The reason why I talk about how to view the transformation of developers to become product managers is because someone asked me in a small circle before, he wanted to change from technology to product, how to transform, I have slightly modified the previous share and answer, and share with you.
For developers, the path to promotion is narrow and rare (note: this doesn’t mean programmers are born young, and programmers are definitely not born young). Generally a little the front end of the development team, the background, design added up to about 10 people, dozens of people, or even hundreds of people, but can do technical managers, and even the CTO, a team has one or two people, it also means you have to have dressed in robes, single-handedly poised from the hordes, ability to stand out from the crowd. So many programmers work for a long time and then want to transition. In fact, for transformation, the biggest thing should be related to interest, if you like the product, then do the product well.
Technical advantages
I think the advantage of developers turning into product managers is self-evident and needless to say: technical advantage. Not only is it easier to communicate with the technical staff, but it’s also easier for the technical staff to fool the product manager by saying “this feature won’t work”. After all, that’s what the guys used to say to product managers when they were younger. But I guess there are a lot of weaknesses, such as: programmer’s thinking mode, communication skills, and coordination skills. But I think the most important should be thinking, must be engineering thinking, technical thinking, into the product thinking.
The weak analysis
Thinking mode
Programmer’s thinking mode is very simple, programmer’s programming thinking leads programmer to think always in the logic of a dragon, although very rigorous, but consider the surface in addition to technology, that is relatively narrow. To make products, we should consider the market, competitive products, business, operation and other aspects. The success of a product does not only depend on technology, but also on the feasibility of technology. More attention should be paid to the market and users, and learn to analyze the market demand and user behavior, so as to make products that meet the market and users. I should download more products and use competing products, get rid of the thinking of how to achieve this product from the technical perspective, but think about why others design this product, what is the purpose of doing so, why users like it, to stand in the perspective of a user, consider the reasons for the success of the product.
Ability to communicate
If you move into a product role, that means you’re dealing with testing, with operations, with marketing, with technology, with customers. Without good communication and presentation skills, how can marketing, development and operation people understand what you want to do? Product manager is in the center of communication, in different stages to deal with different people, especially product project approval, product promotion need product manager to others clearly your product, you have to tell your product is not only to others, the most important also have to express clearly. So as a dull, soft-spoken programmer, you should actively exercise your ability in this area.
The coordinated ability
Coordination skills need to be strengthened. Needless to say, the product manager in the product center needs to drive the development and operation of the whole product, and coordinate and collect the feedback from the whole market. Not only control the overall product schedule, but also control the product manager. From the requirements of the product, it is necessary to enter the whole coordination stage. In the early stage, we coordinated and promoted the development, then tested, cooperated with the operation to complete the launch, and finally collected user experience and feedback information with the market and operation to improve the product. Test your ability to coordinate.
Of course, the product manager not only needs the above skills, the most basic product manager also needs to be able to use the product tools, drawing prototypes, writing requirements, flow charts and so on, these are the basic skills. The use of these tools for the program ape and product wang, should not be a problem, tools with more natural proficiency. The most important thing is to change the misunderstanding.
We’ve talked about the pros and cons of being a programmer, a technical person, and a product manager, but now we’re talking about an interesting topic: misconception. By talking about this topic, take a quick look at what to look for when you become a product manager.
Thought erroneous zone
In fact, what is the most interesting mistake in the transformation of technical people into product managers? I remember reading an article earlier that said so. Tech people are generally a group of people who like to show off their superior INTELLIGENCE, like to act in their own interests, and have perfectionism syndrome. Product people, on the other hand, are people who like to treat users like idiots, who think they have no lower IQ, who are result-oriented, and who want the MVP product to work.
After reading the comparison, you know the problem. Programmers should change from showing their IQ superiority to thinking that users are stupid. In this way, products can be made simple and convenient for users to use. The most important thing is that opportunity is very important. The market competition is so fierce. Don’t wait until you have done it perfectly before releasing it. Minimum Viable Product – The simplest Viable Product.
Isn’t it very interesting? After making this change, I have learned some product knowledge deeply. I think it is very promising for technical people to make products. After all, we are a group of people who have developed products.
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