Ask ten people for their definition of Product Management, and you'll likely get eleven or twelve answers. It can mean different things to different people, but product management targets the connection point between a company's product development capabilities and the marketplace. Product management entails the art of determining market needs and defining products tailored to meet those needs in order achieve corporate goals. Whether a company is a new venture or a well-established firm, the role of product management is now a critical corporate function.
What makes a good product manager?
Product management requires both quantitative and qualitative market research, business-case justification for development expenditures, definition of specific product requirements, and coordination of development and launch activities across the organization. Product managers typically have very cross-functional responsibilities, from engaging with customers, analysts and the press to working with engineering and financial managers. As a result, good product managers tend to have excellent communication skills, along with a talent for planning, long-term vision and attention to detail. Product managers tend to have a well-developed entrepreneurial spirit, exhibiting insight for recognizing opportunities for new or increased revenue.
What are product management best practices?
- Forecasting and planning for a product, including projections of market size, market share and revenue.
- Performing customer research and competitive research.
- Documenting product plans, in market requirements documents and sometimes functional specifications, business plans, or other planning documents.
- Evangelizing the product, both within the company and via presentations to customers, media and analysts.
- Project management tasks, such as negotiating feature/schedule tradeoffs during development, and coordinating launch activities both within and outside of the organization.
- Providing sales support, including training the sales force, monitoring sales trends, and answering questions for sales prospects.
- Managing the product lifecycle, including planning for initial launch, follow-on releases, and eventual retirement.