Hard Skills
What are Hard Skills
Definition of Hard Skills
Hard skills are teachable abilities or skill sets that are required for a particular occupation. You’ll probably have come across hard skills in a job spec or listing. For example, an accountant will need hard skills relating to financial reporting and bookkeeping. Whereas a UI designer may be required to have a working knowledge of the Adobe Suite.
Hard skills are typically acquired through formal education and training, including college, apprenticeships, online courses and certification programs, as well as on-the-job.
Examples of hard skills
Hard skills are very job-specific. The hard skills required for your role will be very different to someone who’s also in your company but from a different team.
When it comes to product design and management, there are some technical skills worth having in your toolbox.
Prioritization
Knowing how to prioritize tasks, and how to politely decline requests which could upset your workflow, is an extremely valuable skill.
What’s even more beneficial is knowing how to employ objective frameworks, such as weighted scoring, to scientifically support what you decide to prioritize.
Basic business knowledge
You don’t need a degree in business to be a product manager, but you will need to have some basic business acumen.
How the business is performing can influence product strategies, so knowing the difference between revenues and profits and understanding budgeting, cash flow and P&L are vital hard skills to have.
Data collection
Having the ability to obtain, extract, and analyze relevant data is a key part of the job as it allows you to keep abreast of developments, measure product effectiveness, and investigate hypotheses.
General FAQ
Glossary categories
Experience the new way of doing product management
Experience the new way of doing product management