With all the chatter this week on Twitter around domain expertise or skills, including an earlier blog post on this site, it seems that there is one other point in this discussion that was left out.
Where the product manager sits is not relevant.
If the product manager’s main responsibility is to have the conversations with the market about what their problems are, what they desire for a solution (not buttons or widgets,) and what they would be willing to pay to have this problem solved – why should it matter where the product manager sits?
In today’s world, it is relatively easy to jump on a plane (most product managers will tell you that they are among the frequent flier elite with the airlines) to go and visit customers and market people. There is also an abundance of virtual meeting software options available – WebEx, GoToMeeting, and even Skype (to list only a very few.)
This belief is shared by Steve Johnson and the Pragmatic Marketing team in their Practical Product Management course. The introduce the term ”NIHITO:” Nothing Important Happens In The Office. If it is about getting to the information, and that is the foundation of good product management, then why does it matter that the PM sits in the building, next to the dev team.
The product manager needs to be available and accessible, and have the right skills to get the information. Location is an artificial obstacle used for negative gain. Leaders – focus on what matters: content and customers!
Just an observation, looking in from the outside.
