Most tech companies break out product management and product marketing into two separate roles: Product management defines the product and gets it built. Product marketing wires the messaging- the facts you want to communicate to customers- and gets the product sold. But from my experience that's a grievous mistake. Those are, and should aways be, one job.
There should be no separation between what the product will be and how it will be explained- the story has to be utterly cohesive from the beginning. Your messaging is your product. The story you're telling shapes the thing you're making.
I learned story telling from Steve Jobs. I learned product management from Greg Joswiak. Joz, a fellow Wolverine, Michigander, and overall great person, has been at Apple since he left Ann Arbor in 1986 and has run product marketing for decades. And his superpower- the superpower of every truly great product manager- is empathy. He doesn't just understand the customer. He becomes the customer.
So when Joz stepped into the world with his next-gen iPod to test it out, he fiddled with it like a beginner. He set aside all the tech specs- except one: battery life.
The numbers were empty without customers, the facts meaningless without context.
And, that's why product management has to own the messaging. The spec shows the features, the details of how a product will work, but the messaging predicts people's concerns and finds way to mitigate them.
- #BUILD Chapter 5.5 The Point of PMs
Like so many of you, I love listening to @michaelbuble during the holidays! See how he and @carlypearce used iPhone 16 Pro to record their new song Maybe This Christmas. 🎄🎶
All @MichaelBuble needed to record his new song was iPhone 16 Pro! Using the Layered Recording feature on Voice Memos, he recorded his vocals over an existing instrumental track — no headphones needed. 🤯 Check out how his new Christmas song with @CarlyPearce came to life! 🎄🎵📱
Still thinking about the incredible celebration yesterday for the launch of our new products at Apple Fifth Avenue! Our teams have gone above and beyond to bring our customers the very best.
It’s a privilege to work with so many brilliant people from around the world. Sending a big thanks to those I met with at our Latin America headquarters in Miami and to those who were there virtually from Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia!
@nbc@NBCSports just proved to be the worse Olympic broadcaster in history. Rio was not a fluke - Tokyo is worse. Can’t find anything, not live, interruptions, and they have no shame to put Ads during match point, making us miss the moment! In 2024 it’s VPN all the way. @iocmedia
@Kevfeige thank you for the last 12 years. You did something completely unprecedented and executed brilliantly. Endgame is marvelous and an ode to the MCU. 👏👏👏