More Superpowers for Product Managers

Key skills for product success -- Part 2

Mar 20, 2024

After last week's article on Superpowers for Product Managers - were you looking for more than 3 superpowers? Product management is such a challenging job - seems like there are more superpowers.

Last week's article discussed three superpowers that elevate all product managers:

Empathy - best serving the team ahead of your own needs
Strong communication skills - inspiring teamwork on your product
Resilience - facing adversity and bouncing back

The product management community responded with bonus superpowers:

Discernment - a wise way of judging between two things
Prioritize by value - get actionable insights from data
Patience - maintain a long-term vision
Creative blending of skills

Let's dive into these extra product management superpowers.

Superpowers from Product Managers - visuals by Anna Mitchell

Superpower 4: Discernment and Good Judgement

Here is the definition of Discernment:

Discernment is the ability to understand, perceive, and judge things clearly, especially things that are not obvious or straightforward.

Using your product manager's perception, you can wisely judge between two things. This feeds into your strong communication skills.

Joy Adamson responded:

"The product managers that I see thriving are the ones who know what is out there to help, and which ones to use or how to blend them to their context."

Product managers with discernment make wise choices.

Superpower 5: Prioritize by Value

Being able to make strategic decisions is a baseline expectation of product managers. Examples of prioritizing by value are:

Customer-centric product managers enhance the overall customer experience
Deciding between low-value and high-value for optimum resource usage
Encouraging experiments to explore new opportunities

Andrew Long and Dominique Signorel responded:

"The ability to quantify and prioritize by value and glean actionable insights from data"

Product managers that prioritize by value create business value.

Superpower 6: Patience

You've made priority calls. It's time to let the product team shine. Your stakeholders want status or the next big thing. Your superpower is being patient while the long-term vision evolves.

Product management is about maintaining a long-term vision in the face of today's urgencies. Alex Debecker's summary:

"As much as we'd like to do more, most of the job is about prioritization which means some of the cool stuff we'd like done will just need to wait."

Patience allows product managers to navigate complexity and manage expectations.

Superpower 7: Blending Skills Creatively

Blending your skills enables you to think outside of the box and collaborate effectively. A few skills that product managers blend creatively are:

Experience on the job or in school
Business skills or financial acumen
Technology, architecture, and design background
Curiosity and asking good questions

Hans-Jörg Roser comments:

"I have the feeling that combining those superpowers with life experience, broad knowledge and being a generalist make you a better PM."

Whether you have been a product manager for a year or 10+ years, combining your skills helps you collaborate well, adapt to change, and find innovative solutions.

Blend your skills and keep learning more!

Conclusion - Tying Together Product Manager Superpowers

These superpowers provide a toolkit for success in today's business landscape. By continuing to improve these skills, product managers can handle complex challenges and deliver value to customers and stakeholders.

As product managers hone these superpowers, they can unlock new opportunities, overcome obstacles, and get results in their roles.