Product Manager: In-demand Skills to Succeed

Product Manager: In-demand Skills to Succeed | Product Management | Emeritus

Product Manager: In-demand Skills to Succeed

Product Management demands a variety of skills, but on high-level skills required can be classified into two categories;



  1. Hard Skills
  2. Soft Skills

Soft Skills are essentially valuable for smooth execution and delivery of the product. During the whole product lifecycle, there will be a lot of hiccups, and these soft skills help Product Managers to navigate through them and deliver effectively.

A few of the skills are which are pretty helpful;

  1. Curiosity is the most underrated but valuable skill a PM can have. Curiosity helps PM think in multiple ways and find out-of-the-box solutions
  2. Communication skills – ability to communicate effectively helps PMs put their vision forward without diluting the message. Not communicating effectively can result in expectation mismatch among the stakeholders
  3. User Empathy – Ability to think about user pain points and use cases
  4. Big Picture Thinking – Not losing sight of the big picture by getting lost in the details.
  5. Prioritization – Ability to ruthlessly prioritize what is essential and remove clutter
  6. UX sense – Basic understanding of what a good user experience is without getting stuck in design
  7. Stakeholder Management – As a PM, you will have to interact with multiple stakeholders from business, tech, marketing, data, customer support, and sales. A PM should be able to manage their expectations and also influence them.
  8. Relationship Management – Having a good relationship with tech, design, and analytics help in speeding things up
  9. Ability to motivate and deliver on time – Rallying and motivating the whole team to a mission is critical for high quality and on-time delivery

Hard Skills are core competencies that any Product Manager requires to execute day-to-day activities and do well overall.

A few of the useful technical skills which are must for any PM are;

  1. Basic Understanding of Technology – A PM should be able to understand and communicate in engineers’ language to a certain extent.
  2. Documentation – Having a proper Product Document helps scope out the feature and also is a good reference for future
  3. Data Understanding – Ability to gather insights from data
  4. Defining and Tracking Metrics – Any product can not improve without measuring and targeting against right goals
  5. Big Picture Thinking – Not losing sight of the big picture by getting lost in the details.
  6. Critical Thinking – Ability to logically think about problems and ask the right questions without jumping to conclusions and solutions
  7. Business Sense – Understanding the nuances of business can help make the right product decisions.

~ Ashwani Kumar Mishra, Senior Product Manager at Pharmeasy

Did you know that Glassdoor rates Product Management as the 4th best job in the United States? As such, constant upskilling and reskilling is of utmost importance if you want to stay relevant in this industry. Emeritus offers a number of programmes in product management, which will provide you with a holistic understanding of designing products and how to analyze performance for optimum experience. Speak to us now to understand how you can advance your career in product management.

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About the Author


Content Writer, Emeritus Blog
Yashvi is a dynamic content creator with 5+ years of experience crafting content for global brands, specializing in tech, finance, and healthcare sectors for both B2B and B2C audiences. Her diverse knowledge base empowers her to create meticulously researched, value-packed content for the EdTech sector, catering to various audiences. In her downtime, she explores the realms of mental well-being, reflecting her holistic approach to personal and professional growth and deepening her empathy for her audience's pain points and needs.
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