The Product Manager Mindset
Shifting from a service-based approach to a product-driven mindset is a fundamental transformation. Services focus on meeting the needs of a single client, while products aim to capture entire markets. This shift demands different skills, priorities, and decision-making processes.
The Service Mindset: One Client at a Time
In services, success is defined by satisfying a single client. This requires understanding their business, managing projects efficiently, and delivering on time. Strong project management and adaptability are key.
The Product Mindset: Scaling for the Market
Product companies take a different approach. Instead of catering to individual clients, they must understand the market, define their ideal customer, and decide who not to serve. Success is measured in market adoption and share.
Teams must craft a compelling value proposition, prioritize technology investments, and determine pricing strategies. They need scalable business models and effective go-to-market strategies.
Project Mindset is basically execution oriented. So a project manager is concerned about questions like - What is the requirement? What is in scope, what is not in scope. Is it on the roadmap? What are the timelines?
A product manager has a product mindset where he focuses on how we can improve engagement. He is concerned about solving problems like- What problem are we trying to solve? Why are we doing this? Is it going to add value to our customers on the ground?
A common pitfall for companies shifting from services to products is defaulting to task management instead of strategic product vision, turning product development into project execution.
The Bottom Line
Service businesses thrive on deep client relationships and timely execution, while product companies focus on scale, innovation, and market growth. Recognising these differences and developing the right skill sets is critical for success.