“Jack of all trades”—we have often heard such a phrase used to describe the role of Product Managers (PMs). Beyond merely managing timelines and keeping track of deliverables, their greater role is aligning multiple diverse teams and business functions towards a common goal. To that end, one of the many skills that will stand out as invaluable to a PM looking to excel in their field is crafting a good story.

Why does storytelling matter in Product Management?

The foundation of a good story lies in basic but crucial details - Who, What, When, Where and How. While this may seem wholly irrelevant to product management, they are, however, directly analogous to the product itself. For instance, “who” refers to the target audience, “what” refers to the problem the product is trying to solve, or a situation during which the product can be used, and so on. This aids in simplifying what would be a complicated bundle of problem statements, metrics, etc. into a much more understandable narrative that can be easily disseminated and digested across the various multifunctional teams. For example, the marketing team will more easily understand how the product development team wants their product to be portrayed in external communications, while the data analytics team will better understand certain metrics that the product managers would like to focus on as they move along the product life cycle. When the vast teams of stakeholders feel like they can contribute to this narrative-making, they are much more likely to be personally invested in the product, promoting cross-functional thinking and facilitating productive collaboration.

On the consumer side of the equation, a strong and compelling story will help in humanising a product, especially for those who may not be familiar with the nitty gritty technical details. To illustrate, let’s take a look at Apple’s long (and I mean LONG) line of iPhones. Despite each new specification model possessing varying degrees of technical capability, some for the better and some for the worse, the average consumer would not spend all of their bandwidth trying to figure these details out to the T. Rather, each new model chooses 1 specific strength or novelty and centres an extensive narrative around it.

How to develop storytelling skills as a Product Manager?

For most authors, a healthy understanding of their target audience is a crucial component when crafting their story; in principle, this is no different from product management. Are you talking to the Engineering team that would likely prefer technical jargon, or are you briefing the Customer Support team, who would require knowledge on customer pain points to better circumvent them? Tailoring your message to the respective audience is the key to maximising its impact while reducing miscommunication. Subsequently, make use of frameworks like the Problem-Solution-Benefit model to create structure within the narrative - start by portraying the problem, then proposing a solution and ending with its benefits. Lastly, strike a balance between logic and emotion in a way that allows the audience to create personal connections with your story.

Storytelling may not be as flashy a tool as the latest data analytics programme or accounting software, however, it remains an invaluable strategy that should remain in every product manager’s toolbox. From facilitating internal communications across multi-functional teams to external narratives that inspire consumer engagement and retention, we hope to be able to create a story that will leave a long-lasting impression on our consumers.

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