,art I. The Product Leader
This part of the book focuses on what makes a product leader different and how they can achieve
success. To grasp the significance of the role, we provide a history of product management and
discuss how it’ll continue to evolve. We’ll peel back the layers on how the product leader operates
in the larger organization to see how the leader’s work impacts the big picture. For product leaders,
this part provides details on what themes and patterns represent the most successful leaders and
how to attain those characteristics. For those tasked with hiring or developing product leaders, we
expose the characteristics to look for and nurture.
Part I is divided into several chapters covering what product management is, why it’s so relevant
today, being a great product leader, and whether there’s a formula for success. These chapters will
set the stage for how product leadership lives inside the universe of product creation and how the
leader influences those outcomes.
Chapter 1. What Is Product Management?
,
, Before we can delve into what it means to be a product leader, it’s useful to clarify what we mean
by product management itself, as it is a constantly evolving role. As we’ve already mentioned,
product leadership and product management are not the same thing, but they are inextricably linked.
An understanding of what product management is and is not will help contextualize the product
leadership conversation.
As Marty Cagan, Founding Partner of Silicon Valley Product Group and a 30-year veteran of
product management, puts it, “The job of a product manager is to discover a product that is
valuable, usable, and feasible.” Similarly, coauthor Martin Eriksson, in his oft-quoted definition
of product management, calls it the intersection between business, user experience, and technology
(see Figure 1-1; only a product manager would define themselves in a Venn diagram!). A good
product manager must be experienced in at least one, passionate1 about all three, and conversant
with practitioners of all three.
This part of the book focuses on what makes a product leader different and how they can achieve
success. To grasp the significance of the role, we provide a history of product management and
discuss how it’ll continue to evolve. We’ll peel back the layers on how the product leader operates
in the larger organization to see how the leader’s work impacts the big picture. For product leaders,
this part provides details on what themes and patterns represent the most successful leaders and
how to attain those characteristics. For those tasked with hiring or developing product leaders, we
expose the characteristics to look for and nurture.
Part I is divided into several chapters covering what product management is, why it’s so relevant
today, being a great product leader, and whether there’s a formula for success. These chapters will
set the stage for how product leadership lives inside the universe of product creation and how the
leader influences those outcomes.
Chapter 1. What Is Product Management?
,
, Before we can delve into what it means to be a product leader, it’s useful to clarify what we mean
by product management itself, as it is a constantly evolving role. As we’ve already mentioned,
product leadership and product management are not the same thing, but they are inextricably linked.
An understanding of what product management is and is not will help contextualize the product
leadership conversation.
As Marty Cagan, Founding Partner of Silicon Valley Product Group and a 30-year veteran of
product management, puts it, “The job of a product manager is to discover a product that is
valuable, usable, and feasible.” Similarly, coauthor Martin Eriksson, in his oft-quoted definition
of product management, calls it the intersection between business, user experience, and technology
(see Figure 1-1; only a product manager would define themselves in a Venn diagram!). A good
product manager must be experienced in at least one, passionate1 about all three, and conversant
with practitioners of all three.
