What Is a Product Manager, Actually?

While my company has certainly influenced a lot of my thinking in this area, it is important to note that the contents below reflect my opinion and not that of my employer.

Background

In many ways, the role of a Product Manager remains an enigma. Many companies have only begun inserting the role into their organizations in recent years, and very few companies incorporate the role correctly. As a result, the role of a Product Manager has been misconstrued and practiced incorrectly by many in the industry. I am fortunate to be working for a company in Intuit that has truly mastered the art of Product Management over the years, and I wish to share my learnings so that others may improve their craft as well. After all, better Product Managers leads to better products, and we all win when we have better products in our lives.

I also want to clarify that the type of Product Manager I will be describing is one that generally works in the technology space, but more specifically, works with software products.

What a Product Manager Is Not

Before diving into what a Product Manager is, I think it is important to start by laying out what a PM is not. I see many people label themselves as PM’s, but when they describe their role to me it is far from being that of a…