Have you ever thought about a question, since in these years the product manager gradually ascends the trend. Who was the product manager 10 years ago? What are you doing? How are these product managers different from today’s product managers?


Programmers are everything


Ten years ago, before the mobile Internet. The Internet has spawned all kinds of products based on the PC form. These products are called software, once rising antivirus, Office, etc., products are based on the local deployment of the form of products.


As long as functions can be used, there is no way to speak of interaction design, flat style, skeuomorphic style, etc.



The picture above is the pinyin input method 10 years ago. Are the functions provided then fundamentally different now? Obviously not, so in this context, take our current product manager thinking to let go of the past. Although the product was never going to go live, there was no technology or hardware capability to satisfy it: “user experience”.



In this case, it seems that all the work is just programs. They complete the whole prototype design, functional logic, business logic sorting.


Everything is refined development


Looking at the development of society, do you remember your parents’ time? Getting a job is all state bulk delivery. Even as long as you go to college you can be assigned, some connections can even be assigned to a good job. Note that these units are public institutions or national units, facing the development of The Times. Many private enterprises have blossomed under new China’s reform and opening-up.


Think back 20 years, there were computers but no programmers. Jobs like computer programmers and designers have evolved. Become a career that people are increasingly aware of.



The birth of a product manager is also very easy to deduce, as more and more applications are developed, people have a choice of applications. In addition to providing the same function, how to make users use the function efficiently or bring better experience has become a problem that programmers or designers need to consider. The product manager position will come later.



The picture above is a typical Win98 operating procedures running on XP, serious Mosaic. As user experience becomes more and more important, product managers not only need to meet the design requirements, but also need to consider the user experience issues mentioned above. A 10-year programmer is the best product manager in the world. Development, design, business one-stop.


The closest thing a product manager had to a decade ago was a demand analyst. At that time only requirements analysts were very close to today’s product specialists or product assistants. Just as programmers became more and more popular as a synonym for high salaries, product managers have also become popular Internet jobs. The job responsibilities of the profession are becoming clearer.


In the past, when Su Jie pointed out that everyone is a product manager, many trolls said, “I thought everyone is a product manager at Renren.” People had no idea what a product manager was. Now the job responsibilities of product managers are more detailed according to the industry and the direction of the front and back end.



This is also the topic of product manager 10 years ago when I was talking with a senior development student of the company today. When I see a 10-year veteran programmer who can output a background interaction or prototype page with such high fidelity, I can’t help but wonder what generation of programmers might be full stack.



Well, have a great weekend. I’ll stick to two posts a week



A recent project



The product manager contacted the third party case, and coordinated the landing project with 4 domestic and foreign companies

The Meaning of Life, what are we busy doing all the time?

Product landing meticulous work, standard copy

Background products, 1 case | column is activated

Learn to “guide”, let demand quickly landing

Another way to deal with price reduction, product PK demand side

Life is inseparable from the product manager




In addition, my first book “From Zero to One: PM changes the World” was officially launched as an electronic file. This book summarizes 222 original products, covering the content of product manager interview, algorithm, interaction and other different dimensions. If you are interested, you can reward and leave a message on your email. I will send an email to you around 12:00 noon every day (hope you do not spread support, support copyright). If you need to preview the book outline, jump to the link


A book for yourself and product people: from zero to one.