What Is Product Management? Everything You Need to Know

Updated: November 6, - 20 min read

If you are looking for more details, kindly visit our website.

Product management is one of the most pivotal roles in modern businesses. As customer-centricity and agile development take center stage, the demand for product managers increases. Yet its definition remains elusive to many. So, what exactly does a product manager do?

At its core, product management is the method of guiding a product from conception to market success. It demands a balance of strategic thinking, customer empathy, and cross-functional collaboration. 

Product managers navigate the complexities of design, engineering, and market demands. They ensure that a product not only meets business goals but also delights increasingly demanding users &#; which is why they are a hot commodity.

In this article, we&#;ll demystify the role of product management. 

We&#;ll explore its key functions, the skills required, and why it has become a cornerstone of innovation. Whether you&#;re new to the concept or looking to deepen your understanding, this guide will provide a clear, actionable overview of what product management truly entails.

Product-Led Growth Micro-Certification (PLGC)&#;&#;

Experience the game-changing potential of Product-Led Growth (PLG) as it revolutionizes the role of Product Managers and their impact on organizations.

What Is Product Management?

&#;Everyone should, in a product role, be spending a lot of time with customers. It's something you should measure and should be part of your success criteria for your team. &#; &#; Trisha Price, CPO at Pendo, on The Product Podcast.

A Brief History of Product Management

Product management traces its origins back to the early s at Procter & Gamble (P&G), where the concept of &#;brand management&#; was first introduced. P&G assigned managers to oversee individual brands and be the voice of customers internally. The shift made the marketing back then way more efficient. This approach evolved over time, expanding beyond marketing to encompass the entire product lifecycle. 

In earlier PM days around the s, especially in smaller companies, product roadmaps were entirely customer-driven. Every project was subject to change based on client demands. Furthermore, the size of a deal often dictated priorities, making it challenging to maintain a consistent strategic direction.

Today, product management has transformed into a more balanced and strategic discipline. Modern roadmaps incorporate not just customer needs but also long-term strategic projects. While the value of individual customers is still important, it is no longer the sole driving factor. Time is now deliberately allocated for both discovery and implementation, ensuring that products are not only responsive to current needs but are also innovative and forward-thinking.

Today, Product Management is crucial in various industries, particularly in companies that create and deliver products, whether physical or digital. Tech firms, software companies, consumer goods manufacturers, and even service providers rely on product managers to ensure products appeal to customers.

Product Management Definition

Product Management is all about guiding a product from its initial idea to its final release and beyond. It involves understanding what customers need and what the product should do, as well as working with various teams in design, engineering, and marketing. Product Managers (PMs) have the responsibility to steer the product in the right direction. They stay on top of customer feedback, market trends, and business goals to be able to do this.

A PM also has to balance the product vision with what&#;s possible &#; both technically and within the business&#;s goals. While they don't have direct authority over product development or engineering teams, they are the ones responsible for managing the product and ensuring its success. 

The goal is to keep the product on course toward a successful launch. Then, it is time to continue to refine and improve. This nuanced role requires a blend of creativity, strategic thinking, and leadership to bring the product to life and keep it thriving.

Strategic Functions And Significance Of Product Management Process

Product Management is significant because it ensures that the products a company creates are valuable, viable, and feasible. By focusing on what customers really need and market fit, product management helps the company avoid wasting time and resources on products that don&#;t resonate.

Moreover, product management keeps the company agile and responsive. As markets change and customer preferences shift, product managers help the company adapt. Here&#;s what their strategic role within the organization encompasses:

Methodologies Associated with Product Management

&#;Frameworks provide essential structure for problem-solving and decision-making in product management. They offer a systematic approach to addressing complex challenges and ensure alignment with strategic goals.&#; &#; Francois Ajenstat, CPO at Amplitude, on The Product Podcast

In product management, certain methodologies help teams stay organized and focused on delivering the best possible products. Some of the most common ones include:

• Agile: This is a flexible, iterative approach where products are developed in small increments, allowing teams to adapt quickly to changes and feedback.

• Scrum: A specific Agile framework that breaks work into manageable &#;sprints,&#; usually lasting a few weeks, with regular check-ins and adjustments.

