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Eira is an editor for Mind the Product. She's been a business journalist, editor, and copywriter for longer than she cares to think about.

Eira Hayward

<p>Two decades plus since the first product management jobs, there’s still uncertainty about what a product manager does. This Mind the Product post from 2011, <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/what-exactly-is-a-product-manager/">What exactly is a product manager</a></span>?, for example, is still read over 1,000 times a month and has been read a staggering 76,000 times in the last six years.</p>
<p>MTP interviewed lots of product people at the last WebSummit meeting. We asked them questions about their work, their opinions on the way their job is changing, what they find challenging, what a product manager needs to do well to be successful, and so on. We’ve gathered some of these interviews together in a series of short video clips.</p>
<p>We also gathered opinions on the most common misconceptions about product management. It seems many people still don’t understand the basic rationale behind the role &#8211; to be the voice of the customer, to oversee the business and lifecycle of a product, to solve problems and create value &#8211; all those aspects of the job that you know are fundamental.</p>
<h3>What is product management?</h3>


<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="What does product management mean to you (1)" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/922956574?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963" width="1024" height="576" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write"></iframe>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">What does product management mean to you?</figcaption></figure>



<p></p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-common-misconceptions-about-product-management">Common misconceptions about product management</h2>



<p>This is what some of our interviewees think are some of the biggest misconceptions about their work:</p>



<p>“They think we’re just writing tickets all day.”</p>



<p>“The misconception is that you deliver and then you’re gone and are working on something else.”</p>



<p>“That we’re just project managers, that we’re just about meeting deadlines.”</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="What is the biggest misconception about your job" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/922863972?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963" width="1024" height="576" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write"></iframe>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">What are the biggest misconceptions about your job?</figcaption></figure>



<p>There are lots of reasons for this uncertainty. Product is not the same everywhere. It’s not a discipline bound by regulations, like finance or law, and is still a new thing to many businesses &#8211; which remain sales-led rather than product-led. There are other factors, and Product has at times not helped its cause. Earlier this month product leader <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/beckyyelland/">Becky Yelland</a> addressed the huge levels of anxiety among product people and asked whether <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/the-product-guru-complex/">product management might be headed towards an existential crisis</a></span>, in part at least because of Product’s insistence on a “right” way to do things.</p>



<p></p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-do-product-managers-think-they-do-well">What do product managers think they do well?</h3>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="What is something you think product managers do really well" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/922864013?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963" width="1024" height="576" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write"></iframe>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">What do you think product managers do really well?</figcaption></figure>

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core/embed

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core/heading

This is what some of our interviewees think are some of the biggest misconceptions about their work:

“They think we’re just writing tickets all day.”

“The misconception is that you deliver and then you’re gone and are working on something else.”

“That we’re just project managers, that we’re just about meeting deadlines.”

There are lots of reasons for this uncertainty. Product is not the same everywhere. It’s not a discipline bound by regulations, like finance or law, and is still a new thing to many businesses - which remain sales-led rather than product-led. There are other factors, and Product has at times not helped its cause. Earlier this month product leader <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/beckyyelland/">Becky Yelland</a> addressed the huge levels of anxiety among product people and asked whether <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/the-product-guru-complex/">product management might be headed towards an existential crisis</a></span>, in part at least because of Product’s insistence on a “right” way to do things.

Product Management

It’s the Strategy, stupid – Andrew Martinez-Fonts (VP Product, Honeysales)

LLM workflows for product managers: 3 key takeaways (Niloufar Salehi, Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley) – ProductTank SF

How to survive the next phase of tech – Jonty Sharples (Product and Strategy Consultant)

Transformed: Moving to the product model by Marty Cagan

Product teams in flux – Pendomonium+#mtpcon roadshow: Berlin

AI in practice at Berlin’s leading companies – Pendomonium+#mtpcon roadshow: Berlin

Product teams in flux – Pendomonium+#mtpcon roadshow: Amsterdam

Product teams in flux – Pendomonium+#mtpcon roadshow: London

What’s next for product management in 2024? Nichole Mace (SVP Product and User Experience, Pendo)

“You’re not as competent as you think” 5 lessons from Ken Chin on navigating a product career (CPO, Spark Networks)

Common misconceptions about product management

Eira Hayward

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