The Product Manager role in METRO.digital

Our success at METRO.digital depends on our ability to make digital products that our customers love. Our product managers are responsible for what our product teams build; thus, they are essential contributors to our business' success. In this context, Product Management has become a crucial pillar in our company.

Effective Product Management requires experimentation, a data-driven mindset, strategic thinking, continuous discovery and great product leaders who can let go of the future they have imagined if this is not desirable anymore.

The purpose of this article is to describe the critical abilities of a product manager and how we are improving them at METRO.digital. But before we do that, let’s answer one questions: What is the difference between a Product Owner and a Product Manager?

First of all: The Product Owner is a role in Scrum. Product Management is the job. Unfortunately, in many contexts, the product owner role is lived as a person prioritizing the backlog, writing user story and accepting the stories shipped. But how does a product owner know that the product team is building the right solution? That’s precisely the point where a “traditional scrum product owner” would recognize how valuable continuous product discovery would be to find that out. Shifting the focus on the customer´s needs and what they value is the job of a product manager.

If you’re now thinking: Hey, I’m already doing it! Perfect. If not, check out the essential responsibilities and some ideas on developing yourself into a Product Manager.

a) Strategic Thinking: Find and develop unique opportunities to create value by enabling a disruptive and creative dialogue among people who can affect a company's direction.

Key responsibilities:

• Define and align (with the product team and the stakeholders) the product vision, mission, strategic directions.
• Define how to measure success.
• Define and align a goal-oriented product roadmap and make it transparent for the stakeholders.
• Make sure it is realistic and align it with the product team.

How are we improving this in our company?

• One can attend one of our Strategic Thinking workshop sessions.
• One can use the templates and the guidance we offer to define their product strategy.
• One can ask for Product coaching help.
• One can use our Product Management training support to improve their knowledge.

b) Product Development Process: Maximize the product value by engaging in continuous discovery and applaying agile and lean methodologies.

Key responsibilities:

• Eliminate the uncertainty around the problems you are trying to solve by applying continuous discovery practices to understand customers' needs.
• Find the balance while assessing the Big Four Product Management risks: Desirability, Usability, Feasibility, and Business Viability; Co-create the solution with the UX designer, Tech lead, and the team.
• Empower the product team to make decisions and help the team become self-organized.

How are we improving this in our company?

• One can attend one of our Continous Discovery Workshop sessions, where they will learn simple and easy-to-use techniques to kick start their discovery journey right away.
• One can use the Self-service Product Management & UX toolbox we have created.
• One can ask for Discovery Sessions facilitation from the Product coaching domain.

c) Data-driven mindset: Gather, cluster and interpret data in such a way that helps to identify trends and guide the decision-making process.

Key responsibilities:

• Define the North Star Metrics and the other input metrics for the product and make sure they are visualized and transparent for the team and the stakeholders.
• Use data in the OKR definition process and tracking.
• Track engineering health metrics (e.g., DORA) and Usability metrics (e.g., NPS/CSAT).
• Understand the business KPIs and how the product impacts them.

How are we improving this in our company?

• One can book a facilitator that can help them with the North Star Metric & input KPIs definition for their product.
• One can use the existing learning resources to get familiar with our data tools and a whole team willing to guide their data journey.
• One can ask their business unit owner and stakeholders to provide a high-level picture of the business KPIs and their evolution.

d) Managing Stakeholders - Manage the expectations and the objectives of all people interested in your area of responsibility and can affect or are affected by the business.

Key responsibilities:

• Identify and analyze stakeholders' needs and systematically plan to communicate and engage with them.
• Make sure the product team has a clear understanding of the stakeholders.
• Prioritize the work based on outcome and use data to back up the arguments.

How are we improving this in our company?

• One can create a stakeholders' map.
• One can organize users' interviews on regular basis.
• One can create a community where their stakeholders have the chance to speak up, give them feedback and come up with improvement ideas.

e) Communication: Convey or share ideas, feelings and information effectively using the most appropriate methods, tools and channels for the respective audience.

Key responsibilities:

• Transfer clear messages to the team and stakeholders.
• Market your solution within METRO.
• Pro-actively address conflicting situations.

How are we improving this in our company?

• One can attend the Feedback training we offer.
• One can find a mentor that can coach them in that direction.
• One can simpy ask for feedback!

Interested in becoming a Product Manager at METRO.digital? Check out our open positions here!