Influence without authority
You must be influential without having authority. This is something that professional PMs work at for a lifetime.
Clear and influential communication is possibly the biggest necessary skill and the hardest challenge that a PM faces, because you are directly responsible for the success of your product, but rarely directly in charge of the people who are doing the bulk of the work. I.e., You are a leader to the team, but not their boss, which forces you to meet a higher bar of convincing people that your strategy/features/documents are really correct.
You have to be the person who leads from the front and “brings the donuts” - you are the anchor, spiritual leader of the team and your job is to make sure everybody is happy, healthy, productive, knows what they’re working on, and why they are working on it.
Graph:
- 122.01.03 PM Skillset - Influence without authority to 122.01.02 PM Skillset - Communication and the ability to influence is key
- 122.01.03 PM Skillset - Influence without authority to 125.009 Books - Nonviolent Communication - Marshall B Rosenberg
- 122.01.03 PM Skillset - Influence without authority to 122.01.12 PM Skillset - Communication Skills
- 107.009 Philosophy - Philosophy is applied wisdom to 122.01.03 PM Skillset - Influence without authority
- 119.035 NVC - State your needs to 122.01.03 PM Skillset - Influence without authority
- 122.01 PM Skillset - Skills and traits of a good PM to 122.01.03 PM Skillset - Influence without authority
- 122.01.02 PM Skillset - Communication and the ability to influence is key to 122.01.03 PM Skillset - Influence without authority
- 122.01.12 PM Skillset - Communication Skills to 122.01.03 PM Skillset - Influence without authority
- 122.03.01 PM Responsibilities - Workflow to 122.01.03 PM Skillset - Influence without authority
- 122.04.04 PM Communication - Ten pieces of communication advice from Marty Cagan to 122.01.03 PM Skillset - Influence without authority
- 122.05.04 PM Team - PM is not the boss of anyone to 122.01.03 PM Skillset - Influence without authority
- 131.014 Leadership - Allow others to think it was their idea to 122.01.03 PM Skillset - Influence without authority