譯言裏看到的一篇文章，關於產品經理的文章
轉載http://michael.hightechproductmanagement.com/2006/12/seven_traits_of_successful_pro.html
翻譯文章：http://www.yeeyan.com/articles/view/sam/1372
Seven Traits of Successful Product Managers
I get several emails every week from readers with excellent questions on product management related topics. I try to answer as many as I can. Recently I received a nice email from a reader, Kim, that asked "Michael... What do you feel are the most important professional characteristics of a Product Manager?"
This question got me thinking. I started writing down the characteristics of excellent product managers I've had the good fortune of working with. Then I picked the seven traits that are most common among these folks - I summarize them in this article in order of priority.
By the way, I recently watched the movie Borat - in honor of that movie, I'm using the following subtitle for this article! 
Observational Learnings of Traits for Make Benefit Glorious Craft of Product Management
Seven Traits of Successful Product Managers
- Communication Skills
Successful product managers are excellent communicators.
This is the most common characteristic shared by all excellent product managers I've worked with - written and oral communication skills. Why is this important?
At most companies, a critical role product managers play is acting as a communication hub on product-related matters - as shown in the figure below.
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This means - a successful product manager not only has the ability to communicate effectively with different roles, but also has the ability to:- Communicate with different personality-types.
- For example, majority of engineers tend to be "introverted", while majority of sales/marketing folks tend to be "extroverted".
- Speak different "languages" when communicating with different roles.
- To communicate effectively, it is important that you speak the "language" of your target audience. This means you have to use a "different language" while communicating to marketing personnel, as opposed to engineers. Likewise, when communicating with executive management, you must focus more on "forest level" than "tree level" - this is a mistake I see many product managers make.
- Communicate with different personality-types.
- Leading Without Authority
Successful product managers are excellent leaders, even when they have no formal authority.
At most companies, product managers are expected to play "leadership role" in several areas. These include leading project teams, leading product strategy and roadmaps, leading cross-functional product initiatives, etc.
Yet, in most of these situations product managers don't have any formal authority. This means, you have to be really good at "leading without authority" to be a successful product manager.
How do you lead without authority? I'd say - using a combination of influencing, negotiating, relationship building and other similar skills.
Is it possible to lead without authority? My thought on this is summarized well by the question Tom Peters, the popular management author, asks:
Learning SkillsHow much formal authority did Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. have?
Successful product managers have the ability to learn fast - even in relatively new areas.
In most segments of the high-tech industry, markets change fast. New technologies are always right around the horizon. What is a "differentiated product" today becomes a commodity within 6 months. Sometimes even faster.
A successful product manager must have the ability to learn fast - even in areas that are relatively new to them. If a product manager has this ability - it is relatively easy to manage products in new markets.
One mistake that I think most companies make when hiring product managers is - they look for "strong subject matter knowledge". For example, if a company makes security software - they look for product managers with "5+ years experience" in security software. I think this is a misguided approach. A far better approach is to look for a product manager with experience in the software industry, and the ability to learn quickly. This approach has worked well for me - some of the best PMs I've hired had no "subject matter knowledge" prior to hiring!
Business AcumenSuccessful product managers have a good understanding of the fundamentals of business.
They understand how to identify market opportunities, importance of competitive differentiation, creating winning product strategy, pricing and promotion, partnerships, analyzing P&L statements, and so on.
This doesn't mean they need an MBA. As a matter of fact, most of the successful product managers I've worked with don't have an MBA - but all of them have a strong grasp of business fundamentals.
Love for ProductsSuccessful product managers have an inherent love for products.
They delight in kicking the tires of new products in the market - as many as they can get their hands on. They sign up for a ton of "betas", check out the latest web sites, download trial versions of software just to check them out, and so on.
They delight in well-designed products - even if not made by their own company. They loathe poorly-designed products - even if made by their own company.
Above all, they love creating great products - whether it is a brand new product, or enhancements to existing products.
Eye for DetailsSuccessful product managers have an eye for details.
Focus on details is an essential pre-requisite to creating great products - as I mentioned in my previous article and Steve Jobs mentions in the following quote:
The iMac is not just the color or translucence or the shape of the shell. The essence of the iMac is to be the finest possible consumer computer in which each element plays together.
On our latest iMac, I was adamant that we get rid of the fan, because it is much more pleasant to work on a computer that doesn't drone all the time. That was not just "Steve's decision" to pull out the fan; it required an enormous engineering effort to figure out how to manage power better and do a better job of thermal conduction through the machine. That is the furthest thing from veneer. It was at the core of the product the day we started.
This is what customers pay us for--to sweat all these details so it's easy and pleasant for them to use our computers. (emphasis mine)
Successful product managers focus on details not only when it comes to product features - but also in competitive analysis, project plans, and in pretty much every major activity that they are responsible for.
Routine Product Management SkillsSuccessful product managers have good "routine product management skills".
These are the skills needed to perform the routine tasks of a product manager job. They include writing MRDs & PRDs, performing competitive analysis, creating product roadmaps, creating presentations that communicate product features & benefits, defining user interfaces, and so on.
This set of required skills varies from company to company. I put this characteristic last, since I think most of these skills are easily learnable by product managers who possess the six earlier skills.
