Eric Schmitter: Product Managers Are Multi-disciplinary
Strong product managers are multi-disciplinary shared Eric Schmitter, an expert on gaming product management, for my interview series Austin Voice Of Product. Our interview has been edited for clarity.
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Austin VOP #74
What was your path to product management?
I began my product career at a startup during the 90s dot-com boom. I wore many hats at the time, starting with UX, marketing and then eventually leaning to the business side. After the dot-com bust and moving to San Diego for the Navy after 9/11, I joined Sony as a producer/designer for the online game platform that powered their popular Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game, Everquest. This was a little before the launch of Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, which brought MMO games into the mainstream.
These online games require a lot of services — authentication, account management, digital product pipelines, virtual currency wallets, etc. — as part of the player experience. The actual gameplay itself is like the tip of the iceberg. There is a lot of technology behind operating online games and I primarily worked on building these platforms.
Later, when Sony needed an online component for the new PlayStation 3 console in development, I was lucky to be on the initial team that began to build what would eventually be the PlayStation Network. It was here where I first really explored the world of enterprise-scale architecture and was the door that led me to the third pillar of product management — engineering. I loved working with the engineers on building new technology and learning how everything comes together in a complex design helped me become a better product manager at the companies that I have worked at since.
Tell me more about product management in the gaming industry?
In the past, there was not a very clear definition of a product manager. Typically, what we think of as a product manager now — vision holder, UX design, growth strategy, dev shepherd — is really split into two or more roles in games: the designer, who is more about the creative vision for the project and how the player experiences the gameplay, and the producer, who is focused on the operational and business strategy for the game. The producer focused on the bigger picture of how the vision, strategy and execution come together and represent the project upstream to executives. Producers deal with resources, budget, development prioritization and they act as a steamroller working to rid the project of obstacles so that everyone can do their best job. The designer, on the other hand, handles how the game is actually played by the customer, the UX, the information presented to the player, how the game world operates and the balance of all the moving parts against the storyline to create the best experience. For the games industry, I do not think it is practical to expect one role to handle both of these responsibilities. Honestly, I think the product manager role in other industries will begin to specialize into separate roles, away from the overloaded generalist — especially in more tech-heavy verticals.
Mobile gaming brought about a big shift in the industry, mainstreaming the “free-to-play” business model. Instead of building and selling a game for an upfront price, the industry shifted to a monetized-engagement-over-time system where the games are operated more like services than a one-off product. This brings different engagement patterns and a focus on daily metrics to the forefront which is very similar to product management at a B2C tech company.
What advice do you give to aspiring product leaders?
Never stop learning. Always try to find ways to expand your boundaries and push your comfort zone.
A great product manager is multi-disciplinary. They are not just focused on learning about user design, growth rates or the latest technology.
They do things that are seemingly unrelated — basically, they have interesting hobbies. What this does is broadens your view of the world, provides you with different perspectives and new lenses in which to solve problems. It gives you insights about how to approach a problem and helps better communicate your ideas to different types of people. For example, I am part of the Travis County Search & Rescue team which has nothing to do with product or technology, but it reinforces decision making under stress, clear communication for action and execution within a defined set of parameters.
As product managers, we are constantly challenged with ambiguous problems and we have to learn to use non-linear lateral thinking to solve them — many times, it’s also under pressure and with large amounts of noise.
Good product people can solve problems well because they have learned more than one way to think and have exposed themselves to multiple interests that broaden their perspective.
What have you read/watched/listened to that has inspired you lately?
I have the same philosophy here as I mentioned above — I read broadly about multidisciplinary topics. Every couple of years or so I reread Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. Not only is it a great book, but Sagan’s style of explaining complex subjects in an engaging and clear way is also inspiring and effective. He excels in connecting the dots between multiple disciplines such as astronomy, math, biology, physics, psychology, etc. and tells us a story to present his perspective and vision. One of the primary goals of product management is to tell your product’s story to your team, stakeholders and your customers. So, in a way, Sagan has helped me be a better product manager over the years. Thanks, Carl.
Also, I tend not to read too many books about product management — it’s easy to get trapped into groupthink with the latest fads and process details. Perhaps skim them periodically to get a feel of the latest trends and best practices, but instead, put your time in expanding your knowledge of other areas and try to generally make yourself more interesting.
How might we build a stronger product and tech community in Austin?
I would like to see more social gatherings and networking opportunities for senior product leaders. An opportunity to get together, have some drinks and talk shop — or not. Good product people are multidimensional and tend to have good stories — which makes them interesting to talk to even if it’s not about products or business.
I would also like to see more “start-up weekends” where random people come together for 48 hours and crank on getting something built. It is a great way to flex your product and hustle muscle on something different than what you work on day in and day out.
These are both healthy parts of a product community — a social or networking component and an action-oriented or skills component. Both are necessary to build a stronger community.
Last question, what is your favorite product?
The work product that I have enjoyed in the last year or so is Sketch. It is a well designed and fresh piece of software and it’s fun to use. I stopped using Photoshop and Balsamiq, both of which felt too much or too little of what was needed. Sketch is my goldilocks choice.
Not related to product management, but another product I have enjoyed recently is ham radio software-defined radio (SDR) which has consumed many late nights. SDR products allow you to visualize the radio spectrum and basically “see” and explore all the invisible activity that is happening all around you. Playing around with the digital encoding methods reminds me of the old days of the BBS and dial-up modems, which is quite entertaining. Sure, antenna theory and radio science is a little geeky, but that is the kind of thing that expands the way you think and helps push your knowledge boundaries. And that is why I think it is important to have interesting hobbies where you can learn new information and new techniques to break down problems. Use this to become a better product manager and build better products. It works!
Thank you, Eric!
Austin VOP is an interview series with product leaders to build a stronger product and tech community in Austin. Please like, share and tweet this article if you enjoyed it.
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