Empowered By Data
Product managers are incredibly empowered by data but most aren’t experts when it comes to utilizing that data. Emperitas recently conducted a survey of 306 product managers, who lead teams of 5 people on average, and 94% reflected that empowerment. This contrasts with our recent study as 80% of marketing professionals felt empowered by data, so data has some extra empowerment when it comes to product managers. These product managers also informed us of a lack of required data training with 62% having no training at all. This can be detrimental because data is the best way to drive product vision and understand the best way to utilize it.
Pain Points & Uneasy Experts
That lack of training can too often hinder the progress of a product timeline. Our industry experts also informed us of the pain points that hindered their own progress. The top pain points came down to using data to make decisions, knowing what tools to use to achieve goals, and working with other teams on data. As a result, our industry felt relatively uneasy about calling themselves experts (although they were more comfortable than marketers on average) with only 17% claiming to be experts in data analysis, visualizing, interpreting and taking action on data.
They Want To Learn
It shouldn’t be a surprise that these professionals are dying to learn about data. Product Managers are hungry for information on data analytics, actionable insights, and how to improve their ability to work with other teams. Teams that felt knowledgeable about data reported improved results and an ability to better overcome obstacles they encountered while executing their product vision. So it is time to start gaining that knowledge and a great place to start is the Emperitas Lecture page. The full infographic summarizing the results of our product manager survey are below.
Want your data to start making an impact? See our post on Becoming A Data-Driven Product Manager.