Product Manager You Are…

You’re a router: Act as a traffic cop and bring the right info to the right people.

You’re a hammer: You live and you die based on your ability to convince other people to do what you need them to do for the good of the product. A hammer swings and builds -- push your team to ship.

You're a CEO: Gross overstatement except for senior PM roles. The majority of PM jobs involve ... little meaningful control over resourcing, zero actual reporting authority over anyone, nor much, if any, say in the budgeting process. But in terms of responsibility, the buck stops with you. If the product fails, it is your fault.

You’re a super user: Eat your own dog food and talk to people who do too.

You’re an inventor : Great PMs are usually creative types, who can generate and churn through many ideas all at once, to arrive at solutions to difficult and multi-faceted problems.

You’re the product: The product your team builds and ships is the most faithful representation of your success as a PM.

You’re a coach: Coaches understand that teams are composed of people and the interpersonal relationships between each member determine to a large extent the effectiveness of the team, what it is capable of producing as a unit. PMs too must inspire, motivate and convince their team to fight for Every Single Inch.

You’re a ghost: You know when to disappear (it's possible to over-PM).

You’re an engineer: companies want PMs who can roll with engineers, speak the same language, grasp the technical concepts (and problems and opportunities) quickly, and by so doing gain the respect and trust of the people actually moving bits around. The best PMs are culturally engineers

You’re a janitor: You do as much of the dirty work as possible so everyone else doesn’t have to (so the team operates more efficiently)