Product managers are the vision setters and story tellers of a business, according to Google’s director of user experience Elizabeth Churchill - it’s their job to tell compelling stories and engage users.

At this year’s London #mtpcon, Churchill, who is a psychologist by training, gave a presentation full of insight and practical takeaways, outlining how people respond to stories and why storytelling skills are essential to a product manager’s role. “I love products but I love humans even more, and I love the combination of humans and products,” she said.

Sitting in the middle of tech, business and user experience, product managers are the “translators, listeners, researchers, story tellers, herders, vision setters” in a business. They must tell compelling stories, understand and engage their audience, they must understand human computer interaction, and build team thinking through persuasion and storytelling.