What do you Need to be an Outstanding Product Manager by Patrick Roelofs

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What do you need to be an outstanding product manager? This is one of the key questions for every product organisation and it is also one that this talk from MTP Engage Hamburg tries – at least to some extent – to answer.

I share some of the issues that I think play a critical role in becoming a super-successful product manager. Issues that I wished I had known (or someone had told me) when I moved from a UX role to a more holistic digital product management role over 15 years ago.

The issues I address are not the typical topics that have already been extensively discussed in our product community for some years. I believe that we, as a product community, have already agreed on how we want to create and master customer-facing products. With this agreement and  de facto standards in place in many companies, I believe it's the right time to start a more detailed discussion of the additional perspectives a product manager should address.

In this talk I focus on those equally important, but less discussed, topics in our public discussions on product management. Topics like sleep, and the importance of enough sleep on cognitive function and therefore productivity and decision making. Topics like speed – whether it’s faster development or faster decision making – and the way that people make decisions. And then there’s the topic of relationships, the most important aspect of anyone’s life. Relationships are so important in developing a product with stakeholders. It’s people who make decisions, and these people – these stakeholders – have relationships with each other. Technology can’t replace human interaction.

Try and start communicating better now. If you follow the aspects in my talk and try to master them, I believe you will become a better, stronger and  more satisfied  product manager.

Enjoy the ride.