What does a product manager do?

Recently, I encountered a newly hired engineer in the team steaming with curiosity. Suddenly, one fine day a question popped up by this guy — what does a product manager do? Like him, many of us do want to know what exactly product managers do. In this article, we will check what does product manager do within the organization.

Lets quickly review some important ‘jobs to be done’ at an organization, and what product managers (PMs) do-

• Do they CODE? — NO — That is done by developers
• Do they DESIGN? — NO — That is done by designers
• Do they query DATA? — NO — That is done by product analysts
• Do they TEST? — NO — That is done by QA
• Do they do MARKETING? — NO — That is done by PMM (Product marketing manager)
• Do they meet all CUSTOMERS — NO — Generally, that is done by the customer success team
• Do they manage PROJECTS? — NO — That is done by project managers
• Do they MANAGE TEAMS? — NO — Generally, PMS are not people managers either

What the hell? All the above ‘jobs to be done’ are of utmost importance for an organization, yet the product manager does none of them. Sometimes, as a product manager, I ask myself below —

Trans — What are you doing brother?

Let's explore some more jobs to be done, and see if product managers have a role to play?

• Identify the direction — YES — the product Manager (PM) is responsible to define the vision and strategy for the product (maybe at a senior level, but yes) — Netflix engineers can develop the best chat application, but do they need to do that?
• Own the problem — YES — this is an important aspect for a PM, they identify problems, they identify opportunities and they define problems to be solved — Netflix do not have 3D screen modes? someone needs to define this problem for someone to solve it — thats PM
• Own the WHY— YES — why are we solving a problem defined by the PM, does it add any value? — Netflix experience in VR headsets can be improved, but would that add any value now? — PM defines it
• Own the WHEN — YES — this is prioritization, people can come up with many problems and a list of projects, but what is the priority now? PM will help define it — Should we develop a chat experience in Netflix or smoothen the user transition while consuming content? Someone needs to set that priority — that’s PM
• Define and measure SUCCESS —YES — this is dealing with metrics, are we impacting the correct metrics for the organization or not? PM will monitor and try to move the needle in the right direction — If Netflix’s aim is to increase viewing time, then developing various payment plans this year will not be most optimum.
• Be a GLUE within organization — YES — PM do not own engineering, success, sales, marketing or any other function — but someone needs to keep collaborating with every department to keep everyone on same page to walk on the road of success — Netflix developed Shuffle feature, but if it is not marketed at all, since marketing was not aware of it, will not help the organization to reach success — PM ensures this alignment.

Phewwww! That seems like a lot of boasting for a product manager. However, in today’s world various organization defines a product manager role differently and the above list is definitely neither exclusive nor exhaustive. But this will definitely provide a perspective. Thanks for reading.