WTF Do Product Managers Do?

Making a product requires the input of every professional within the organization. The role of a product manager comes into play in helping to manage these professionals, be it software developers, UI/UX designers, QA testers, and so on, to achieve the goal and lead the direction to a successful product through iteration with the team.

The path of a product manager is influential through managing different projects with a team and forward-thinking to steer the company in the right direction making critical decisions, and convincing stakeholders to deliver the product with assured targeted goals.

The role of a PM exists as it deals with shipping quality products to the users.

What is a product manager?

A product manager is a person who defines the product and knows how the products are. The characteristics of being a PM are ensuring that launch features are shipped to make users happy and having the north star metric in mind, which measures what a company uses as its primary focus for growth. Furthermore, a product manager manages the product throughout the entire product life cycle, including setting the product vision, strategy, and roadmap. Also, it is essential to note that product managers are obsessed with user research and feedback to ensure the products meet specifications for users without compromising quality which only means building the best product for customers.

Lately, many technical and non-technical people have been catching a lot of buzz about wanting to delve into product management. According to Glassdoor, a product manager's average salary is around the $127k range.

Some people see product managers as an intersection between UX, tech, and business. But the main thing is that PMs need to balance all these three needs and know when it is required for them to step in and make necessary adjustments to suit the look and feel of the company.

Product manager responsibilities

The responsibilities of a product manager vary from company to company, and their roles are based explicitly on how large a team is, as it may require them to work with other professionals to actualize the vision and mission of the company. 

For smaller organizations, the product manager may wear multiple hats to achieve the vision and see it through, as it is different from the structure of a larger organization.

A typical example of what a product manager does from an actual job application:

The other responsibilities of a product manager:

• Understanding user and market intelligence through interviews and surveys. If possible, sit with the user and see how they use the product
• Focus on the user experience design
• Build business strategy - understanding the business model to align with the company metrics like engagement, profits, or whatever it is the company benchmark
• A product manager is an advocate for the users, which leads to excellent product development
• Think about getting results based on analytics and growth

Required skills every product manager needs

The work of a product manager requires a broad mix of hard and soft skills that will help the team get the job done and lead to a successful product. 

Some of the hard skills:

• Problem-solving
• Passion for technology
• User understanding
• Eye for design
• Business perspective - business sense
• Analytical skill - data-driven

Soft skill

• Leading without authority
• Teamwork
• Ability to take feedback
• Prioritization

Conclusion

To begin your journey as a product manager, you need to have the requisite skills and know how to build a product and take it to market, and ensure the product scales through the strategies you develop with your team. 

Remember that a successful product is a collection of thinkers coming together to make a launch a reality.