You’ve probably seen this diagram before. It elegantly shows that product management is the intersection of a diverse skill set.
Its simplicity has made it one of the most successful product management memes out there, and it’s done good things for the discipline.
Long ago, as a young PM padawan, it helped me realize that I needed to structure my learning for breadth. What it didn’t tell me, however, was where to focus — I started trying to learn everything, and in hindsight that was a mistake.
There isn’t enough time on this Earth to learn everything you could about those three circles, so as helpful as this diagram is, it ends up impractical.
What would have been far more helpful was to know what actually comprises that intersection:
That intersection is what I call the Minimum Viable Product Manager (MVPM), and it defines a set of skills or knowledge that are useful to be an effective generalist product manager, one who can work on almost any problem.
MVPM in no way implies that you need to achieve mastery of its skills to be effective, which is both impractical and counterproductive for someone starting out. Instead, view it as a syllabus of sorts for the course in product management that doesn’t exist.
I write this for my younger self, for new product managers, and for more experienced PMs still looking to level up. To maintain some symmetry with the diagram, skills are divided into sections for each discipline. I cover three key concepts/skills to focus on, and one that you really shouldn’t focus on. As much as possible, it’s in plain language and is written for someone who’s approaching any of the subjects cold.