Vertical vs. Horizontal Product Management

• Vertical product management means that you’re an expert in one particular field.90% of all the Product Manager roles are more like this. The bigger the company, the more vertical the role.
• In horizontal product management, a product manager is responsible for the entire horizontal product. In a horizontal product manager role, you get to work with many more teams and opportunities.

Vertical Product Management in a nutshell:

Deep knowledge expert.

Focused on one problem.

Work with your team.

Complex problems.

The face of the product.

Product owner.

Horizontal Product Management in a nutshell:

Entire stack.

Fix problem in entire stack.

Work with many teams.

Growth hacking.

The face of the market.

Market owner.

The 10 Commandments of Product Management:

• Know your target market and customer.
• Empower and unblock your team.
• Manage by questions, not by commands.
• Be clear and precise.
• Communicate openly and frequently.
• Follow the team’s rules and processes.
• Get feedback (from other product managers, clients, team…)
• Maintain a roadmap and a prioritized backlog.
• Be positive.
• Get shit done.