One thing I love about product management is that PM’s come from such a varied set of backgrounds. There are relatively established paths into product from engineering, design, product operations, and customer success. Many people break in from other functions and/or thanks in part to serendipity.

While people coming from a wide set of backgrounds can become successful PM’s, I have observed a set of traits that tend to be very helpful for PM’s. 

1. Curiosity. PM’s must be willing and able to explore and probe, unraveling the yarn until root causes of problems become clear. As discussed in the 5 Why’s Framework, users and stakeholders do not always know or wish to clearly communicate their issues and opinions. A genuine sense of curiosity goes a long way in the product discovery process. 

2. Empathy. PM’s must not only deeply relate to customers and prospects if they hope to build solutions that they value but also genuinely want to support those users. This typically requires spending time with users in various contexts and partnering closely with customer-facing teams. Enthusiasm for solving user problems is critical, and an empathetic person, or at least someone empathetic toward people experiencing a specific problem, are more likely to be successful.

3. Ingenuity. Almost every discovery process and implementation project has many twists and turns. There are often internal and external stakeholders that disagree with the ultimate scope and timeline of the project. There may be unforeseen technical or capacity challenges. Through these inevitable roadblocks, the PM serves as the connective tissue shepherding the feature to market. This often requires creative problem solving along the way.

Honorable Mention: Humility. Since collaborating with and influencing internal stakeholders is so critical to most PM roles, being viewed as approachable and easy to work with can meaningfully impact effectiveness. Most people can sense humility and appreciate when people admit that they do not have all of the answers. Additionally, humility encourages starting from a beginner’s mindset, which reduces the chances of relying on faulty or overly risky assumptions. 

These are not innate characteristics that cannot be developed, but they require significant time to develop where lacking. Evaluating oneself on these traits can be one indicator of whether product management is a natural fit.