The Primary Job of a Product Manager

I believe that the primary job of a product manager is to be the expert on their customers' problems - to be the "voice of the customer" within their companies.

Today, I was in a meeting listening to excellent feedback from several teams that had just completed active customer listening exercises and their lessons learned. There's so much fun and energy in these exercises. But, it got me thinking that one of the strangest aspects I've found within "product management" is the realization that there are a surprising number of product managers who resist talking to or listening to their customers.

Initially, I thought this was because product managers are typically very busy managing the many different demands within their role (but that's a topic for another time). I once had the pleasure of running a team of global product managers, and one of our objectives was to present a perspective of the different markets and customer needs every quarter. I was so proud of the work and information the team created - such good perspectives and product guidance. However, I still found it challenging to get many of the core product managers to listen and absorb the critical customer research and input. Often, it seemed they were too busy to absorb the essential aspects for their product and market success. I did finally find a way to communicate my team's findings, but maybe that's also a subject for another time.

So my takeaway and recommendation would be to actively ask your product managers, "what new have you learned from speaking to customers this month?" or "what different product decisions are you now making from speaking to customers this month?" and see what the response is. Done regularly, you'll find that your product managers will begin to expect you to ask them these questions, and their mindset and behavior will naturally adjust accordingly over time. Oh, and the quality of your products might start 'mysteriously' improving also...