegorical story that, when asked why he built his cars the way he did, Henry Ford is alleged to say, “If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Unfortunately, there’s no evidence that supports the claim that he is to have said it — though it certainly sounds like something that Ford would say. After all, he was the one who said that his customers could have their Model T in any color they wanted…so long as it was black.
The popularity of this quote, however, persists beyond all proof that it was never actually spoken by someone so famous. Is it because there’s some kernel of universal truth to be found in it, or is it because it gives us license to do what we want, when we want it, and to rationalize it by saying that customers don’t know what they want? The truth, actually, lies somewhere in between.
A common question in the world of Product Management is where exactly the role should sit in a company’s organization chart. Some people claim that the role “needs” to be part of Marketing. Some people claim the role “needs” to be a part of Development. Everyone seems to have some opinion on the matter, and often it’s a result of an agenda to have greater influence on the design, development, and prioritization of product improvements — whether this is an implicit or explicit agenda.
But if we put all the political jockeying and agenda-running aside, the flat-out truth is that the Product Manager, and his or her surrounding team, needs to be as independent as possible. They need to be the hub around which all the spokes of the organization rotate, and they need to be empowered to tell people “No” when and where the need arises. They need to be able to push back on agendas, challenge ideas that don’t fit the strategic goal of the company and the product, and to have someone at their back to whom everyone else in some way, shape, or form, must bow.
