Product School

The Ultimate Product Management Burger

Nathan Thomas

Author: Nathan Thomas

January 9, 2023 - 3 min read

Updated: January 24, 2024 - 3 min read

In the spirit of celebrating innovative (and delicious products) that set out to change the world, we thought this was a good time to give our famous Product Management Burger a home on the Product Blog.

Created a few months back by the knowledge chefs on the Product School team, the Ultimate Product Management Burger has gone on to viral-snack status on the internet, garnering a tasty array of comments and even a few gutsy imitators (Product Biryani, anyone?).

The Product Management burger is not only tasty fun but also a handy way to memorize some of the key attributes that make for a successful Product team. Plus, it’s a great way to feed your hunger for knowledge (oh, yep, we went there) about all things Product.

From the bun to the condiments, the burger represents everything that comes together in the symphony of flavor, crunch, and zest that is Product Management at its best (oh dear, we’re rhyming now!). Order up!

Here’s the Ultimate Product Management Burger…

The Ultimate Product Management Burger

Powered by a viral post by the incredible Ramneet Lall, the Product Patty AKA Product Burger has fed intense online debate about what ingredients would truly represent the best that Product Management can cook up. Here are a few of our favorite community comments…

Started from the bottom (bun)…

Patty Wehner Boland “After recent discussions with the incomparable Jenica Casanova, I’d add that the bottom bun has to be executive support and buy-in for the roadmap… Otherwise, the whole thing is guaranteed to fall apart messily.”

Any extras?

Guy Naor “French fries and coke 😉 – as we launch the beta and think of add-ons we missed on PRD”

More condiments!

Ramneet Lall “Data as the burger relish for those important data-led decisions?”

Nicole Acosta – “Collaboration is the special sauce.” Maybe ketchup? The part that makes the whole better.

Pickles ALWAYS stir controversy… 

Ellis Hillman “Same, but in some burgers, the pickle is 50x the size of the burger.” 

Ramneet Lall The only time “extra pickles” is not wanted.

And as for what should be left off the burger:

Chris Ruhter “I would say that Project Management is the Mayo…some believe product management is incomplete without it, but purists know that its for entirely different situations!”

Ramneet Lall Deffo crucial to keep them separate… Product managers deal with the “What” and the “Why” and Project Managers deal with the “How” and “When”… combining the two are definitely not sustainable and they definitely don’t guarantee long-term success of a company.

We also liked this interpretation…

Monica Jasuja – A visual representation of the ingredients that make a great product, handpicked by product managers skills to create “the whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts”

Bon Appétit!

Updated: January 24, 2024

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