Last updated on April 6th, 2024 at 02:10 am
Today, we will talk about a What is a Product Manager, a lesser known position in companies.
In production companies, there must be a person who overlooks the operation related to products right? That person is the product manager. Although the responsibility is high on this role’s head, people barely talk about this position. Surprisingly, many people don’t even know such a role exists, this is because this role has only been boosted since the 2000s.
Let’s study What is a Product Manager in more detail.
What is a Product Manager?
A product manager is a position in management of manufacturing companies who oversees all the operations related to the products. These operations include Research & Development, Product Designing, Promotional activities, etc.
A product manager is the person who researches the market and analyzes the needs and wants of the customers. Once the demands of the customers are recognized, those factors are blended into the product. This increases the chance of success for the product. Once the product starts selling into the market, the product manager researches the market again to understand how the product is performing after the updates and what are new trends that the customers are looking for.
So to answer about What is a Product Manager? Product managers can decide on long term strategic plans about the product aligning it with the organizational goals and vision. The strategic decision is taken on the business of market demand, technology and funding.
ALSO READ : The Strategic Management Process
What does a product manager do?
Now that we have a clear understanding on What is a Product Manager, we will discuss what work a product manager does.
In simple terms, a product manager works to align the organizational goals and the long term goals and vision of the product life cycle together. Then they have to make sure that they communicate their vision to their team and other stakeholders of the organization.
The work of product manager is given below:
Research
What is a Product Manager? you can say he /she is a researcher because the manager has to research the market to understand the current trends and demand of the market. They make sure that they know what the customer expects from their product.
Strategy Development
Once the demand of the market is identified, the product manager has to define a strategy regarding the product development. The strategy must blend in the organization goals. The product vision is also developed in this phase.
Communication
After the strategy is developed, the product manager has to make sure that they communicate their vision of the product to all the stakeholders properly. They have to make sure that the stakeholders understand why these updates are being made, what trends are they based on, and what these changes offer to provide.
The reason for communicating everything with the stakeholder is because they are the ones who have invested in the organization and have the right to know what is going on to make sure they feel secure about their investment.
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Development
Next up is development. This phase is where the operation begins. All the strategy made about the product is brought in action and implemented onto the product.
Research and feedback
Once the product has been launched, then comes the research and feedback. After some time the launch of a new product, the product manager conducts their research to understand how the product is doing in the market. They study and collect data to analyze the data and understand what are the new trends and demands that the customer wants.
Skills of product manager
Now that you understand What is a Product Manager, you must have realized that a product manager consists of a combination of both soft and technical/hard skills.
Strategy making
As we have studied till now about What is a Product Manager, their first responsibility is to make a strategy. A product manager has the ability to think about overall consequences of action on the organization, and to think about the long term impact. They are able to prioritize their operations and ideas in such a way that would be in the best interest of the organization.
Communication
Communication is a soft skill that every manager should have, and so does a product manager. A product manager needs communication skills so he/she can deliver their and organizational message to the team and other stakeholders in a way that they are clear on the goal and work.
Decision making
What is a Product Manager? A product manager is a team leader who have to take important decisions. A product manager is expected to take effective decision making skills. The decision they take is very crucial because it influences the product that is going to be manufactured.
Delegation
You know What is a Product Manager, they have a team under them that works under the product manager and they work according to whatever decision the product manager finalizes. So, the product manager needs to be able to delegate the work in their team according to the expertise and domain knowledge their team members have.
ALSO READ : Delegation in Management
Salary of a Product Manager
The average salary a product manager can manage is about $1,15,000 annually. This can change depending on the experience, company and the market situations.
Qualifications of a product manager
A product manager usually comes from a Business studies background such as bachelor in Business Administration and Master in Business administration where they subjects are management related i.e. marketing, production, operations, HRM, Finance, Business analytics.
FAQs
What exactly do product managers do?
A product manager researches the demand of the customer in the market, studies those demands and develops a product based on it. The product development is not only just on the basis of the demand, but they also have to consider the organizational goals.
What is required to be a product manager?
The majors required to be a product manager are Bachelor in business Administration, Masters in Business Administration and other management courses. Few other technical fields such as engineering courses can also be considered for a product manager.
Is product manger in demand?
Although the idea was tossed 20 years ago, Product manager is a relatively new concept. People are still in the phase of knowing What is a Product Manager is. Even though it’s not a famous role, due to lack of manpower in this field, it’s a highly paid management position.
Closing Terms
A product manager is a job with strong responsibility. The role is unknown to many but have developed a lot, but that being said, every role is going to keep developing constantly. A product manager is a vital role for the organization as they have the control over the main monopolistic part of the business i.e. the product.
I hope this article about What is a Product Manager was beneficial to you. If there are any doubts or suggestions, write them down in the comment box.