• Lean: Focuses on delivering value by minimizing waste and maximizing efficiency, often used to quickly test and validate ideas via a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) before fully committing to them.

• Waterfall: A more traditional, linear approach where each phase of development is completed before moving on to the next. It&#;s less common in modern product management but still used in certain industries.

These methodologies help product managers navigate the complex process of bringing a product from concept to market, ensuring it meets customer expectations and business goals.

It&#;s Different from Program Management

Program management, on the other hand, is broader. While a product manager focuses on one specific product, a program manager oversees multiple related projects or products, ensuring they all align with the company&#;s bigger goals. Program managers coordinate efforts across different teams and products to make sure everything is moving smoothly and efficiently.

In short, program management and product management are different. Product management is about owning a specific product, from idea to launch, while program management is about ensuring multiple products or projects work together towards a common goal.

What Do Product Managers Do? 

A Product Manager has a diverse set of duties, all of which revolve around identifying what customers need and ensuring that new products or features align with the company&#;s big-picture goals. They define what success looks like for the product and lead a cross-functional team to turn that vision into reality.

Product Manager Responsibilities:

• Identify and prioritize the key requirements for specific product features.

• Investigate customer challenges and conduct in-depth root cause analysis.

• Collaborate closely with design teams to enhance the overall customer experience.

• Develop and implement a comprehensive product strategy.

• Guide and influence cross-functional teams throughout the product development process.

• Oversee and maintain the product roadmap and manage product releases.

• Clearly understand and articulate the product&#;s value propositions.

• Spot and address any gaps within the product offering.

• Generate new product concepts based on thorough research and data analysis.

• Formulate pricing and positioning strategies in partnership with Product Marketing or Demand Generation teams.

• Work in tandem with engineering teams to ensure seamless product development.

• Collaborate with PR and marketing teams to effectively manage product launches.

• Serve as the product&#;s ambassador and represent the company at public events.

Product Manager Skills

Product Management skills span across general, technical, and leadership domains, ensuring you&#;re well-equipped to guide products from idea to launch effectively.

• Strategic Thinking: Aligning product vision with company goals and market opportunities.

• Creative Problem Solving: Finding innovative solutions to complex challenges.

• Market Sensitivity: Staying attuned to market trends and customer behaviors.

• Adaptability: Flexibility to adjust strategies in response to changing circumstances.

• User-Centric Approach: Prioritizing the needs and experiences of the end user in all decisions.

• Empathy: Understanding and relating to customer pain points and team dynamics.

• Writing Technical Specs: Clearly documenting product requirements and specifications.

• Agile and Scrum Mastery: Proficient in Agile methodologies to manage and deliver projects efficiently.

• Data Analysis: Leveraging data to inform product decisions and measure outcomes.

• Roadmapping: Developing and maintaining strategic product roadmaps.

• UX/UI Design: Understanding user experience and interface design principles.

• Prioritization Techniques: Skillfully managing the prioritization of tasks and features.

• Product Lifecycle Knowledge: Comprehensive understanding of each phase of the product lifecycle.

• Performance Metrics Analysis: Evaluating product performance through key metrics.

• Effective Communication: Clearly conveying ideas and information to diverse audiences.

• Team Leadership: Leading cross-functional teams with vision and motivation.

• Negotiation & Conflict Resolution: Navigating and resolving conflicts to keep the project on track.

• Stakeholder Management: Building and maintaining strong relationships with all stakeholders.

What Are the Different Types of Product Managers?

&#;It's very important to sometimes slow down, to speed up, to really be reflective and think about where you want to go and the tools that you need to build up.&#; &#; Yi-Wei Ang, CPO at Talabat, on The Product Podcast

When considering a career, it&#;s important to take your time and really think about which role fits your strengths and passions. The right choice can lead to a rewarding journey &#;  the one where you&#;re not just working, but thriving. Remember, finding the right fit is more important than a promising salary range or trending role.

