Six Questions people ask Product Managers

And why PMs get them all the time

Photo by Baher Khairy

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Years ago, when I was getting started as a Product Manager in a Fortune 500 company, I had very little understanding of what a Product Manager actually did. Of course, I had a 30–60–90-day plan, but let's just say things weren't exactly going to it.

Coming into the job, my expectation was that most of my time would be spent working with the software and hardware teams trying to make the product better, new features, fixing bugs, and customer discovery. Nope. that was just 50% of the job.

I quickly realized that I had underestimated the amount of information a Product Manager must be able to grasp, store, and be prepared to communicate at the drop of a hat. I was not only expected to know everything about my products — but also be able to articulate and present what I knew.

Here is the thing, If you are a Product Manager there are always a lot of questions coming at you from people across the organization as well as from the external stakeholders. These are questions from your team, peers, bosses, executive management, and most importantly, from your customers.