Ten Product Management Skills

The 10 Product management skills needed to be a Good Product Manager – Nature Vs Nurture

Which of the following are natural and which can be nurtured?   

1. Problem-Solving Attitude – as humans, we are never comfortable in any problem situation and as a natural tendency we tend to have an approach to solving the problem and coming out of that situation. But to have it as an attitude is another level approach. Firstly, being alert and looking for problems by empathizing with the customer and secondly looking for an innovative solution again with empathy. This has to be nurtured.
2. Passion for technology – Tech has changed the landscape of product management. An innovative use of tech can bring delight to customers. Eg. Amazon uses the internet to sell books Or PayTM using a QR code. For this generation of Product Managers, tech and it’s changes have to be pursued and updated almost on a daily basis. Hence nurture it. 
3. Deep User understanding – Study/ read/ watch about newer research on Consumer Behaviour. Hence nurture.
4. An eye for design –Empathizing with the customer and creating a well-designed product. Applying an emotional, logical, and behavioural approach to product design. This is an application area of product design. Learn the concepts and apply them. Hence nurture.  
5. Business Sense – We come across many businesses – many click, many fail. A business sense can be developed with experience. Hence nurture. 
6. Analytical skills – Of course nurture.
7. Leadership qualities – This is a strong personality trait. Kapil Dev was a captain in our 1983 world cup win. He was only 24. Sunil Gavaskar was 34 at that time and was much more experienced as a captain than Kapil. MS Dhoni – a strong leader with a demonstration as a predominant trait. Other traits of these two leaders – are vision, pointed focus on winning, high on optimism, courageous, fearless, never give up. This is Nature.
8. Team work – Another personality trait. Again most leaders have this trait. Nature.
9. Ability to take feedback – Another personality trait. One has to be open to criticism and failure. If a PM is headstrong and does not take feedback – it might bring his downfall.
10. Prioritization capabilities – Decision-making skills come into play here. It is a managerial skill which has to be nurtured with experience.