A (1) Product Manager is the cornerstone of product development. They traditionally oversee everything from initial concept to market launch. They wear many hats. They juggle tasks like defining product strategy, working with cross-functional teams, and ensuring the final product meets customer needs. Consider them a jack of all trades and masters of none. With an average salary of around $120,000/year, this role is perfect for someone who enjoys being at the center of the action, balancing technical, business, and customer perspectives.

A (2) Technical Product Manager is the ideal role for someone with a strong technical background, ideally in software engineering or IT. They focus on bridging the gap between the technical and business sides. Their job is to make sure that products are both feasible and aligned with market demands. With an average salary of about $135,000/year, this role is well-suited for those who love getting into the technical details while also considering the bigger picture.

The (3) Growth Product Manager is all about driving user acquisition, retention, and overall product growth through Product-Led Strategies. This role involves experimenting with different approaches to find what drives the most value for the business. With an average salary of around $130,000/year, it&#;s a great fit for someone passionate about using data to fuel growth and who thrives in a fast-paced, results-oriented environment.

For those who are fascinated by data, a (4) Data Product Manager role might be just the right fit. These professionals focus on products that involve significant data management and analytics, ensuring that data is leveraged effectively to drive product success. With a salary of $125,000/year, this role is ideal for individuals who are detail-oriented and love working with numbers to uncover insights that alter product direction.

As an (5) AI Product Manager, you&#;re at the forefront of cutting-edge technology, guiding the development of AI-driven products. This role requires expertise in machine learning and data science, with a strong understanding of how to apply these technologies to solve real-world problems. With an average salary of $140,000/year, it&#;s perfect for those who are excited about the potential of AI and want to be part of tech pioneering.

A (6) Platform Product Manager focuses on building and maintaining scalable systems that can support a wide range of applications. This role involves ensuring that the platform is robust, reliable, and able to integrate with other products. Earning about $130,000/year, it&#;s ideal for someone who enjoys working on complex systems and ensuring they perform well under various conditions.

The (7) UX Product Manager is dedicated to enhancing the user experience. They work closely with design and research teams to create products that are intuitive and enjoyable to use. This role is perfect for those with a background in UX design or research and who are passionate about putting the user at the center of product development. With an average salary of $115,000/year, it&#;s a rewarding role for anyone who values making products that delight users.

At the top of the product management ladder is the (8) Chief Product Officer, who oversees the entire product strategy for a company. This executive role involves leading the product management team, setting the vision for the product portfolio, and ensuring that all products align with the business goals. With salaries often exceeding $200,000/year, the CPO role is suited for experienced product leaders who are ready to take on the highest level of responsibility in product management.

If you're interested in exploring more product management roles, we have a full article that lists different types of product management positions. It offers a deep dive into each role, covering responsibilities, skills, and what makes each unique. 

The Product Management Hierarchy

The standard product management hierarchy is a structured path that starts from entry-level roles like Associate Product Manager (APM) and progresses to executive positions like Principal Product Manager (PPM) or Chief Product Officer (CPO).

At each level, roles are interconnected, with APMs learning the basics, Product Managers and Senior Product Managers handling more responsibility, and Directors of Product overseeing multiple teams. The CPO sets the overall strategy.

Product Manager&#;s role overlaps with other positions derived from Scrum methodology. When paired with these roles, Product Managers focus on the broader vision &#; usually &#; while Product Owners work closely with development teams to execute this vision. 

Product Specialists, on the other hand, offer deep expertise on specific aspects, helping to refine features and understand customer needs. Project Managers ensure that timelines, budgets, and resources are managed efficiently, coordinating with Product Managers and Product Owners to keep projects on track.

Together, these roles ensure that products are developed efficiently, meet customer needs, and align with business objectives. If you're interested in learning more, we have a full article that lists different types of product management positions and offers a deep dive into each one.

Product Management Example Use Cases

Product management use cases vary widely across industries but generally revolve around solving specific customer problems or improving business outcomes. For example:

• Developing a New Software Feature: A Product Manager identifies a common user pain point in a software application, such as slow load times. They work with engineers to develop a feature that improves performance, leading to higher user satisfaction and retention.

• Launching a New Product: A Product Manager in a consumer goods company might oversee the launch of a new product, coordinating market research, product design, and go-to-market strategies to ensure a successful release.

