The core competencies of a product manager can be summarized into two aspects: general qualities and professional skills. General qualities refer to those that are not limited to the role of a product manager but are also needed in other positions, while professional skills are specifically required for the product manager role. The author of this article analyzes the eight core competencies of a product manager based on these two aspects. Let's take a look.

What core competencies should a product manager have?

This is a question often asked during product manager interviews, as well as one that we frequently ask ourselves in our daily product work. Like many questions related to product management, there is no standard answer. Different people, from different backgrounds and perspectives, have various opinions on the core competencies that a product manager should possess. Here, I will attempt to share my views based on personal experience and thought.

The core competencies of a product manager can be summarized into two categories: general qualities and professional skills. General qualities refer to those that are not exclusive to the product manager role but are equally required in other positions, such as proactivity, learning ability, thinking ability, and communication skills. Professional skills, on the other hand, are more specific to the product manager role, including requirements analysis, product planning, project management, and data analysis.

1. Proactivity (Ownership)

Proactivity, or Ownership, is the most important quality for a product manager. Most of a product manager’s work involves pushing people and tasks forward. To successfully move things forward, proactivity is the most crucial subjective factor. In a broader sense, proactivity is a key trait not only for product managers but also for many other roles and successful individuals.

Proactivity can be broken down into four aspects: being proactive about tasks, about others, about the product, and about oneself.

1. Regarding Tasks
   Product managers always have an endless list of tasks to handle. Without a proactive attitude, you risk being passively dragged by these tasks, and when there are too many, you may become overwhelmed and lose control.

   A product manager’s proactivity with tasks involves accurately assessing each task's responsibility and determining how to drive solutions forward. If you are responsible for the task, you must truly see yourself as the owner, being accountable for the result, overcoming obstacles, and driving the team toward a solution. If you're not responsible, you should understand your role, complete your part, and assist others in pushing the task toward a positive outcome.

2. Regarding Others
   Product development, launch, and operations cannot be done by the product manager alone. It requires collaboration from teams, and the product manager is responsible for this coordination. Proactivity in dealing with others means taking on the role of the virtual team leader, influencing and driving others to accomplish the tasks needed to reach your goals.

3. Regarding the Product
   As the product owner, the product manager is responsible for everything related to the product, whether completing tasks themselves or pushing others to do so. A product manager enjoys the glory of a product’s success and must also endure the setbacks when a product fails.

4. Regarding Oneself
   When others in the product team—such as designers, developers, or testers—encounter obstacles, the product manager can push or help resolve these issues. However, when the product manager faces difficulties, they must push themselves. Being proactive with oneself means seeking solutions in adversity rather than passively accepting or waiting.

2. Learning Ability

The times are constantly evolving, especially in the internet industry, where rapid business and technological changes lead to higher turnover rates than in other industries. As an internet product manager, if you don’t maintain strong learning abilities and habits, neglecting new industry knowledge or emerging fields, you will quickly be left behind.

To cultivate learning abilities, one must listen, observe, learn, and practice often. Learning channels include books, new media, news, industry exchanges, work practices, and online/offline courses, lectures, and forums.

3. Thinking Ability

The importance of thinking ability for product managers cannot be overstated.

First, thinking is one of the most important tasks of a product manager and the place where they most demonstrate value. On the one hand, product managers use their thinking to design excellent products that create value for the company and users. On the other hand, through careful thought, they reduce trial and error during development, saving the company’s resources.

Second, thinking is a crucial part of the learning process. Only through reflection can learning be truly absorbed and mastered.

Lastly, for anyone, whether in learning or work, it is essential to maintain the habit of thinking. Regular reflection on yourself, your life, and your work will help you plan your desired life path and avoid leading a mundane existence.

To enhance thinking ability, start with these three practices:

1. Form Your Own Understanding of Work and Situations
   For every task or event, have your own understanding, questions, and suggestions. Actively express your thoughts through discussions or writing to gain new insights through communication.

2. Cultivate the Habit of Asking 'Why'
   Regularly question the information you receive and the status quo by asking “why.” By doing this, you challenge yourself to think deeply. Through constant questioning and reflecting, you’ll not only enhance your thinking ability but also gradually develop the skill to identify the core of problems quickly.

3. Regularly Review and Summarize
   Periodically review your work (or life) experiences, lessons, and insights. This will help you avoid making the same mistakes twice and provide possible solutions for future challenges. In my opinion, regular reviews and summaries are the most important forms of reflection.

4. Communication Skills
Communication is an essential tool for product managers to achieve results. Throughout the product manager's workflow, from receiving requirements, analyzing them, designing solutions, scheduling, implementing, tracking, and gathering feedback, communication with different roles and personnel is constant. Without communication, a product manager would be unable to drive others to achieve desired results, and would become a powerless dreamer. Because of communication's crucial role in a product manager's work, communication skills have become one of the must-have abilities for any product manager.

