7 Challenges Product Managers Face

1. Introduction
2. 7 Biggest Challenges of Product Management
   • Finding the Product-Market Fit
   • Understand the Problem first
   • Multitasking
   • User Research
   • Focusing on a single objective/metric
   • Idea Validation
   • Smooth User Onboarding
3. Conclusion

Introduction

Product Management problems can range from securing resources, understanding customer demands, product marketing to effective team management. Since diversity is the nature of a product manager’s job, the challenges they face in their work are also varied. 

In this blog, we will try and understand some common problems product managers face and suggest solutions for the same.

Biggest challenges of product management

Problem #1: Finding the right product-market fit

The right Product-Market-Fit for a new product is an eternal product management problem. Alex Schultz (VP of Growth, Facebook) says the biggest problem he sees in startups he advises is that they don’t have the product-market fit when they think they do.

Solution (borrowing from Schultz’s class on growth at Stanford University):

1. Make a product/product feature that people want/demand.
2. To discover if people like your product, use retention metrics.
3. Use tools that find out ‘who out there is comparable’ and ‘is this the maximum potential of success your vertical can achieve?’

If you have followed this 3-step solution, you will find a consistent number of users that use your product. And that will be your target product-market fit.

Problem #2: Defining the business problem you are trying to solve

“If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it,” Albert Einstein.

When developing new products or processes, most organizations do not clearly define the market/business problem they are trying to solve. Such enterprises draw hasty conclusions, thereby wasting resources, missing opportunities, and pursuing projects that do not align with company goals. 

As a result, other kinds of project development problems crop up. For instance;

• A project goes down another path when it should have gone down another or
• An innovation program gives pathbreaking results but addresses the wrong problem.

Solution: Identify and articulate your business’s problem concisely. Companies like InnoCentive do this. Over the years, this firm has helped hundreds of organizations and government bodies improve the efficiency of their innovation projects. Through a process called challenge-driven innovation, clients are asked to articulate their technical and business issues. These issues are then presented as challenges to 250,000 solvers- the InnoCentive team of scientists and other experts. 

Problem #3: Multitasking

Even though multitasking is a default skill that product managers employ to get things done, most successful inventors, musicians, filmmakers, and entrepreneurs insist on the importance of singular tasking. By this, we mean undivided attention to one particular task.

While as a product manager, one may believe that handling stakeholders, multiple prototype tests, and budget planning can all be done smoothly at the same time. In reality, one may be doing less than what one intends to.

Don’t just take our word. Read this Harvard study on the effect of multitasking on productivity.

Solution: Delegate tasks and make use of task and team management tools. You can read a detailed guide of top tools every product manager should use here.

Problem #4: User Research

Too much user research data can be intimidating to analyze and decode. Most companies do not possess the adequate resources (like a proper team, time or budget, and tools) to decipher the data. As a result, the insufficient findings from a UX research team result in developing a product along with incorrect standards, and thus its resultant failure.

Solution: 

1. Budget can be a problem, but investing in more than one tool for data analysis can help.
2. If you have to cut corners on research, be transparent about it. An experienced product manager once told us that deadlines are extended to keep the quality and deliverables intact.
3. Even if the consumer base is not demanding change, as an organization, one can take it upon yourself to deliver it and achieve multiple results like increased brand awareness and sales.

Problem #5: Getting your organization to focus on a single objective/metric

Let’s take Apple’s example to discuss this product management problem. We all know Steve Jobs. But, do we know that when Jobs returned to Apple in 1995, he used design thinking to focus on one single metric for the entire product development process. That single objective was to create a distinct Apple experience.

Therefore, he shut down all R&D work that involved developing multiple projects and focused on creating one single product at a time.

Solution: Focusing on a single objective/product feature and developing it. If an organization achieves excellence in delivering one kind of product/product feature that has no competition in the market, it does so by concentrating on single metrics of a product/problem/process or innovation project.

Problem #6: Idea Validation

Getting your idea validated ‘properly’ is the first step in developing any innovation project. In the case of Airbnb, their idea was already validated before they had one.

In trying to solve the problem of paying for their accommodation, the company founders rented their loft in San Francisco when all hotels were booked for a major design conference. This is how they came upon a solution. And, while everyone may not be as lucky, testing and retesting multiple times can provide a certain sense of reassurance and validation for any product idea.

Solution:

Developing a Minimum Success Ratio can solve the product management problem of accurate validation. If 8 out of 10 people say that they would rather use a hotel than sleep on someone else’s couch, does that make Airbnb’s idea futile? No.

The key is testing your main assumption and getting results on that( even if it is done in the most traditional manner using surveys, feedback forms, etc.).In Airbnb’s case, the assumption was that people are willing to stay in a stranger’s house and that the homeowner will rent out her/his property if one gets a decent price for it.

Problem #7:  A smooth User Onboarding experience

User Onboarding, one important product management problem, can make or break a user’s relationship with a product. By this process, new users become proficient in the application of a product/service they use. If a company fails to deliver customer satisfaction in the Onboarding process, no matter how good their product is, it will fail to make the desired mark.

Solution: Begin User Onboarding processes from early stages like testing and rapid prototyping. You don’t have to wait for the final product to do this. Fixing issues alongside the final finishing of the product can help achieve a better and loyal customer relationship in the long run. 

Conclusion

If you have made it this far, you have hopefully become acquainted with the concerns of a project manager, various product management problems, and how to approach such challenges.

Moreover, if you wish to refine your skills with the current industry demand, invest in a good Product Management Course. This 6-months program is taught by industry experts and successful product managers themselves. Because not only do they understand the time constraints you have but also the desire to upgrade your expertise with the help of those who live your life every day.