• Improving User Experience: In a tech company, a Product Manager might focus on enhancing the user interface of an app, working closely with designers and UX researchers to make the product experience more intuitive and enjoyable for users.

• Entering a New Market: A Product Manager could be responsible for adapting an existing product to enter a new geographical market, ensuring it meets local regulatory requirements and resonates with the new target audience.

• Managing a Product Roadmap: As the Product Roadmap owner, the Product Manager might prioritize and schedule product updates based on user feedback, market trends, and business goals, ensuring the product evolves in a way that maximizes its value to both customers and the company.

• Driving Growth through Data: In a SaaS company, a Growth Product Manager could use data analytics to identify opportunities for increasing user engagement, and implementing A/B testing to optimize features and drive growth.

  THE MIDI. are exported all over the world and different industries with quality first. Our belief is to provide our customers with more and better high value-added products. Let's create a better future together.

These examples illustrate how product management is about strategically guiding the development and improvement of products to meet customer needs and achieve business objectives.

Key Product Management Concepts

Understanding the key concepts in product management is essential for guiding a product from idea to market success. Below is a comprehensive list of important concepts, each playing a crucial role in the product development process, from initial planning to continuous improvement and market adaptation.

How to Get into Product Management?

Becoming a Product Manager requires a blend of strategy, skill development, and targeted job search tactics. Whether you're starting from scratch, transitioning from another role, or aiming to land a job, there's a clear path to guide you:

1. Starting with No Experience

If you lack direct experience, focus on building relevant skills. Start by learning the fundamentals through online courses, such as this guide on how to become a product manager. Work on side projects to build a portfolio that showcases your abilities in real-world scenarios. 

Networking is crucial&#;attend industry events, engage in product management communities, and seek mentorship from experienced professionals. 

Certifications, like our Product Manager Certification, can further enhance your credibility and help you stand out to potential employers. Additionally, consider volunteering or interning with startups to gain hands-on experience. This experience can be invaluable when transitioning into a product management role.

2. Transitioning Into Product Management from Another Field

Transitioning into product management is about leveraging your existing skills. If you come from marketing, engineering, sales, or another field, identify how your current expertise aligns with product management. 

For example, marketers often excel in understanding customer needs, which is critical in product management. Engineers can transition by highlighting their deep technical knowledge, enabling them to effectively communicate with development teams and contribute to product feasibility discussions. They have the perfect skillset for Data Product Manager and Technical Product Manager roles. Salespeople bring a strong customer focus and market knowledge, making them adept at identifying customer pain points and influencing product direction. 

Lastly, start by taking on product-related tasks in your current role to build relevant experience, as outlined in this article on transitioning into product management.

3. Landing a Product Management Job

To secure a product management position, tailor your resume to highlight relevant skills and achievements. 

Showcase your ability to lead, prioritize, and deliver results. During interviews, be ready to discuss your experience with problem-solving, user-centric thinking, and working with cross-functional teams. 

Demonstrate your understanding of product management methodologies and be prepared to articulate how your background uniquely positions you to succeed in the role. For more detailed strategies, refer to this guide on landing a product management job.

Be Intentional And Meticulous

Breaking into product management&#;whether you&#;re starting fresh, transitioning, or seeking a new job&#;requires intentional steps. It's not just about being prepared; it's about being meticulous. It&#;s what the job asks for, after all&#;

Therefore, sharpen your skills, lean into your strengths, and make every experience count. Don&#;t just tell them you're a strategic thinker&#;prove it by showing how you've driven success. Your journey to product management isn't just another career move &#; it's a bold step into the driver&#;s seat of innovation. 

Be the one who makes things happen. That&#;s what makes a great Product Manager.

Product Manager Certification (PMC)&#;

Land your first Product Management job by building the skills you need to get hired and succeed.

Try Jira Product Discovery for free

Capture and prioritize ideas and align everyone with roadmaps

First, a confession: Ten years ago, when I was invited to apply for a product manager position at Atlassian, I didn&#;t know what product management was. This wasn&#;t unusual. While product management has existed in one form or another for a number of decades, the &#;product manager&#; title only started picking up steam less than 20 years ago. And still, I encounter talks at conferences called &#;What Does a Product Manager Do?&#; (Actually, I sort of gave one of these talks.)

