This is my first article on getting started

“Why should someone who doesn’t know how to code a piece of software that I developed by hand?”

In the past six years as a product manager, I have dealt with programmers the most. In order to better communicate with technology, I was confused about whether to understand technology or not when making products. Finally, I read some technical articles to equip myself, which is to share some personal experience on the topic of technology to product.

First of all, the best way to learn is to output. I have the chance to work on products, and I also rely on the experience shared by people at home and abroad. Although I am not a great god, it is always good to have a heart to learn and share. Second, I want to write down some of my experiences and thinking system, give myself a record, many years later to look back at their changes.

Then I will talk about how to write. I don’t want to write from the perspective of marketing. I want to use it as a public “log” for me.

The following is a tentative catalogue of the product manager series

directory

1. Basic knowledge

2. Love and hate

3. Start from scratch

4. User requirements

5. Product design

6. Advanced practice

7. Career Paths

8. Tool recommendations

9. Select cases

10. Future trends

11. Recommend people

Basic common sense

preface

What skills do you need to be a product manager

To better understand the product manager profession, let’s first correct the cognitive understanding that the so-called profession is nothing more than a conspiracy to deceive the layman.

“Don’t look for a nail with a hammer.”

Products need to use multidisciplinary knowledge to improve their own cognition and then reflected in the product. If a person has multi-disciplinary skills, that is, after mastering multiple tools, it will limit the cognitive predisposition due to hammer predisposition.

The so-called product model includes the market size, population attributes, operation mode, product functions, required resources and so on under the product positioning, while the so-called closed-loop model can usually open up all links, and can snowball in a large enough market.

In some ways, the underlying capabilities of a product manager are abstract or “virtual,” but one day when you’re out of ideas or reflecting on the product you’re working on, reading the following common sense may be surprisingly helpful

The growth path of product managers

To know and not to do is to not know.

The best way to learn is output. There are many ways to output products, such as writing articles, discussing topics with others, giving speeches, and then putting them into practice. If you read The Lean Startup, you have a project and a team to work with and maximize your growth. If not, a keynote speech and a sermon to Internet plus believers can help. Not to discuss with peers, collision sparks expand vision.

The output is the line, the input is the knowledge. Better not to know than not to know.

PM related common sense

Q: What is a good product

1. Useful needs that can be met.

2. The solution is technically achievable.

3. Sustainable and healthy commercialization can be created.

Q: What is good product design (Revelation)

1. The task of the product manager is to explore the value, availability and feasibility of the product. (The product itself is oriented to the work of uncertainty, changing requirements is inevitable)

2. Exploring the product requires the collaboration of product managers, interaction designers, and software architects.

3. Developers are bad at USER experience design because developers have an implementation model in mind, while users value a conceptual model of the product. (This is the biggest change in the way we think from R&D to product)

4. User experience design is interaction design and visual design.

5. Functionality and UX design are inseparable.

6. Product ideas must be tested early and repeatedly with target users in order to have an effective user experience.

7. In order to validate your product’s value and usability, you must test your idea with your target audience early and repeatedly.

8. The goal of the product manager is to grasp the complex market/user needs in the shortest time, and determine the basic requirements of the product — value, availability, feasibility.

9. Once a product is deemed to meet the above basic requirements, it becomes a complete concept.

Q: how do you classify products

1. Products are divided into four categories (or fewer) : operation-driven, experience-driven, technology-driven and resource-driven operation-driven products: low interaction sensitivity, high efficiency sensitivity: content richness; Quality of offline/online services; Response efficiency and process. Eg. In the early taxi applications, owning a car was the most important thing for users, which required operation.

2. Experience-driven products: high interaction sensitivity, experience, details and force are very important; The unique atmosphere and culture created by products; Innovation of product form. Eg. Most social applications.

3. Technology-driven products: Efficiency and algorithm are more important, enabling technology to enhance experience, forming a complete experience path, accurate recommendation and personalized mining to improve experience, improving enterprise efficiency and reducing cost.

4. Resource-driven products: the ability to acquire resources. One is the market resources brought by operation, and the other is the monopoly resources. Eg. If you can connect to Beijing’s public transport system, you can take a bus to such an application.

Q: Product managers value logic, so what is product manager logic

1. Basic product logic: some basic logic of product design, including but not limited to front-end interaction logic, information display logic, product business logic, etc. This is basically entry-level product logic.

2. Mathematical logic: Mathematical logic includes a basic understanding of statistics, a basic sensitivity to data, and the ability to dig through data layers and locate problems. Knowledge of prior probability, confidence, attribution methods and other basic statistical concepts.

3. Thinking logic: When expressing and evaluating the plan, I can have clear logical thinking and know what is a fact, what is a hypothesis and what is a conclusion; Know whether the facts are sufficient, whether the assumptions are reliable, and whether the logical chain of conclusions is smooth.

4. Business logic: This requires strong willingness and ability to learn. No matter what business you do, you should have a deep understanding of the logic of the business. If it is an e-commerce system, you should understand the mechanism of commodity library and shopping process, and understand the ideas and methods of commodity selection. If it is a community, you should understand the operation of the community and user behavior logic. The ability of a product manager to quickly understand business logic is the key to a good product manager.

5. System logic: Similar to business logic, business logic is to understand the thinking of related business side, while system logic is to have a deep understanding of the system. It could be a company, it could be a supply chain, it could be an industry, it could be a back office system. If it is a search recommendation system, you should understand the basic ideas and limitations of the algorithm. If it is an advertising system, you should understand the principles of advertising system strategy. Business logic is to understand what the business is, and system logic is to understand why.

Q: What are the senior products of junior high school doing? What are the differences in vocational abilities

The main thing a product manager does is to selectively find the user needs that can be met, that is, the ability to choose the optimal solution, at the right time point, by measuring the external environment, user stage, its own technical operation capability, and the comprehensive cost. The core value of this profession is decision-making power. Decisions are made at different stages or levels of products, but the resources and depth of decisions are different. Because of the fact that decisions are made all the time, every wrong decision will result in a waste of company resources. Therefore, cultivating a good product is costly, and the product itself should be in awe of any decision it makes.

• Advanced: Build the product model to form a closed loop from user value to business value. The three dimensions of a good product.

• Zhongpole: The product model does not necessarily need to be brilliant, but can independently consider multiple factors to make good decisions, design the product and mobilize resources to implement it. The value orientation of this profession is not to make perfect products, but to pursue the best input-output ratio by means of products.

• Elementary: Design and promote a module of the product. Complete the product design completely and without major defects, push the product online, collect data and produce conclusions under the condition of the comparison of core objectives.

Q: So what skills should a product manager have to make a good decision?

There are many skills required. You can also search for the product manager competency model of some big factories first, which can serve as a good reference and will be discussed in detail in the next chapter

The product work itself is to work towards an uncertain object, hopefully in the way of changing requirements do not go too far

This is the first article in a product Manager series that I hope has been helpful to you as you read

Wechat official account: a note ———— to record personal thinking process

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