I’ve often heard Product Managers (PMs) being described as the CEOs of their products. The idea is to convey the concept of ownership and broad responsibility the Product Manager has over their product. However, the role of the CEO is a poorly understood, abstract concept. Most employees of large companies will never meet their CEO, nevermind achieve the status of CEO themselves.
To understand the extreme level of ownership Product Managers should demonstrate, I like to use the analogy of the PM as an entrepreneur running or starting a new business. The PM needs to pitch for new or continued investment in their product and is competing against other opportunities inside the organization for the limited resources available. Taking the analogy a step further, is the PM convinced about their own proposal that they would risk something meaningful to them to achieve the expected outcomes. Would the PM risk their house, their car etc? Is the investment and expected outcome worth the downside risk or opportunity cost?
Most PMs want to be in control of their own products and make their own decisions. However, not everyone is comfortable with the level of responsibility that comes with extreme ownership. In effective product organizations, there is a clear relationship between individuals who drive outcomes and personal career growth including salary, title and stock awards. Creating a real meritocracy for ideas and outcomes is difficult but necessary to instill a sense of urgency as PMs and entire business units compete for limited resources to build their solutions and achieve results.
Creating a degree of internal competition drives innovation. The organization becomes a marketplace of ideas and investment opportunities that compete with one another or threaten existing products and services. In this environment, it is critical for the PM to be convinced and to convince others about the investment opportunity their product or roadmap represents. To move forward with any plan, it is necessary to communicate clearly the problem, the solution and the opportunity that a new product or feature would achieve. However, this goes beyond writing documents or arguing in meetings. A PM needs to be believable which breaks down as perceived as competent, convincing and prepared. As the stakes rise, stakeholders look for extreme ownership over the outcome.
Once the PM has achieved the backing of stakeholders, customers and peers then the PM has to deliver by working through the myriad technical and scope challenges that complex solutions throw up during delivery. When the solution is launched, the PM owns the Go to Market necessary to raise awareness and drive adoption that leads to the forecast impact being achieved. This includes working with customers post launch to identify and close feature gaps that put the forecast outcome at risk. Often the launch of a new product is a starting point for a PM not an end.
This level of ownership and responsibility is not for everyone. Owning outcomes is difficult and ambiguous, often a relentless grind. Determining the scope for launch, achieving product market fit and setting the correct pricing are just some of the inputs that have to align to make a product successful. As a PM, to truly own the outcome you need to take ownership of everything. The product discovery, delivery and go to market. A caveat is that owning everything doesn’t mean doing everything. The CEO is responsible for everything that happens in the organization but they certainly don’t do everything. However, in terms of outcomes your product delivers, as a PM the buck stops with you.
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