Use free product vision board template

What is a product manager?

A product manager is the person who identifies the customer need and the larger business objectives that a product or feature will fulfill, articulates what success looks like for a product, and rallies a team to turn that vision into a reality. After 10 years of studying the craft of product management, I&#;ve developed a deep understanding of what it means to be a product manager.

The confusion about what a product manager is likely stems from the recency of the role. Where practitioners of more established crafts, like design and engineering, have been able to segment themselves by their specialization, product managers are still defining what the role should be.

Martin Eriksson, product leader extraordinaire and founder of ProductTank, initially summed up product management in a simple Venn diagram that sits the product manager at the intersection of business, technology, and user experience. Fifteen years ago, Ben Horowitz, CEO of Opsware, called the product manager the &#;CEO of the product.&#; 

I agree with both Eriksson and Horowitz, but not always with how their definitions are interpreted. People see Eriksson&#;s diagram and think that product managers manage the product between all three disciplines (UX, technology, and business). Really, though, he's saying product managers need to balance all three needs and make hard decisions and trade-offs. People hear Horowitz&#;s analogy and think product managers have some kind of special authority. They don&#;t. But, like a CEO, product managers set the goals, define success, help motivate teams, and are responsible for the outcome.

Product manager responsibilities

Specific responsibilities vary depending on the size of the organization. In larger organizations, for instance, product managers are embedded within teams of specialists. Researchers, analysts, and marketers help gather input, while developers and designers manage the day-to-day execution, draw up designs, test prototypes, and find bugs. These product managers have more help, but they also spend more time aligning these stakeholders behind a specific vision.

On the flip side, product managers at smaller organizations spend less time getting everyone to agree, but more time doing the hands-on work that comes with defining a vision and seeing it through.

Broadly speaking, though, a good product manager will spend his or her time on a handful of tasks. 

• Understanding and representing user needs.

• Monitoring the market and developing competitive analyses.

• Defining a vision for a product.

• Aligning stakeholders around the vision for the product. 

• Prioritizing product features and capabilities.

• Creating a shared brain across larger teams to empower independent decision-making.

Product manager vs. product owner

Whether or not a team is adhering to a certain agile practice (and which one), can further muddy the waters when it comes to what a product manager does. For instance, if a team is practicing scrum, then they also need to have a product owner.

While a product manager defines the direction of the product through research, vision-setting, alignment, and prioritization, the product owner should work more closely with the development team to execute against the goals that the product manager helps to define.

Here&#;s how that tends to break out:

Involved in day-to-day activities

Works with outside stakeholders

Works with internal stakeholders

Helps to define the product vision

Helps teams execute on a shared vision

Outlines what success looks like

Outlines the plan for achieving success

Owns vision, marketing, ROI

Owns team backlog and fulfillment work

Works at a conceptual level

Involved in day-to-day activities

But responsibilities can shift a bit when team makeups and practices shift. For instance, if the team isn&#;t doing Scrum (say, they&#;re doing kanban or something else), the product manager might end up doing the prioritization for the development team and play a larger role in making sure everyone is on the same page. On the other hand, if the team is doing Scrum, but doesn&#;t have a product manager, then the product owner often ends up taking on some of the product manager&#;s responsibilities.

All of this can get really murky really quickly, which is why teams have to be careful to clearly define responsibilities, or they can risk falling into the old ways of building software, where one group writes the requirements and throws it over the fence for another group to build. When this happens expectations get misaligned, time gets wasted, and teams run the risk of creating products or features that don&#;t satisfy customer needs.

Best practices and tips for being a great product manager

Just as there isn&#;t only one kind of team, one of the most exciting aspects of the product manager role is that there isn&#;t only one way to do it. During the last two decades, the craft has exploded both in popularity and approach. Unlike designers who have successfully segmented themselves into interaction designers, graphic designers, motion designers, and so on, product managers, as a whole, are still wrestling with how to label their different strengths.

