the most important of all is, certainly, the one that illustrates this article, empathy.

Empathy is the ability someone has to walk in someone else’s shoes in order to understand her aspirations, motivations, needs, and problems. This characteristic is important to understand customers and users of the product, to know how they relate to the product, and what problem they expect to be solved, or what needs they want to fulfill.

The second most important characteristic is communication. In order to be empathetic, the product manager needs to communicate with people

Communication is a two-way street, in other words, the product manager must be very good at listening and understanding what others are saying, and understanding their aspirations and needs

The third most important characteristic is time management.

How many clients and users did you talk to this week?
Do you have a long-term strategy and view for your product?

The product manager has to take care of his product as a whole. For the user, there’s no engineering, operations, finance, legal and collection departments.

Which insights did you have about your product this week?
Do you know which is the motivation and the metrics for each item of your roadmap?