What is Product Management?
Product management is an organizational function that guides every step of a product’s lifecycle — from development to positioning and pricing — by focusing on the product and its customers first and foremost. To build the best possible product, product managers advocate for customers within the organization and make sure the voice of the market is heard and heeded.
The day-to-day tasks include a wide variety of strategic and tactical duties. Most product managers or product owners do not take on all these responsibilities. At least some of them are owned by other teams or departments in most companies.
What is the Product Management Process?
Defining the problem
It all begins with identifying a high-value customer pain point. After that, people or organizations are trying to do something, and they can’t. Or, if they can, it’s expensive or time-consuming or resource-intensive or inefficient, or just unpleasant.
Quantifying the opportunity
There are many problems and pain points, but not all are worth solving. This is when product managers swap their customer-centric hats for a business one.
Researching potential solutions
With a target in mind, product management can now thoroughly investigate how they might solve customer problems and pain points. They should cast a large net of possible solutions and not rule anything out too quickly. For example, suppose the organization already has some proprietary technology or IP or a particular area of expertise to give the company an advantage. In that case, those potential solutions will likely leverage that somehow.
Building an MVP
After validating a particular solution’s appeal and viability, it’s now time to engage the product development team in earnest. First, the bare minimum set of functionality should be defined, and then the team can build a working version of the product that can be field-tested with actual users.
Creating a feedback loop
While customer feedback is essential throughout a product’s life, there’s no time more critical than during the MVP introduction. This is where the product management team can learn what customers think, need, and dislike since they’re reacting to an actual product experience and not just theoretical ideas tossed out in a conversation.
Setting the strategy
Assuming the MVP is well received, it’s time to invest in a product strategy. The team now knows they’re onto something that can get some traction, so goals and objectives must be established to improve the product, bring it to market, expand its reach, and align with the overall company strategy and desired outcomes.
What are the Most Important Product Management Skills?
Communication
Successful relationships rely on clear communication. At our company, client communication is a top priority and always kept crystal clear and on point.
Collaboration
To create a fantastic user experience, product managers must also collaborate with UX designers. Nurturing a true partnership and not being merely transactional is key to delivering exceptional products.
Technical skills
Product managers must be conversant enough in the fundamentals for meaningful dialogue with engineering. They must understand if they’re creating a massive amount of technical debt with their decisions and managing down existing debt. And they should probably be knowledgeable enough to use their product and relate to the customers it’s intended to serve.
Business savvy
When product managers dub themselves the “CEO of the product,” they’re generally referring to this category of skills. Product managers may or may not carry responsibility for a product’s revenue. But they’re integral to making sure the product is financially and strategically successful.