If you are a product manager, you may be well-versed with the importance of decision-making in your organization. Your decisions largely determine the success of the product. Some decisions include – which design will work the best, which features to develop first, and the list is endless.
One wrong decision and you are bound to face losses. On the other hand, a clear and confident decision is the key to forming a successful product in a product management organization. And if that sounds difficult, you need not worry. We are here with the proven tactics that will help you form better decisions as a product manager. Let’s get started.
Product goals and company mission – Your company’s mission and the roadmap of the products depict different stories. But are they moving towards the same goal?
There is a strategic relationship between product goals and the company’s mission statement. And it takes effort to execute your vision. Thus, align your goals with product positioning. Here is what you can do –
- Many times product teams develop the products in a vacuum. The actual product may be the one you want, but misalignment can end up causing delays and roadblocks. Therefore, it is important to understand the vision of your organization and communicate the same to every team member.
- Make a list of at least five company goals that will get influenced by your product decisions. It will help the product managers focus on their big goals, resulting in better results for the organization.
- Take a look at your company’s mission and product goals. Analyze the gaps and find out which aspects of the products you can improve to gain the maximum benefit.
- Do not forget to build a flexible product roadmap. Why? It will help you stay in sync with strategy shifts as the vision of your company may evolve over the period of time.
Look after your users – Everybody expects you to be good with communication, research, marketing, and more as you are a product manager. It sometimes poses problems while making quick and efficient product decisions. What is the solution? The answer is empathy.
Empathizing with the users and your team helps you better understand the people who use products and people who develop them. For instance – if you know the needs, tastes, and preferences of the customers, you will try to solve their problems related to the product in a better way. Furthermore, if your team feels that their manager understands them perfectly, it will reflect in their contribution towards the success of the product.
Talk to your customers – It doesn’t matter how great your product is. But if there isn’t any demand for the product you develop, it will bound to fail. So, prioritize the demands of your customers, and you will be sure to succeed. If you expect your customers to tell their needs to you, you might need to think again. It is only you who have to be proactive in researching about the demands of your customers. Collect their feedback and then make decisions accordingly. All in all, follow the customer-centric approach and design optimal solutions.
Minimal viable product – You cannot deny that it takes a lot of hardwork to build an entire product. So, before moving forward to the designing aspect of the product, you can follow the strategy of a minimal viable product or MVP. It is like a basic version of the product with as minimal features as possible, and these should be must-have features. MVP was created to attract early adopters. In this way, you will get the feedback of the potential customers and hence add new features to make the final version of the product. It won’t be wrong to say that MVP provides you with an excellent solution to track your flaws and come out with an outstanding product. Thus, it takes the chances of making quality product decisions a notch higher and helps you fill the gaps.
To sum it up
Product managers are the key to making vital decisions for your business. As a product manager, you can make multiple choices. But it takes only one decision to fail, and you will have a negative impact on your career.
So, experts advise following the above-mentioned tactics to make worthy product decisions and steer clear of the mistakes in the product development process.
Now, if you are looking for the best product manager for your organization, look no further than PALARINO PARTNERS. We recruit product managers for private software companies and help them avoid the costly expenses of mis-hire. It is important to give supreme importance to product management and product decisions to build a successful business. And if you think the same, contact us right away. Connect with us for further information on product management, and we will surely uplift your business.
