The Business Side of Product Management
Ask any entry-level product manager today, and they will tell you they’re at the intersection of tech, design, and business and yes, they are right because as a product manager, you work with everyone in a cross-functional team — sales, development, and design, etc. and customers to deliver impactful and market-fit products. And I know a lot of us must have wondered what the business side of a product is as a product manager. Here is the thing, every business seeks to make a profit as it is essential to ensure that business operations keep running. There are business objectives in line with the overarching company goals that need to be met for this to be achieved.
One part of what we do is shipping impactful products that solve customers’ pain points, iterating as per our customers’ needs, and ensuring that they keep getting value from the products. Well, another part is are these products commercially feasible? Is it something your customers are willing to pay for? A lot of businesses have shut down today because they have failed to do these two things.
So how do I come in as product manager?
Do I need a business degree to excel as a product manager? Do I need an MBA degree? Just like a lot of us had asked before we went into product management if we needed to have a technical background. Well, in this case too not precisely, they are nice to have and will give you the boost you need when dealing with certain team members and customers.
While some core PM duties include conducting market and customer research, driving product vision and strategy, conducting competitor analysis, creating high-level product roadmaps, and prioritization, one thing I have come to understand is that the best product managers are people who have hacked how to effectively relate with members of their cross-functional team by equipping themselves with basic knowledge from these different teams’ domains.
Here are a few tips;
- Pick up business lingos, their meanings, and how they’re used within your organization. For example, when a business case is presented to foster key stakeholders’ buy-in on why a product or project needs to be implemented, you should understand its purpose as mentioned and the content represented in the business case document — problem statement, benefits, cost, expected ROI, etc. You’ll typically come across terms like a business plan, business requirement document, business analysis, and so on.
- Engage your business analysts team and sales & marketing team in meaningful conversations about what they do in their day-to-day activities and what is required of each team. Take the time to ask them things you came across and don’t understand. This will help to foster open communication going forward.
- Follow market trends: read articles about what’s happening in your industry/market. Who are the biggest players? How does it affect our pricing? How does it affect our revenue? Understanding your market will help you make informed decisions about product pricing and product/brand positioning.
- Take some business courses in your free time. Working as a PM is already tasking trust me but when you can, take some business courses in line with your interests and trends in your domain. I listed some helpful courses below.
Some helpful micro business courses;
- Business Analysis Foundations
- Business Strategy Specialization — University of Virginia
- Business Analysis & Process Management
- Business Analysis — Tools & Techniques
- Pricing Strategy Explained
- Pricing Strategy — IE Business School
- Strategic Pricing for Products and Services
- Creating a brand strategy
- Business Analysis & Process Management
- How to Create a Business Plan
Upskilling is an essential part of product management as we tend to pick up hard skills (one of my fav reasons for choosing pm) from different teams. Our role encompasses everything needed to build and ship impactful products as well as build a profitable business. Here are some importance of learning basic business skills as a product manager.
Importance of business skills
- It provides a deep understanding of your customers and market
- It provides insights into business opportunities and problems and business needs.
- It helps you communicate with the business team effectively
- It allows you to offer valuable insights/feedback regarding business decisions
- When you have a deep understanding of your product and market, you can negotiate and make informed decisions when dealing with key stakeholders.
Rounding up
It’s important to note that everyone from the product team to the development team to the legal team, to the sales and marketing team, and so on all have a mutual goal of shipping amazing and impactful products. And remember that whatever skills you’ve picked up along the way as a product manager will always come in handy trust me. A good time to pick up some business skills is now if you haven’t thought about it 😊.
