This post was part of a series of old blogs i have created in the past. i moved them here (as well as tidying up some details) in order to preserve all of my writings in one place for easy reference. Hope you find this one a good read. Enjoy!
When i first started learning about Product Manager, one of the first question that popped into my head was ‘what exactly is product management?’ and a quick search on Google reveals that even for this basic, simple question, people have different opinions about it. This should not surprise us, because as we have seen in the previous post, when it comes to management, people tend to come up with different models for the same thing.
Most definitions basically aiming at the same few concepts, only differing in little details here and there. If for some reason you landed on my page while looking for answer to the same question, you’re in luck, because i’m about to try and add yet another unique definition to the already growing pile. I’ll try to find common ideas that other people have described and see if there’s still some areas i could contribute to.
Here are some of the definitions i could find online, typically they sound like this:
Org function that guides every step of a product’s life cycle : development, positioning and pricing by focusing on customer¹
Practice of strategically driving the development, market launch, and continual support and improvement of a company’s product²
Role and function within an organisation that is responsible for a product’s overall success³
some have elaborate and details description, like…
Product management is responsible for defining and supporting the building of desirable, feasible, viable and sustainable products that meet customer needs over the product-market life cycle⁴
Product management supports and manages all activities of a products’s life- cycle from market analysis, to development, positioning, product launch, and marketing. The goal of a product manager is to analyse and understand the customers and develop a solution that not just solves the problem, but exceeds the customer’s expectations⁵.
And there are also definition that is short and clear :
Intersection between business, technology and user experience. — Martin Eriksson
I could go on and on… , but you get the point. If you are interested, check out the reference at the end of this post.
From those examples we can already see a common pattern. Most people agree that product management relates with
1. Dealing with the product life cycle
2. Collaborating and coordinating with various functions and stakeholders
3. The success of the product from the eyes of the customer
They just have different preferences when it comes to wording choices.
How can we simplify this? How can we model it so we can use it as reference further down in our career?
How about we use something extremely simple? Let’s summarise those core concepts into an easy remember mnemonics, like, say abc? I call it, “the ABC of Product Management”
for me, Product Management is:
- A-Z (okay, i cheated a bit here) : PM is responsible for the whole life cycle of the product.
- Bridging : PM is the bridge or connector between different functions and stakeholders of the organisation to build and deliver the product.
- Customer-centric : the ultimate goal of any product success is if it solves specific customer needs in and effective and efficient matter. Everything else is just noise.
Not the most elegant definition, i know. But at least it can give some clear image about what Product Management is about.
Each of those basic category provides a general theme for further concepts and models, one of which is …
Key traits of a product manager
1. Jack of many trades : common stereotypes of Product Managers is that they are Jack of all trades. And that is inherently related to the first category — product life cycle. PMs need to have working knowledge in various aspects and functions related to the product life cycle — from ideation, development, testing, marketing, distribution, user-feedback and improvement.
2. Effective communicator : With multiple people and teams to work with, PMs must have effective communication skills under their belt. How to lead discussions, present common goal and targets, negotiate conflicting interests, resolving disagreements and many more.
3. Empathy : Because each of us have our own perception, we can’t just develop product features that we think are important. Rather we have to learn to put ourselves in the shoes of those whose opinions matter the most : the customer.
So there you have it, my own simple definition of Product Management. Let me know what do you think of it!
References:
https://medium.com/product-by-design/what-is-product-management-597a5e40c077
https://www.atlassian.com/agile/product-management
https://www.productplan.com/learn/what-is-product-management/
https://280group.com/what-is-product-management/definition/
https://www.scaledagileframework.com/product-management/
https://uxcam.com/blog/what-is-product-management/
https://productmanagerhq.com/product-management/#What_is_Product_Management
https://www.prodpad.com/resources/guides/product-management-process/
https://www.productfocus.com/product-management-basics/what-is-product-management/