During a product manager's work process, communication can take two forms: verbal and written, both equally important.

Verbal communication includes simple interactions, such as daily work discussions or casual interpersonal conversations, and more complex ones like presenting or reviewing the PRD (Product Requirements Document). Written communication ranges from simple chat messages and work emails to more complex forms such as PRDs and product manuals. Communication, in any of its forms, is a topic that could be discussed in depth on its own. In fact, communication is something worth dedicating a lifetime to mastering.

The four general qualities mentioned above (proactivity, learning ability, critical thinking, and communication) are fundamental, with proactivity being the most challenging. On the basis of being proactive, consciously exercising and cultivating the skills of learning, critical thinking, and communication will lay a solid foundation for improving a product manager’s core professional abilities.

5. Requirement Analysis Ability
Most of a product manager's work revolves around requirements. After receiving a requirement, the process of analyzing it begins. The results of this analysis not only influence the product manager’s work but also direct the work of the entire team, making it incredibly important.

One key principle in requirement analysis is to look beyond the surface and understand the real reason behind the request. If a user says they want a faster horse and the product manager just passes this request along without thinking, the result will simply be a horse. However, if you dig deeper into why the user wants a horse, you may find that they want faster transportation, and a car might be a better solution. Many have heard this analogy, but in real work situations, due to various reasons, we often fail to explore the underlying causes of requests and rush to push things forward.

It's worth emphasizing again that a product manager must avoid becoming a mere "conduit." A conduit simply passes on information without thinking or analyzing it, which is irresponsible and fails to add value. Product development usually follows a chain of "business/operations - product - UED (User Experience Design) - development - testing - operations." Each link in this chain needs to fully understand the upstream request, perform their own analysis, fill in any gaps, and pass down a refined solution. This ensures the smooth development of the product. Acting as a simple relay that passes requests down the chain without analysis will reduce efficiency and ultimately cause the product manager to lose relevance.

By adhering to the principle of looking beyond the surface, product managers, upon receiving a request, should engage in detailed discussions with stakeholders such as legal, compliance, risk, and finance. They should combine business needs, value, priority, system capabilities, and the impact on collaborators to produce a final requirement analysis. This then leads to an actionable product solution.

6. Product Planning Ability
Product planning differs from basic requirement analysis. It requires the product manager to step back from the details of specific requirements and think at a higher level about the positioning and goals of the product. Based on the product's history, current state, and future goals, the product manager develops an implementation plan that not only aligns with the product's objectives but also meets the reasonable demands of different business stages.

Without product planning skills, a product manager may become focused solely on fulfilling immediate requirements, ignoring the bigger picture. As a result, the product could meet scattered needs but ultimately lose its way, leading to confusion about its future direction. Therefore, while addressing short-term needs, product managers should never neglect strategic thinking, ensuring that the product stays on course. This is the value and meaning of product planning.

Having strong requirement analysis and product planning abilities ensures that product managers not only focus on the immediate tasks but also see the future direction, balancing short-term needs with long-term goals.

7. Data Analysis Ability
In recent years, the importance of data has grown across industries, especially in data-intensive sectors like the internet. Through data analysis, product managers can gain insights into the product’s performance and uncover underlying causes, formulating solutions to problems. By analyzing the results after implementing these solutions, the product can be continually refined in a cycle of iteration.

When it comes to data analysis, tools like Excel, SPSS, and R are useful, but the most critical aspect is whether the product manager has a "data mindset." Product managers should look for relevant data to support their thoughts, such as identifying what problem needs solving, why it should be solved, the potential benefits, and the results after implementing a solution. For example, user tracking data can help us understand how users navigate the product. By comparing this data to our expectations, we can gather valuable insights for future optimizations.

8. Project Management Ability
From design to testing and launch, product solutions are often implemented in the form of large and small projects. In cases where there is no dedicated project manager, the product manager often needs to take on project management tasks, making project management skills essential.

There are many professional books on project management, but one aspect especially challenging for product managers is handling requirement changes. As new information emerges, requirement changes are inevitable. The key is recognizing the value, purpose, cost, and impact of these changes on the project schedule and coming up with convincing solutions based on these factors. Sometimes, due to limited resources or time constraints, a temporary fix may be an appropriate way to resolve the issue.

A product manager's role requires a broad set of skills. The product manager’s abilities significantly influence the product's performance, and since the product is a tool for executing company strategy, its performance directly affects the company’s strategic outcomes. The value of a product manager is thus undeniable. The eight core skills outlined in this article each have no ceiling, waiting for us to explore and refine them through theory and practice, helping us become better product managers.