Beginners guide to Product Management: The What, Why and How of the Product.

In the ever-evolving world of technology and business, few roles have gained as much attention and significance as that of the Product Manager (PM). Yet, despite its recent shot to glory, there’s still a cloud of ambiguity surrounding what product management truly entails.

Whether you’re an aspiring product manager, a stakeholder collaborating with one, or a seasoned PM looking to reflect on the basics, this article is for you to help you go back to the basis.

At the core, PM is about Bridging Gaps and Building Value.

At its heart, product management is about bridging gaps — between customer needs and business objectives, between different departments in a company, and between the present state of a product and its future vision.

A PM operates at the intersection of technology, business, and design. They don’t merely handle a product; they handle the product’s very essence, its reason for being. It’s about understanding what users truly need, aligning those needs with business goals, and ensuring the product delivers value on both fronts.

The main objective of a PM is mapping Business Objectives to product outcomes and at the same time keeping the users in mind. From day one PM is the advocate of the users. Making sure they are happy and satisfied with the product offering.

Key Responsibilities of a Product Manager

1. Vision and Strategy: Crafting a clear vision for the product, ensuring it aligns with company goals, and devising a strategy to achieve that vision. Though this requires more of a experience in the PM role, so mostly handled by Product directors or VP of products.
2. Understanding the User: This involves conducting market research, user interviews, and surveys to gain insights into what users want and need.
3. Product Discovery: A PM is single handedly responsible to analyse the data and breakdown insights from this data. Then based on the insights form the data and the users suggest features to build.
4. Feature Prioritisation: Deciding what features to build next, based on user needs, business objectives, and technical constraints.
5. Collaboration: Working closely with designers, engineers, marketers, and other stakeholders to bring the product vision to life.
6. Roadmap Creation: Outlining the product’s journey, with clear milestones and objectives.
7. Launch and Go-to-Market Strategy: Planning and executing the release of new features or products to the market.
8. Analysis and Iteration: Post-launch, PMs monitor product metrics, gather feedback, and iterate to improve.

The Many Hats of a Product Manager

Being a PM often means wearing multiple hats. One moment you might be deep-diving into user analytics, and the next, you could be brainstorming marketing strategies or negotiating resource allocation with engineering teams.

1. The Visionary: Dreaming big and setting the north star for where the product should head.
2. The Analyst: Dissecting data to uncover user behaviours, market trends, and growth opportunities.
3. The Negotiator: Balancing requests from various departments, managing expectations, and ensuring alignment across teams.
4. The Listener: Actively seeking feedback, be it from users, team members, or stakeholders.
5. The Communicator: Clearly conveying the product vision, strategy, and decisions to everyone from engineers to executives.

The Evolution of Product Management

While the role of a product manager might seem contemporary, its roots trace back to the 1930s, with Procter & Gamble’s brand management. Over the decades, as industries evolved and technology became central to businesses, the PM role morphed from merely managing a brand to handling multifaceted digital products.

Today, in the age of digitisation, SaaS, and user-centric design, product managers are pivotal in shaping products that users love and that drive business growth.

Myths vs. Reality about Product Management

1. Myth: Product managers are essentially project managers.
   Reality: While both roles require organisational skills, PMs focus on the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of a product, whereas project managers handle the ‘how’ and ‘when’.
2. Myth: A PM should have coding skills.
   Reality: While technical understanding is beneficial and will help in taking to Engineering, a PM’s primary skills lie in understanding users, markets, and business strategy. Communication, empathy, and decision-making often take precedence over coding.
3. Myth: PMs decide everything about a product.
   Reality: Product management is deeply collaborative. Decisions are often made in conjunction with designers, engineers, marketers, and other stakeholders.
4. Myth: Product Managers Should Say “Yes” to All Customer Requests
   Reality: While customer feedback is essential, not all requests align with the product strategy. Product managers must prioritize based on strategic goals and user needs, sometimes saying “no” or finding alternative solutions.
5. Myth: Product Managers Should Know Everything
   Reality: Product managers can’t know everything about every domain. They rely on subject matter experts, data, and research to make informed decisions. Adaptability and learning are essential skills.
6. Myth: Product Managers Are Only Needed in Tech Companies
   Reality: Product management principles can be applied in various industries, not just tech. Any organization that creates and delivers products or services can benefit from effective product management.

In Conclusion

Product management is an art and science of balancing user needs, business objectives, and technical feasibility. It’s a dynamic role, ever-changing and adapting to market trends, technological advancements, and user behaviors.

Whether you’re starting in this field or have been navigating it for years, the essence remains the same: creating products that resonate, provide value, and stand the test of time.

To the budding PMs out there: welcome to a journey of endless learning, challenges, and, most importantly, immense impact. To the seasoned pros: let’s never forget our roots and the core principles that make this role so uniquely rewarding.