Product Management 101: Introduction

What do we think when we hear product management for the first time? Sounds very fancy, right? We go over billions of websites available, talk to friends about it, search for books, etc. etc. I did the same. And now, after going through different blogs and videos, I finally want to make sure that I get everything right. Therefore, feel free to correct me wherever you think I went off the road.

In layman’s terms, product management is something that is associated with everything that leads to the success of a product in the market. We can think of product management as a discipline in an organization responsible for the outperformance of the product that the company has to offer in the market both in the short(tactically) and long term (strategically). A product goes through different phases before becoming fully functional. It involves the development team, marketing and sales department, operations and QA team. And now you must be wondering — “so, what part product managers play in all of this?” Wait. I am getting there. The product manager connects all these domains that I just mentioned, including the external entities like customers, partners, analysts etc., because they understand how all these pieces fit together.

The product offering is just not about delivering the right product at the right time to the right customer segment. It’s more than just that. When a company promise a product, it also promises augmented products like warranty, support, delivery, customer care etc. And if it’s not kept, the customers experience broken product promise. Yeah, it’s an actual term.

So, what happens when such a scenario occur? Is it the product manager’s job to get all these things fixed? I don’t think so. But he/she has the authority to ask the concerned department to work on that.

There’s so much to do in this job like it involves coming up with the idea to deciding on the retirement of the product that it actually becomes the question of what to do at that time of an hour, or we can say assigning priorities to work. As the product goes through its life cycle, the product manager has to look through the following tasks -

1. As mentioned, coming up with the idea, prioritizing the work, deciding on the features by collaborating with different teams, researching customers needs and wants and analyzing the market.

2. After working on the great idea, it becomes essential to do the in-depth planning regarding market strategy, business case, etc., so that the company’s strategic and financial goals remain intact.

3. Communicate the market requirements to the engineering team and ensure that the product delivery is done to solve the customer’s problems.

4. Keep updating the product according to the market and customer’s evolving demands.

5. Conduct market research to know when is the right time to launch the product.

6. Plan and run high impact product launches that will ensure the business can achieve the company’s sales, profitability and strategic goals.

7. Work on maximizing the overall profit for the company after the launch of the product.

8. Determine if and when to retire or replace the product and run a successful end of product life campaign.

In the end, I am going to leave you with the qualities that product managers generally entails. See if it matches your skillsets.

Communication: Product managers communicate when the times are good and handle challenging situations as they arise.

Influence: Product managers use their communication skills to influence and negotiate with the different stakeholders they encounter in their work.

Analysis: Product managers request, create and absorb quantitative and qualitative data and communicate what it means effectively.

Empathy: Product managers should have great empathy for their customers and all the stakeholders. They should be interested in what makes people tick.

Forward-thinking: Product managers can see what next has to be done to stay ahead of the competition.

I hope you learnt something new today and I promise I will come up with a new topic from the same domain next time. Until then keep exploring.