3 Gems from around the (PM) world - Vol 26
Customer surveys are not enough, Discovery questions to ask and not ask, Book recommendation
Hey PMs
Happy Friday. Here are some things I found of immense value about product management. Hope you find them useful too.
In this post:
Gem #1: Customer Surveys Are No Substitute for Actually Talking to Customers by Harvard Business Review
Gem #2: What Customer Discovery Questions To Ask To Validate Pain Points by Studio Zao
Gem #3: Book recommendation for PMs
Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street by John Brooks
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Gem #1: Customer Surveys Are No Substitute for Actually Talking to Customers by Harvard Business Review
In my coaching/teaching sessions, some PMs ask if they could just do a survey. I insist that they actually talk to some customers or users. Surveys can be used to confirm some learnings. Don’t just rely on a survey.
Here is an article from Harvard Business Review that strengthens my position on this topic - Talk to customers.Gem #2: What Customer Discovery Questions To Ask To Validate Pain Points by Studio Zao
Customer discovery is a crucial skill for PMs and founders. There is no substitute to getting input for your product that talking to your prospective customers. However you also need to do it right.
Here is an article by Studio Zao on what to ask or not ask in your customer discovery interviews.
(Shameless pitch - use my template to document your customer discovery)Gem #3: Book recommendation for PMs
Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street by John Brooks
Now that I have coached/teached 10 or so PMs and founders, a very common theme that I keep emphasizing over and over again is -
“Product management is a business role”.
While basic skills like prioritization or writing stories or product design are important, that’s not all of product management.
When they say you are the CEO of the product, what they really mean is you are responsible for the success of the product - from making sure you are building the right product for the right segment that helps them get value and delivers revenue to your company.
This means you as a PM have to build a business sense too. You need to understand how customers buy and think, the impact of economics and currencies , selling in a competitive environment, keeping track of technology shifts, how investment climate affects your product.
No, you don’t need an MBA for that. But you do need to start somewhere.
I read a lot of business books and biographies.
Going forward, I will be recommending some books to help you learn more about business. Here is a starting book I highly recommend. It’s an old book but a business classic.
Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street by John Brooks.
You can get it on Amazon or borrow for free on Libby.
(Libby is a wonderful app to read books for free for US residents with a library card to the local library. )
If you missed my Tuesday newsletter this week, here is the link.
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Great recommendations!