These days Product Managers are becoming more and more common. But many people are not sure what they actually do. What are their responsibilities? Why would you want one?
It doesn’t help that some Product Managers are really Product Owners, which is a slightly different job. Job titles are not yet standard, and roles vary a lot in seniority and scope. So my viewpoint is a very common one and based on the Product Focus methodology, but it is by no means universal.
Key product manager responsibilities
Product Managers need a lot of skills, and are sometimes compared to the CEO. One way to group their activities is:
| Strategic | Planning for the long term |
| Inward focused | Helping to deliver the product |
| Outward focused | Helping to sell the product |
Strategic responsibilities
A lot of strategic work happens before a new product or feature even reaches the design stage. Research helps build the business case by answering questions about:
- market size, characteristics and trends
- customer needs and wants
- competitor strengths and weaknesses
- existing product performance
Analysis shapes those insights into propositions for each segment of the market, defines the pricing strategy and forecasts how much revenue and profit can be expected. This justifies the investment in development and steers prioritisation of all the potential features into a roadmap.
Evangelising is about sharing the vision with customers, staff and other stakeholders. If the Product Manager is passionate about the product plans, that is infectious. Developers who buy into the vision will make better micro decisions leading to a more focused product. Potential customers can be turned into fans before there is anything tangible to purchase.
These activities take most time when new products are in the planning stage. But they are also ongoing throughout a product’s life, and eventually drive the decision to replace or abandon it.
Internal responsibilities
This work is focused inwards, on helping the company develop and deliver the product. It involves working closely alongside the technical teams and being the voice of the customer for them.
This can be a full time role in itself, in which case it is often called a Product Owner. They write the user stories, attend SCRUM meetings, answer developers’ questions, organise acceptance testing and plan for operational readiness.
External responsibilities
It is not enough to have a great product if nobody knows about it. In fact, some awful products are hugely successful because they are marketed really well.
The Product Manager has a major role in helping to market and sell the product. Even where there are teams for marketing and sales, the product manager provides content for them to use. They train the sales team to understand features and why customers would choose your product – using the research done in the strategic phase. For complex products, they may even respond to tenders and attend demos in support of the sales team.
We don’t have anyone with all those skills!
Product Managers come into the role from many different backgrounds. I started as a software developer, progressed through a range of management positions then became Managing Director of a software company. So product management was a natural progression for me. But other people start in product design or in marketing and may be stronger in technical skills than in setting strategy and dealing with executive teams.
Maybe you need a Product Manager and want to recruit internally? Your candidates may be strong in some areas but lack gravitas or experience. Talk to me about mentoring and coaching to bring out the best in your product managers, so they can help your company go further and faster.