Mikhail Katkoff: “Product Manager is the best profession for those who are passionate about both games and business”

Since the beginning of 2018, Michail Katkoff has been the Director of Product Management at Rovio. The other day, the publication talked to him about a new position PocketGamer.

Katkoff admitted that he now faces two tasks in the Finnish company.

First: creating a new hit. According to Mikhail, the development is still at the earliest stage. He did not share the details of the game.

Second: improving the product management of the company as a whole.

I want to be sure that the game teams get the necessary support, that we have enough product managers, that the latter have the tools and know-how necessary for successful development.

Mikhail Katkoff

Director of Product Management at Rovio

Katkoff himself believes that the task of a product manager is to create such conditions that will allow the team to best implement the tasks set. Based on this, he formulated four rules for the work of product management:

1. Set goals. Set priorities in your work. This will maximize the team’s efforts.
2. Look for and analyze problems. Use the data to detect and fix them.
3. Communicate with stakeholders. Product managers connect the team with the outside world.
4. Let’s get some landmarks. Show the team disassembled examples of possible solutions and track competitors.

The role of a product manager strongly depends on the stage of development and whether it is a question of working with an internal or external team, but, as Katkoff notes, a good product manager in any case must follow the listed rules.

“Product manager is the best profession for those who are passionate about both games and business,” Katkoff also notes.

Mikhail Katkoff has been in the industry since 2010. He has worked in senior positions at Digital Chocolate, Supercell, Zynga and FunPlus.

A source: PocketGamer