20 Critical Product Management Skills

Metrics & Analytics: Crucial Product Management Skill 10/20

How to measure the success of your product

Metrics & analytics skills refer to understanding and being able to define key metrics for the product and individual features, as well as hypothesizing metrics impact of product changes. Product managers skilled in metrics & analytics are able to…

by Jens-Fabian Goetzmann

12 Dec 2024

Customer Discovery: Crucial Product Management Skill 9/20

Getting better at understanding your customer and their needs

Customer discovery skills are about being able to employ the practices and tools to understand customer needs and identify opportunities to address these needs. A product manager skilled in customer discovery effortlessly employs tools such as continuous…

by Jens-Fabian Goetzmann

24 Nov 2024

Product & UX: Crucial Product Management Skill 8/20

How to develop product and UX sense

Product & UX domain skills refer to understanding the product, the customer and user experience and its drivers. It means having good product ideas and instincts on macro (what features to build) and micro level (UI), and making correct trade-off decisions…

by Jens-Fabian Goetzmann

17 Nov 2024

Business: Crucial Product Management Skill 7/20

Understand and represent business considerations in product decisions

Business domain skills are about understanding and making correct trade-off decisions about the business model, go-to-market approach, and competitive position. It means representing the business interests within the cross-functional product team and…

by Jens-Fabian Goetzmann

10 Aug 2024

Technology: Crucial Product Management Skill 6/20

Don't attempt to be an engineer, but work with them effectively

Technology domain skills include understanding and making correct trade-off decisions about the tech stack, key dependencies, and drivers of feasibility and complexity. Technology skills are helpful…

by Jens-Fabian Goetzmann

23 Jan 2022

Customer & Industry: Crucial Product Management Skill 5/20

Knowing your customer and industry, inside out

What it means: Customer & industry domain skills cover the understanding and making correct trade-off decisions about the needs and use cases of the customers, as well as constraints and trends of the industry you are operating in. This includes industry…

by Jens-Fabian Goetzmann

5 Dec 2021

High Agency: Crucial Product Management Skill 4/20

If at first you don't succeed, ...

What it means: High Agency is a personality trait that means not getting discouraged by adversities and obstacles. It means determination and resourcefulness and finding a way to achieve your objectives…

by Jens-Fabian Goetzmann

21 Nov 2021

Ownership: Crucial Product Management Skill 3/20

Think like an owner, act like an owner

What it means: Ownership for product managers means caring deeply about all aspects of the product and user experience as well as about the team and its functioning and well-being. As an owner, nothing…

by Jens-Fabian Goetzmann

7 Nov 2021

Empathy: Crucial Product Management Skill 2/20

A product manager's superpower

What it means: Empathy means understanding what other people are experiencing from within their frame of reference and what their needs, problems, and motivations are. Empathy has both emotional and rational aspects…

by Jens-Fabian Goetzmann

31 Oct 2021

Communication: Crucial Product Management Skill 1/20

Why communication is the most foundational product management skill

What it means: Communication covers communicating effectively, clearly, and concisely in all channels (e.g., document, message, face to face), employing the most effective channels. Effective …

by Jens-Fabian Goetzmann

24 Oct 2021

Twenty Crucial Product Management Skills

Where great product managers excel—a comprehensive list

As a product leader, I believe that helping your team grow and develop is one of my most critical responsibilities. The first step to growing as a product manager is understanding the skills that are required…

by Jens-Fabian Goetzmann

17 Oct 2021