The product management world can be demanding, and the industry often demands a lot of technical skill in order to launch a successful product. But there are also a lot of important soft skills that go into the makings of a good product manager, and they often aren't talked about as much.

Here are some of the most important product management skills all successful product managers need and why they are important.

1. Diplomacy

Product managers need to be able to negotiate between company wishes and expectations and the needs of their customers. When trying to find the perfect balance between these two (sometimes opposing) viewpoints, diplomacy can get you a long way.

In order to help build a product that satisfies both groups, you'll need to be able to listen and understand both sides and find the common ground between them. There are rarely perfect solutions, but it's your job to try and find the best possible one you can.

Diplomacy is also a great skill to have when dealing with customers, some of whom may be frustrated or have complaints. Receiving them politely and giving them the space to talk about what's wrong or the issues they have encountered can go a long way in creating a positive company image and retaining customers.

2. Delegation

No one person can do it all. That's why delegation is possibly one of the most important skills for product managers.

That's easier said than done, though. Many people struggle to let others take over some of their tasks, but it's important to know that sharing your workload by delegating certain tasks to others is not a sign of weakness or bad workflow—in fact, it's a sign of maturity and responsibility. If you try and take on everything yourself you can easily get stressed out and burnt out, hurting yourself and your workflow in the process.

Plus, delegating tasks to team members can improve your work itself. Everyone has their strengths, and playing towards your team's different strengths and weaknesses by giving tasks to people who have an aptitude for them can boost your productivity and help you create a better product.

3. Strategic thinking

Executing your product strategy will require you to keep both short-term and long-term goals in mind. You'll often have to make quick decisions on or for your product, and you'll have to back these up on the spot. This requires you to be aware of overarching company objectives and your users' needs at the same time. How will you prioritize different features? What's your product's overall direction? How will that affect your product strategy?

Every decision you make has to be strategic, and while that can seem daunting at first, you'll get better at it the more comfortable you get in your role.

4. Self-management

As a product manager, you have to be self-sufficient. You're overseeing your team, not the other way around. This means you'll have to be able to manage yourself—including all priorities and deadlines for you and your product—in order to keep yourself on track. Time management in particular is crucial.

Sometimes, this means delegating certain tasks to others, or getting help with your workload. Figure out what works best for you, and stick to it.

5. Active listening

Active listening is one of the most important soft skills anyone can have, especially if you're interacting with customers and higher ups on a regular basis. It may even be more important than communication for diplomacy.

Your customers and shareholders want to know that their concerns and questions are acknowledged and being listened to. Sometimes, this means thinking about the underlying issues and their root causes in order to properly address them. Other times, it simply means making sure people feel heard when they submit customer feedback.

Regardless of the scenario, you need to try and put aside any preconceptions you might have and focus on what the person is saying instead of what you might want to hear, and actively focusing on them. Active listening is another skill learned and refined over time, so you'll only get better the more you practice.

6. Flexibility

The product management world moves quickly, and you need to be able to move quickly with it. Priorities may change from one day to another, and you need to be able to adapt to these changes as they happen. Figure out what needs to be done, how to best adapt to these changes according to your product strategy, and be ready to work on the fly.

7. Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is another incredibly important skill set to have for dealing with people—team members, shareholders and customers alike. People will often tell you more than they specifically say, so being able to understand hidden context and read between the lines is crucial.

There are several parts to emotional intelligence that product managers need to have. First and foremost, PMs need to be empathetic in order to understand the emotions—and therefore wants and needs—of their users. While active listening is a part of this, being able to connect to your customers and shareholders emotionally will help you better understand them and create connections that will make them feel heard and appreciated.

Empathy will also help you better understand which features are most important to your clients so you can better prioritize your product roadmap to suit their concerns and needs.

Likewise, you'll also need to have good social awareness. You'll need to be able to pick up on social cues and other context to figure out what what people are truly saying, and relay these concerns back to your team and shareholders as necessary.

8. Communication

Effective communication is one of the core parts of any product manager's job. As the manager, you're often the go-between within your product teams; it's your job to coordinate the development team with your engineering team and so on, and with external groups like customers and shareholders as well.

You are, essentially, your team's spokesperson, and that means you can make or break product relationships. In order to succeed as a PM, you'll need to highly refine your communication skills—both written and verbal—so you can be the go-between for your team and clearly communicate what needs to be done.

9. Interpersonal skills

While they might sound very similar to communication skills, interpersonal skills are very different. Though this also includes active listening and negotiation, one of the most important interpersonal skills a product manager can have is networking.

Networking helps you build relationships with investors, potential shareholders and other partners, which can be crucial in the startup stage to help you build capital. But it's also a great way to promote your product and find great team members to help you build a great product.

There are many ways to help find people in the product management arena. One great way to connect to people in the industry is via Slack groups and other similar communities.

10. Prioritisation

Last but not least, product managers have to be experienced with prioritization. Often times, you'll have a bunch of different tasks or objectives to juggle, and it'll be necessary to figure out which ones deserve more attention and which ones can be pushed to later.

These skills are also necessary when building your product roadmap. While you'll have a long list of tasks from your backlog, you need to figure out which ones best serve your overall product vision and therefore should be prioritized higher.

UserVitals is an all-in-one customer feedback platform that helps you create a better product and close the feedback loop in the process. Learn more about how we help you collect feedback, build a roadmap and publish a changelog today.