Good vs. Bad Project Managers, from Ben Horowitz of a16z.
Here we go!
The Good:
Know the market, product, and competition
Responsible for right product/time
Know context going in and executes without excuses
Not part of the product team, they manage the product team
Crisply define and manage the delivery of the “what”, not “how”
Gather information informally
Create FAQs/presentations/white papers
Anticipate product flaws and come up with solutions
Take written positions on issues
Focus the team on revenue and customers
Deliver superior value to the marketplace and achieving market share and revenue goals
Decompose problems
Ask the press questions
Err on the side of clarity vs. explaining the obvious
Define their job and success
Send status reports weekly
The Bad:
Lots of excuses
Complain about spending all day on the phone answering questions
Put fires out all day
Lament that the “powers that be” won’t let it happen
Focus team on competitor features
Define good projects that can’t be executed
Let engineering do whatever they want
Confused about the differences amongst delivering value, matching competitive features, and pricing
Combine all problems into one
Answer every question from the press
Want to be told what to do
Forget to send status reports
