Product Managers Are Producers
12 May 2024There are good reasons for the recent critiques of the product management function in tech. Product leaders have gotten to wrapped up in productivity theater, rather than focusing on delivering true value.
Product is not about applying the latest framework, or implementing the right process. Product is about producing.1 Specifically, it’s about producing something that satisfies a need or desire in a market (i.e. something that’s valuable).
Producing 0 => 1
Be Creative
The art of producing is not unique to the tech industry. Producing happens across all types of human industries.
In film and music–where products are constantly being created from scratch—the role of a producer is a creative one. Not just steering projects from concept to completion, but actively contributing to the creative process.
In music especially, producers are true artists, overseeing everything from pre to post-production; transforming raw sound into polished musical compositions. Film producers have a similar role.
Because of this, you can always tell a Guy Ritchie film or a track produced by 40 by their distinct style. It’s part of why their work wins.
In tech, product decisions should be made with some mix of data and intuition. Typically 0 => 1 environments are data poor though, so it makes sense that intuition and creativity are more important.2
Building at this stage then should be more like music/ film producing, not just orchestrating the process but also creating within it.
Have Final Cut
Unfortunately, data poor environments leave decisions open to creative disagreement and criticism. When decisions can’t made objectively, there’s an open invite to all kinds of opinions, particularly the uninformed.
However, this is also not unique to the tech industry. This is why film directors and producers are granted “final cut”. They have final say as to what the final output will look like.
A similar policy should be instituted in product teams building 0 => 1. Opinions shouldn’t have equal weight. A single person–whether it be the CEO or the product lead–should hold final vision and decision-making authority.
Scaling Production and Investing
The Goal
For products that have already achieved some success, it’s less about creativity and more about growth.
Drawing inspiration from Eliyahu Goldratt’s “The Goal”, any business–and by proxy any product–can be thought of as a production line.
For tech products, the production line is the growth funnel (marketing + sales) that produces purchasing customers from fresh prospects. The goal at this stage is to eliminate bottlenecks, increase throughput and drive sales.
Data becomes more important. With proper measurement, there should be some objective sense of where bottlenecks are. Then the team has to be a bit creative to figure out how to eliminate them. At a certain scale, you can also test different options with A/B testing.
Long-term Investing
Unfortunately, even if your team is able to pull off the above, inevitably growth plateaus. It’s a part of nature.
At this stage, you either have to find new growth channels (less risk) or place bets on other 0 => 1 opportunities (more risk). You have to be comfortable starting over and getting back to creative producing. At this point though, you’re more like an executive producer (effectively, a capital allocator) who evaluates scripts and chooses which ones to option.
Just Produce
To sum up: Product is about producing, pure and simple.
Forget the latest framework or that “hot take” on Twitter. Tools are only as good as the end result. Picasso wasn’t great because of his paint brushes.
Be more creative and intuitive at early stage. Optimize production with scientifically at later stages. At every stage, use both art and science to get things done and create value.
Whatever you do, produce.
[1] It’s no coincidence product and producer share the same Latin root “produco”, which means “to lead forth” or “bring to light.” [Return]
[2] Which isn’t to say you shouldn’t use data at all. At early stage you should gather as much customer insights as possible to deeply understand their problems and underserved needs. [Return]