Future of Product Management: 2021 Forecast

The state of product management in the next calendar year

Introduction

Product management has come a long way in the last decade, but there have been many setbacks.

There is more interest and awareness in product management than ever before. But the product world has also become an increasingly chaotic domain.

There are many human and commercial motivations at play, influencing the state of the product management domain.

This sober and concise review outlines some of the market dynamics in product management, which will emerge in the very near future.

The Positives

• Career — The product management profession will be further recognized as a lifelong career and a stepping stone to an executive management position.
• Certification — Product management will be spared the certification inflation phenomena that has plagued the Agile and IT worlds. Product management certification options on the market will remain relatively stable. New and existing low-stakes product management certifications that are easy to pass will be heavily promoted.
• Crossover — Google is now offering a Project Manager and UX Designer courses. The Project Management Institute (PMI) now offers five different Agile certifications. Google, PMI, and similar organizations will eventually offer product management courses and certifications, most likely based on public-domain content or Agile software development methods. The large marketing budgets will drive interest in a product management career.
• Interest — Investment and interest in product management will grow as more companies wish to transition from a technology-driven product delivery strategy to a market-driven one. In addition, the rising popularity of Scrum in software development had spurred a growing debate about its relationship with product management, which in turn had created a great interest in understanding what true product management is.
• Jobs — More job openings in product management will be available than ever before in high-tech and traditional industries. This dynamic will raise more awareness to product…