# How Product Managers Use Soft Skills and User Feedback

DevFeed: [How Product Managers Use Soft Skills and User Feedback](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/product-management-then-now-or-why-user-feedback-sucks-35111.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://upday.github.io/blog/product_management_user_feedback/>)

Author: Madeleine Want (madeleine@upday.com)

Published: 2017-03-08T04:00:00Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Upday](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/upday.md>)

Topics: [Product Management](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/product-management.md>), [User experience (UX)](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ux.md>), [Development](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/development.md>)

Tags: [leadership](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/leadership.md>), [product-management](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/product-management.md>), [product-owner](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/product-owner.md>), [soft-skills](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/soft-skills.md>), [users](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/users.md>), [ux](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ux.md>)

## AI overview

The article reflects on how product management has evolved from a broad mix of responsibilities toward stronger emphasis on communication, consensus-building, persuasion, and listening to users. It describes user feedback loops as part of product management and related to UX.

## Source excerpt

"Until now, sociologists have depended on limited data sets and surveys that tell us how people say they think and behave, rather than what they actually do." - (Pentland, 2015) I grew up thinking I was clever. My grades seemed to say so, and my parents certainly did. But I wasn't sure exactly what that meant, and at some point I settled on the conclusion that being clever means you probably don't need to check your math. If only I'd verbalised that idea and been gently corrected early on, I would have saved myself years wasted assuming and spent them learning instead. For several years now I've enjoyed a trajectory of increasing leadership with very little authority. As a Product Manager I lead a product - but I don't have any formal technical qualifications. I also lead a team and a vision - but nobody reports to me. This is typical of the Product Manager role, and makes it challenging and rewarding at the same time. Strong Product Managers don't have to bring specific technical skills to the team, but they do need soft skills, - "the ability to steer and navigate, intangible qualities and behaviors" (Cheng, 2016). Everything that allows you to understand, communicate, build consensus, debate and direct is a soft skill, and Product Managers do these things every day. It makes sense: why else would your team jump on-board for your vision? You have to be able to communicate it compellingly. Why should the business allocate resources to your plan? You need to be able to argue it persuasively. How can you be confident it will succeed? You need to listen to the people who will make it succeed - the users. Product Management Then Traditional definitions of the Product Manager/Product Owner (PM/PO) role have focused on the blend of skills it requires. Being a great PO includes being a customer delighter, storyteller, delegator, developer, knowledge broker, conflict resolver and escalator (Lindstrom). Others have visualised similar definitions in diagrams like this one 1: