When you inquire about the roles and responsibilities of a product manager or product manager job description even from a current PM, the typical response includes a list of activities and the requisite skill sets to perform those activities. These encompass tasks like competitive analysis, user research, requirements management, collaboration with designers on product design, market analysis, packaging, pricing, and more. However, it’s essential to recognize that these activities and skills can be acquired through various channels, such as reading blogs, watching videos, or engaging in discussions with experienced professionals.
Here you will come across a distinctive perspective for understanding the product manager roles and responsibilities, different from the ordinary one. But before delving into that, let’s establish a foundational understanding of what product management entails. Often, jargon and terminology are employed to sound sophisticated, but the definition is quite straightforward.
“Product management is, in essence, the art and science of identifying market opportunities and guiding teams in the development of compelling, competitive, and profitable products.”
Product management encompasses a blend of competencies, including people skills, negotiation, influence, and strategic thinking, alongside core product-related expertise. The primary objective of product management is to unearth market needs, pinpoint problems that need resolution, and identify pain points and challenges. It’s important to clarify that product managers are not problem solvers; they are problem managers. Their duty is to refrain from jumping to solutions before identifying the underlying opportunities to address and tackle challenges.
The Product Manager is not the CEO of the product:
The popular saying that a product manager is the ‘CEO of the product’ is a common cliche that doesn’t entirely hold true. The product manager’s core responsibility is to steer multiple teams toward the creation of compelling, competitive, and potentially profitable products, although profitability can vary depending on the organization’s goals.
The master orchestrator of the productizing process:
A useful analogy to understand product management is that of an orchestra conductor. Much like a conductor orchestrates a group of musicians with different instruments to create harmonious music, a product manager orchestrates cross-functional teams within an organization. These teams include engineering, testing, project and program management, design, sales, marketing, partnerships, customers, and leadership. While the product manager may not be an expert in any one domain, their role is to ensure all these diverse elements collaborate cohesively to drive the productization process. This comparison underscores the essence of a product manager’s role as a master orchestrator of the product development process.
The three central responsibilities of a product manager include:
Key Responsibilities
1. Building the right product + building the product right: A fundamental responsibility of a product manager is not only ensuring the product is built correctly but, more crucially, that it’s the right product. This entails understanding and addressing customer problems, pain points, and challenges. Evaluating the realness, urgency, and scope of these issues is essential. Collaborating with cross-functional teams, product managers follow iterative and incremental development methodologies to create a product that aligns with customer needs.
a. Customer Insights latching on to “Known Pains” MVP: Key aspects of this role include garnering customer insights, identifying pain points, assessing their urgency and prevalence, and conducting experiments to validate assumptions made during the product development journey.
2. Finding the right champions: Especially in larger organizations, product managers must identify and nurture advocates for their initiatives. Despite being individual contributors until they reach a director-level position, product managers need to collaborate with multiple stakeholders. By identifying and fostering champions, they can secure support and buy-in from executives, sales teams, customer support, engineering, and other departments.
3. Compelling business plan: Product managers often find themselves in the position of justifying their decisions to stakeholders and leadership teams. This might involve advocating for new features or products due to identified needs or presenting a case to discontinue underperforming solutions. These decisions are challenging, and they must align with the organization’s objectives, encompassing business goals, profitability, revenue generation, and strategic outcomes.