There you have it. My list of seven traits shared by successful product managers:
- Communication Skills
- Leading Without Authority
- Learning Skills
- Business Acumen
- Love for Products
- Eye for Details
- Routine Product Management Skills
I know I have seven areas to improve - how about you?!
I find that this list is not only useful in self-improvement, but also when interviewing candidates for the product manager position.
Does this list make sense? What are the other skills you would add? Let me know by clicking the 'Post Comment' link below.
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About the Author: I'm your author, Michael Shrivathsan, an expert in product management and product marketing with successful experience spanning two decades. I live in Silicon Valley, USA. For my day job, I manage the product management & marketing teams at Accompa, makers of requirements management software and product management tools.
翻譯：
在我以前的工作中，曾經設計過產品經理職位的核心能力模型，今天看到Michael的文章，和我思路非常相像，翻譯整理出來和大家共享。
1、溝通能力
優秀的產品經理一定是個成功的溝通者， 溝通能力包括口頭溝通能力和文字溝通能力。產品經理的一個最主要角色是做爲溝通的中心，如下圖所示：
產品經理的溝通能力不僅體現在和不同工作崗位的人進行有效溝通，同時還體現在如下方面：
- 和不同個性的人溝通。例如，大部分工程師的性格偏內向，而大部分銷售和市場人員則很外向
- 和不同工作崗位的人溝通時採用不同的”語言” 。如果要進行高效溝通，很重要的一點是說溝通對象關注和易於理解的”語言”。比如，在和市場人員溝通和與工程師溝通時，要採用不同的溝通方式：對於市場人員說太多諸如”數據庫性能”、”內存管理算法”之類的東西，無疑會讓他們鬱悶不解；而對工程師談話過於概念化，也無助於他們設計真正的實現細節；類似的，在同老闆們溝通時，則應該更多聚焦在較高的層面上，避免過於深入細枝末節的事情。
2、無授權領導能力
成功的產品經理是優秀的領導者，即便是沒有明確的授權。
產品經理通常需要在多個領域執行領導工作，包括領導項目團隊、領導產品戰略和藍圖指定，以及領導跨團隊的產品活動等。但是在大多數情況下，產品經理通常沒有得到公司正式的授權。此時，是否具有”無授權領導能力”就成爲成功與否的關鍵。
如何在無授權的情況下領導團隊，我的建議是–綜合運用影響力、協商、人際關係及其他類似技能。
3、學習能力
IT產業是一個快速變化的產業，”不變的也許只有變化”，新技術不斷涌現，今日的新產品在幾個月後就會變成大路貨，甚至更快。優秀的產品經理必須能夠快速學習，即便是在比較新的領域。具備此能力才能相對容易地在不斷變化的市場和技術趨勢下管理好產品。.很多公司在招聘產品經理的時候會犯一個錯誤–他們過分看中既有經驗。比如，一個公司要做安全軟件，他們就回在招聘時說明”需具有安全軟件領域5年以上工作經驗”。這其實是個錯誤的方法，更好的做法是尋找在軟件領域有工作經驗的產品經理，同時善於快速學習。
4、商業敏感度
優秀的產品經理對商業有極好的感覺，他們清楚如何發現市場機會，瞭解競爭差異化的重要性，並能提出制勝的產品戰略、定價、推廣策略、合作計劃以及盈虧分析等。
看到這些，別以爲產品經理就該是MBA畢業。實際上，大多數優秀的產品經理並沒有上過什麼MBA，但是他們對商業有很強的敏感。
5、熱愛產品
優秀的產品經理對產品有發自內心的熱愛。他們孜孜不倦地嘗試各種新產品，註冊各種產品的測試版，下載產品的試用版並仔細揣摩，一有時間就去網上看各類新產品的網站。他們對設計優秀的產品喜愛有加，即便這些產品並非自己公司的；他們鄙視那些沒品的產品，即便那是自己公司開發的。最重要的是，他們醉心於創造優秀的產品–無論是全新的產品或是既有產品的改進。
6、注重細節，追求完美
優秀的產品經理對細節孜孜以求，注重細節是開發優秀產品的最重要先決條件，正所謂”細節決定成敗”。Steve Jobs曾說：
iMac筆記本並非只是透明顏色和外殼外形與衆不同，這個產品的核心理念在於成爲最精緻的消費電腦。
在最新的iMac中，我們堅決去掉了散熱扇，因爲我們認爲使用一臺不嗡嗡作響的電腦工作更令人愉悅。當然，並不是我決定就可以取消散熱扇，它需要工程師們付出巨大的努力，找到管理電源和散熱的更好辦法。這是產品設計之初就存在的核心理念。
這也是用戶願意選擇我們產品的原因–追求每個細節的完美，從而能讓用戶更方便愉悅地使用他們的電腦。
優秀的產品經理不但注重產品設計的細節，在其他事情上一樣追求完美，比如進行競爭狀況分析、製作項目計劃，以及所有其他自己負責的工作。
7、日常產品管理能力
優秀的產品經理具備良好的日常產品管理能力，包括：
- 撰寫市場需求文檔（MRD）和產品需求文檔（PRD）
- 進行競爭狀況分析
- 規劃產品路線圖
- 製作產品演示PPT
- 設計用戶界面
- 分析產品數據等.
以上這些核心能力不但有助於產品經理的自我提升，同時對於招聘產品經理也有參考價值。
如果你對產品經理的職責有補充，歡迎給我來信，也可在評論中發表高見。