2020 marked an increased rate of technical and social change for all businesses, including product companies. Regardless of their starting positions, all companies will need to reinvent themselves for sustained success in the new competitive environment. DNA325 has interviewed three top Product Managers in Ukraine and has been following product development trends all year long, so we’d like to share with you 5 tips on how to be a thriving PM next year:

  1. Research before financing some initiative. Reach out to your audience and do a quick marketing check. You need to “sell” the product first and then get to the development stage. Make sure you have a convincing demand from your customers, and they are ready to pay you for the product. Otherwise, you will wind up with a high-quality product which no one is going to buy. Here is a cautionary tale  of what happens when you don’t do your research on time.
  2. Backup your data with a solid hypothesis. Product Managers should continually apply  usage metrics evaluated against valid hypotheses on user sentiment. Test and validate product hypotheses to fail fast and learn fast
  3. Keep your enemies closer to home. Study competitors’ products meticulously and investigate subjective input on how they surpass your existing solutions. However, don’t forget to guard the expectations and needs of your loyal users and don’t compromise on account of going after new trends. What worked for your competitors may not work for you.
  4.  Stay in touch with emerging technologies that evolve at a supersonic speed. It is hard not to get lost in the accelerated technology-enabled innovation market, so don’t lose focus.
  5.  Explore and go above and beyond. Constantly identify  different markets, user segments, and use cases for your existing products. One thing that 2020 has taught us all is that to stay on the top of the game you have to keep the wheels  in motion.

In order to remain competitive in 2021, Product Managers need to make  data-driven decisions and have an immense customer focus. Next year is all about  having a customer-centric approach and being ready to roll with the punches.