Re:Chefs and Soldiers Make Good Product Managers
by caleblloyd on Thursday August 03, 2017 @10:18PM
(#14925847)
The military has a rank structure, yes. But Officers just starting out learn quickly that while their Senior NCOs fall under their command, they must earn the trust and respect of those NCOs to accomplish their mission.
A product manager that manages a team of developers is in a very similar position.
Re:Chefs and Soldiers Make Good Product Managers
by mockery on Thursday August 03, 2017 @10:11PM
(#14925819)
Tangent: What's an XFN? (Google and Wikipedia don't seem to provide plausible answers, and I'm pretty sure you don't mean "XHTML Friends Network"...)
Re:Chefs and Soldiers Make Good Product Managers
by product50 on Friday August 04, 2017 @03:01AM
(#14926890)
Apologies for not being clear there. XFN means cross functional teams (design, research, product marketing, analytics, sales etc.) in my comment above.
Re:Chefs and Soldiers Make Good Product Managers
by guiomie on Friday August 04, 2017 @12:03AM
(#14926237)
Cross functional
Re:Chefs and Soldiers Make Good Product Managers
by throwaway7645 on Thursday August 03, 2017 @10:14PM
(#14925832)
I wasn't wondering the same thing.
I think what these articles lack is that being a good PM is more about the process vs. what one knows. A good cook, for instance, would generally have intrinsic knowledge about flavors, cuisines, preparation, plating etc. The more the cook knows about these areas the better she is and would command respect. PMing, on the other hand, has very little to do with the domain of the area you are working on. It is more about the process you use to figure out the following - building out a long term strategy for the area you are working on, breaking down the strategy into smaller parts and prioritizing those, working with and convincing your eng, xfn & leadership team that what you have going is the right thing, being very data driven to figure out what is working and doubling down on it, focussing on a market which is large enough but where you are differentiated etc.
I am not saying a cook or military person can't do that but I would be cautious to generalize.