The Other Four Traits: the Top Product Manager

Ok, we fleshed out ‘Leadership’ in a previous post, but what about the other four traits?

1. Leadership - done
2. User empathy
3. Data analysis
4. Business fundamentals
5. Industry expertise

User empathy: understanding and communicating the needs and preferences of the user through tools like user personnae, user stories, use cases, usability studies.  Design skills really help, too—wireframes, mockups, etc.  

Data analysis: gathering, analyzing, and communicating data.  This can include usage data from current users or through marketing channels, but it could be all sorts of other things, too.

Business fundamentals: knowing what frameworks to use and when is key.  You’ll save a lot of time not having to re-invent the wheel if you know basic theories of pricing, competitive strategy, and market research.

Industry expertise: for technical and scientific fields, having a grounding in the subject is critical.  As is an understanding of what the trends in the industry are and who the thought leaders and major players are.