Role of a product manager

Business & Management
#1

ROLE OF A PRODUCT MANAGER

Product managers are responsible for being at the forefront and making product choices strategically. While product managers have been referred to as “mini-CEOs,” it is more accurate to describe you as the product leaders at the crossroads of business, technology, and user experience (UX). This is since the job encompasses a wide range of operations, from strategic to tactical, and it offers critical cross-functional leadership, particularly amongst engineering, marketing, sales, and support teams. You examine market and competition situations before sketching out a distinct product vision and provide distinctive value in response to client needs. Product management jobs come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Positions will be defined differently by each company, depending on its offers, clients, and product strategy. In general, the bigger the firm and the more products it has, the more product leaders it will need.

The following are the many types of product managers:
a) Product Manager
b) Product Owner
c) Growth Product Manager
d) Technical Product Manager
e) Platform Product Manager

#2

The Product Manager’s job isn’t set in stone. Each firm, and frequently each Product inside a company, need a unique PM. Several elements can influence how PMs perform their duties:

1. The magnitude of the business: You can be the only PM in a startup or small business, responsible for the full product management lifecycle, spending a lot of time with stakeholders, having discussions, listening, and coordinating. Work for a larger firm, such as Atlassian Spotify, or insert a telco or financial services company in your area. You’ll most likely have a more defined function and be part of a hierarchy that includes POs, PMs, Senior PMs, Group or Directors of Product, or CPOs.

2. The Industry: Some businesses, such as high tech, insurance, telecommunications, or biotech, may have specific requirements in areas like regulation and compliance or other marketplaces where critical considerations like ethics and privacy influence choices and decisions.

3. The business strategy: PMs may work closely with marketing in a B2C environment or with engineering in a B2B one. You’ll almost certainly work closely with sales in a sales-driven company. You could enjoy becoming part of a dedicated cross-functional product team in a product-led company, where Product even makes it to the C-suite.

4. The company culture: Some businesses are more team-oriented and collaborative, even self-organizing, with employees empowered to pursue the company’s customer and commercial objectives. Some may be more traditional, with goals and schedules specified elsewhere, making the PM’s job more about delivery than discovery.

5. The product lifecycle: Depending on where the Product or service is in its lifecycle, a PM’s responsibilities will change. You can conduct more validation, prototyping, testing, learning, and finding if your idea is still in the early stages. If the Product is already well-established, the focus may shift to raising average revenue per user or increasing retention. As a product approaches the End of Life, you may need to kill it or manage its impending demise (EOL).

6. The Product’s type: The function of a PM varies based on the Product or service, whether it’s a single product, part of a suite or portfolio, or a platform play.

7. Roles around: New positions emerge as product management matures. The PM’s position morphed and developed with the introduction of service design and UX. The PM’s function morphs again in discrete roles such as Product Ops and Product Growth. Keep an eye on this.