A Product Manager is also called the mini-CEO of a company. He is a preeminent person in the company, responsible for establishing a product in market matching the need of consumers.
American Marketing Association defines a Product Manager as
“a person charged with one or more products or brands and is responsible for formulating and implementing the marketing goals and strategies for commercialised products and as a rule, a Product Manager must coordinate the efforts of various disciplinary specialists, e.g., manufacturing, sales and marketing research.”
For some of us, such a job might look easy upfront. However, a Product Manager is the one who is called upon by the CXOs if anything goes wrong with product in the market. His job is challenging, often asking for mastery in all skills of a business.
Primarily, a Product Manager lays out a product vision which offers unique value proposition to the target audience. A Product Manager collects information using primary and secondary research activities, then incorporates the insights along with the perspectives of other industry sources into outlining of product vision which is aligned to the corporate goals of the company.
Besides this, he works on the positioning of the product and formulates strategies to elicit demand of the product in the market. From planning a product portfolio, his job role is extended to calculation of break-even sales.
It should be noted that a Product Manager is different from a project manager. A Product Manager is responsible for creating strategy, then preparing concept, executing the development and market entry of the product and finally, evaluating the whole process. On the other end, a project manager role is limited to market entry of the product only.
What are the critical features of a Product Manager?
Understands Customer Persona - A Product Manager has the ability to comprehend different customer persona. He finds the need of customers, their expectations, and their wants. He is aware of the customer demographic, geographic and financial profile of the target audience. He uses tools like Aha! Personas to capture metrics like education, income level, family type, interests etc. of different set of target audience.
Checks Product Market Fit - Value proposition offered through a product should be market fit. A Product Manager has an analytical mind to confirm the product-market fit. Conventionally, you used to create products and then go to market. Now, the scenario is different. A Product Manager has to constantly tweak and refine the product to match the growing and changing needs of consumers.
Knows Competitors Well - For any product to flourish in market, it is necessary that it has a unique proposition with points of differentiation and points of parity. A Product Manager does competitor mapping to make sure his offerings are better and delivered with a greater experience to the consumers.
Manages Trade-offs Well - There are often conflicts between design and development teams during the product development process. A good Product Manager knows well where to do trade off to get the optimum results. It could be slashing out a few design parameters or it could be making development a little more complex. He has to put more muscle in discussions and has to come out as a winner for the company in the end.
Communicates Effectively - A good Product Manager is able to communicate effectively with all the departments of his company. He should be crisp and clear in his thoughts. He makes members of marketing, sales, finance and production department understand the need of product and their roles in the process.
Uses Performance Metrics - A Product Manager lays down certain metrics to check the performance of products from time to time. This could be GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) in terms of number of orders placed for a company like Flipkart or number of cabs ride taken for a company like Ola. On the basis of results, Product Manager often tweaks the product in order to have better performance.
To sum up, a Product Manager is one who owns the failures but his team wins the successes of the product. He is well respected in the company for he handles different departments, does tons of work day in and day out, and is the one who would not sit with satisfaction until the product is out there in market gathering at least over a thousand positive feedback.
Featured image credits - LinkedIn.