The Swiss Army Knives of Digital Transformation: Why Your Business Needs Product Managers

Product managers are the ultimate generalists of the technology world. This is what makes the role one of the most challenging, misunderstood and rewarding roles in digital transformation.

But what is a generalist, how are they different from specialists and how can you overcome the challenges of being a generalist to harness the power of the role in all its difficult-to-define and often stressful complexity?

The Swiss Army Knife and the Scalpel

Simply put, a generalist is anyone or anything who prioritises breadth of knowledge and skills over depth of particular knowledge and skills. They have range, as David Epstein eloquently put it in a book of the same name. Take a Swiss Army Knife as an example. This is the perfect ‘generalist’. In one moment it can open your beer, the next it is fixing the lamp you knocked over, or cutting open a box of pork scratchings. The Swiss Army Knife can do a good job, in many situations. Not just at parties. It is adaptable, flexible and incredibly handy.

A specialist is the opposite of a generalist. A specialist is anyone or anything that prioritises depth of particular knowledge or skills over breadth of knowledge or skills. They have focus. A scalpel is a…