To complicate matters, people are only beginning to pursue product management as their intended discipline. Where older generations &#;fell into product management&#; from engineering, design, finance, or marketing, younger generations are starting their careers with product management in mind.

That said, there are a handful of skills and practices that any good product manager will need to develop.

Prioritize ruthlessly

A colleague recently likened product management to being a politician. It&#;s not far off. The product manager and the politician both get an allotted amount of resources. Each role requires the practitioner to make the best use of those resources to achieve a larger goal, knowing that he or she will never be able to satisfy everyone&#;s needs.

At any one time, the product manager might have to decide between a feature that might make one big customer happy but upset 100 smaller customers; maintaining a product&#;s status quo or steering it in a new direction to expand its reach and align with larger business goals; or whether to focus on the bright and shiny or the boring and important.

Clearly understanding the costs and benefits of each choice guides the product manager toward the right decision.

Know the lay of the land

Product managers need to know the lay of the land better than anyone else. They very rarely start with a clean slate. More than likely, product managers are dropped into something that already has momentum. If they start executing without taking the time to get their bearings, they&#;ll make bad decisions.

Good product managers pump the brakes and start by asking questions. If you&#;re just starting a product management job, take the first couple of months to talk to as many customers as you can. Talk to as many internal stakeholders as you can. Understand the business model. Understand the history. Understand how different people are influenced. Understand how decisions are made. Only then, can you start making a few decisions of your own.

Empower your team to make their own decisions

Product managers can&#;t make every decision. Believe me. I&#;ve tried. At the end of the day, I nearly always have unread messages. I&#;m often double and triple booked. And I could spend all day answering questions and never finish.

But touching every decision isn&#;t the product manager's job&#;at least it shouldn&#;t be. One of the keys to great product management is empowering your team to make their own decisions by creating a shared brain&#;or a way of making decisions and a set of criteria for escalating them. When someone asks a product manager a question about a decision they could have made themselves, nine times out of 10 it&#;s because that person doesn&#;t have enough context to make the decision themselves. Great product managers build that context.

Learn to influence without authority

I know a junior product manager that is nearly universally respected by her team even though initially many of its members would have traded her in for a more seasoned leader given the choice. How did she change their minds? She took each person on the 30-person team out for coffee and listened to them.

Influence comes in many forms. Listening to people and understanding how they&#;re influenced is the first part. Figuring out how to get them on board with your point of view is the second. Becoming a great storyteller&#;even when you don&#;t have any data to back up your point&#;will take you a long way. Some people won&#;t be convinced until they see you do the work. Understanding which levers to pull with which person is the key to leading without any direct authority.

Develop a thick skin

Making tradeoffs will inevitably make people unhappy. The trick is to first make the right tradeoffs, and then be able to explain why you made the decision you did. If you&#;re good at explaining your decision, someone can still not like it, but more often than not, they&#;ll respect the way you made it. And even if they don&#;t, great product managers figure out a way to deal with it.

Great product managers

For me, the really great product managers are one in a million. They&#;re the people who can do all of the above and set incredible product visions. It&#;s the rare breed that&#;s forward-thinking, highly influential, and can walk people through the rationale behind a decision and convince them&#;even without data. People like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk come to mind.

We idolize these people, in part, because it&#;s satisfying to put a face and a name on a big accomplishment. But 99 percent of the time, great products aren&#;t made by a single great thinker. They&#;re made by teams of good people doing really good work. The job of the product manager is to develop his or her unique way of guiding that work.

Related resources

Share this article

Sherif Mansour

Sherif Mansour has been in software development for over 20 years. He is currently a Distinguished Product Manager for Atlassian. As a long-tenured Atlassian, he has responsible for Confluence, trying to solve problems across all of Atlassian&#;s cloud products and establishing a new product incubator inside Atlassian. Sherif also played a key role in developing new products at Atlassian such as Stride, Team Calendars and Confluence Questions. Today, he leads product strategy for Atlassian&#;s newest product, Team Central. Sherif thinks building simple products is hard and so is writing a simple, short bio.

If you are looking for more details, kindly visit retail store product management.