A handful of qualities make all the difference

What behaviors, experiences, and habits of mind can make or break a person's career in product management? McKesson product manager Rodger Fletcher, who has been doing it successfully for the last seven years. Here he offers his own assessment.

Since September of last year Rodger Fletcher has had product management responsibility for a line of prescription-filling robots in McKesson's Automated Prescription Systems (APS) unit. It's demanding work, dealing with products that people's lives often depend on, and the responsibility excites and motivates him.

Indeed, enjoying your work is one of the keys to success, said Fletcher, who recently reflected on the factors that have influenced his career as a product manager. He said he has learned to appreciate the lessons of his first product management assignment in 1998. He was working for FORE Systems, a computer networking equipment manufacturer later acquired by Marconi, when he was asked to guide the commercialization of a hybrid network switch.

Respect process

However, enjoyment also requires decision-making discipline to productively harness spontaneity and creativity. In fact, according to Fletcher, having the right business disciplines in place is essential to having a successful firm. And recognizing the balance between having too few and too many formal processes is an essential key to succeeding as a product manager.

“When I joined FORE Systems, it was a typical start-up company operating with a “whatever-it-takes” mentality. Our early processes were limited, which sometimes led to inconsistent product quality,” he recalled. “When we were acquired by Marconi, we inherited their processes, some of which were stifling. Adopting these processes wholesale would have resulted in missing relatively short market windows.”

For example, Marconi's commercialization process required 20 documented steps. “During the integration of the two companies it became immediately obvious that some changes were needed in order to effectively develop and launch quality products in the fast-paced high-tech market. So we worked to blend FORE's more free-wheeling style with their somewhat overly-rigid process. And it resulted in a nice, nine-step lifecycle management process that was empirical, analytical, yet effective; we could still get product out on time as well as in a controlled manner. Products were released with the proper levels of documentation and everything was done in a consistent fashion.”

Learn the market

To Fletcher, the Number One key to success for product managers is to truly understand the customer and the market. “Go out and talk with your customers. They appreciate having open and honest dialogue with the person who ‘owns' the product,” he advised. “When you get out to see a customer, they appreciate having the opportunity to talk with someone other than a salesman. So understanding your customers, what makes them tick, what their needs are, and how much those needs deviate from the rest of the market are what allows a good product manager to translate those needs into specific product requirements that make for a good product.”

Understanding markets – a less people-intensive exercise than understanding customers – is also a key success factor, according to Fletcher. “Review the market research, assess the competition by reviewing their annual reports, Web sites and marketing collateral, and analyze technologies and other factors that may change the market in the future. Determining what drives your market will help to ensure that your product meets the demands of the market,” he advises.

By extension, those same qualities of curiosity and analysis apply to product management wannabes. “If you're interviewing someone for a product management position, try to assess their ability and desire to learn,” he suggests. “Look for characteristics like being a good listener, for someone who isn't afraid to ask questions, for people who probe into a lot of different areas. Generally speaking, open-minded individuals with a positive attitude and the right skill sets tend to make good product managers.”

Keep flexible

But even with discipline, determination, and hard work, things don't always go as planned, Fletcher acknowledged. “A good product manager must be able to adapt quickly to changing conditions while keeping the project on schedule,” he said. “Try to identify risks upfront, highlight them and then figure out mitigation plans early on. It gives you a better sense of what you can do to keep the project going if something goes wrong.”

What could go wrong? “For example, perhaps you decide to gamble on implementing some cutting-edge technology that is not yet settled. Then, six months into the project, a standard is implemented that doesn't match your implementation. What's your mitigation plan? Do you have engineers who can help put the ship back on course? Do you scrap the product altogether? Do you take a different approach?

“If you can proactively identify what those risks are and have a handle on how you can recover from them, the likelihood for success is much greater,” he said. “Proper risk identification and mitigation demonstrates that you've thought through all the possible outcomes.”

Be a team player

“The product manager is the owner of the product and therefore acts as the hub where all the spokes come together. As such, good collaboration skills are key. It's okay to be authoritative when necessary, just be sure to have sound rationale to justify your position and the ability to clearly articulate this position,” advises Fletcher.

“Possessing the ability to deal with a variety of personalities is important; actually it's a MUST for success in product management. Engineering, for example, can be particularly difficult and stubborn as oftentimes they think they know what the customer wants without ever having actually talked to them. Take the time to present objective evidence to support your position. Just as important, take the time to listen and evaluate what the engineers are telling you. You don't want to miss out on a good idea.”

Attitude is everything

“Be optimistic – there is no room for skepticism in product management,” comments Fletcher. “It is almost always counterproductive. Embrace and entertain new ideas, and then do the proper due diligence to evaluate the idea. It's okay to say, ‘No,' once you've had an opportunity to properly assess the concept, but only after you've given it some consideration.”

Have fun

But at the end of the day, the most rewarding payoff for a product manager may be the fun factor. “Work hard, enjoy what you're doing, and get involved,” he advised. “When you've taken on too much, you can throttle back. But being busy is far better than the alternative. I would hate to come to work and wonder how I'm going to make my day go by. Life's too short not to have fun.”