As long as people have engaged in commerce, there has been a need to get products into the hands of consumers. It wasn’t until the 20th century that brands began to recognize the importance of understanding customer needs. Larger merchants realized that selling more required identifying what buyers truly wanted.
Procter & Gamble (P&G) played a pivotal role in this shift. In 1931, a memo written by the president of Procter & Gamble, Neil H. McElroy introduced the concept of the “Voice of the Customer” by hiring “Brand Men.” These individuals focused on understanding customer problems and needs.
The next significant step occurred in Japan, far from P&G’s Cincinnati headquarters.
Toyota revolutionized manufacturing by emphasizing efficiency and quality. They introduced Kanban, a system that streamlined delivery and development. Understanding customer desires became even more critical because it influenced the entire product build cycle.
The term “product management” gained prominence in the mid-20th century, particularly within the technology industry. Businesses recognized the need for dedicated individuals or teams to oversee product development and management throughout their lifecycle, and this is where the journey of modern product management started!
What is Product Management?
Product management involves strategically guiding the development, launch, and ongoing management of a product or service. It is the role within a product development team responsible for making and improving products by generating ideas, collaborating with teams of different departments to build them, and ensuring they meet customer needs.
Product management plays a critical role in tech companies, and it has grown in importance with the growth of agile product development methodology since agile focuses on adaptability, collaboration, and delivering value to users. Agile product management is an approach that combines the principles of agile software development with effective product management.
Unlike traditional approaches, agile programs are fluid—the scope of a project can change, but resources remain constant; Guiding a product through multiple iterations is at the heart of agile product management.
Product Management Principles
Successful Product managers (PMs) make their decisions based on first principles. A first principle is a “basic, foundational proposition or assumption that cannot be deduced from any other proposition or assumption.”
Here we introduce some the first principles that drive product management:
Maximize Impact to the Mission:
By developing a product strategy that maximizes the impact on an organization’s mission, given a set of inputs.
Every employee’s focus should be aligned with fulfilling the company’s mission. PMs play a critical role in achieving this by shaping the product’s direction.
PMs don’t directly build or operate the product for customers. Instead, they look ahead and inform the builders and operators about the right path to achieve the mission.
Imagine PMs as navigators—plotting the course toward the mission while relying on others to steer the ship.
Accomplish Everything Through Others:
PMs do not directly build or operate the product; instead, they enable those around them to do it better.
PMs empower cross-functional teams (engineers, designers, marketers) to create and deliver the product.
Think of PMs as conductors—they harmonize efforts, provide tools, and ensure everyone plays their part effectively.
This principal balances logic with creativity and empathy to drive successful outcomes
Why Does Project Management Matter?
Product managers are crucial to kickstart new products, bring teams together, and make sure the product meets both customer needs and company’s standards and goals
Effective project management ensures that tasks are well-organized, deadlines are met, and resources are optimized by avoiding delays and unnecessary rework, projects stay on track, saving both time and money.
Project managers facilitate communication among team members, stakeholders, and clients as clear communication prevents misunderstandings, reduces conflicts, and ensures everyone is aligned.
Project management provides data and insights for informed decision-making. Whether adjusting project scope or resource allocation, data-driven choices lead to better outcomes.
Well-managed projects create repeatable processes, imagine creating blocks that encapsulates repeatable work and common functionalities, creating reusable components that make scaling up similar projects becomes easier when you have established frameworks and best practices.
Project managers bridge gaps between different teams and ensure everyone works toward the same goals, as stakeholders appreciate this alignment since it leads to successful project delivery.
By planning ahead, Identifying and mitigating risks early prevents costly issues later. Project managers proactively address risks, minimizing their impact.
PMs ensure streamlined processes which lead to happier employees, as tasks flow smoothly, team members feel more fulfilled and productive.
Types of Product Manager Role
The core functionality of PMs is the same across all different types of products, however, there are some nuances that require more specialized roles of product managers.
Digital Product Manager:
They focus on web-based products (websites, apps, online platforms). Their responsibilities include crafting product strategy, defining features, and ensuring seamless user experiences in the digital realm.
For example, A digital product manager at an e-commerce company main role is to oversee the website and mobile app.
Product Marketing Manager:
Product marketing managers craft narratives and define brand voices. They’re mainly responsible for storytelling, positioning the product, creating marketing collateral, and understanding customer needs.
Growth Product Manager:
A growth product manager drives user acquisition, retention, and engagement by analyzing data, optimizing funnels, and experimenting with growth strategies.
For example, a growth product manager at a social media platform works on increasing daily active users, and continuously monitors traffic and engagement.
Technical Product Manager:
A technical product manager focuses on products with strong technical or engineering elements by bridging the gap between technical teams (developers, engineers) and business goals.
AI Product Manager:
They specialize in artificial intelligence and machine learning products by understanding AI capabilities, defining use cases, and ensuring ethical AI deployment.
Product Analyst:
Product analysts focus on data-driven decision-making by analyzing user behavior, conducting A/B testing, and deriving insights from product metrics.
Product Owner:
A product owner plays a key role in the agile development process by prioritizing features, maintaining the product backlog, and collaborating with development teams.
How to Start a Career in Product Management?
As an aspiring product manager, you need to familiarize yourself with essential skills, such as:
- Strategic Thinking: Understand the big picture and align product goals with business objectives.
- Communication: Articulate ideas clearly to cross-functional teams.
- Analytical Skills: Interpret data and make informed decisions.
- User-Centric Mindset: Prioritize user needs throughout the product lifecycle.
You may consider a degree in business, technology, or any related field. You may also take advantage of educational platforms, for example, you may invest in taking courses related to product management in Coursera, Udemy, … etc. Additionally, read books, blogs (like this one!), and industry resources to deepen your knowledge.
Conclusion
In conclusion, product management is essential in developing any product as it is heavily involved in research, planning, and development of new products. At Jobzella, we can help you kickstart your product manager career as you can start from here!
