How to Build a Fulfilling Career in Product Management

[Author's note - Reproducing my original article I wrote for careervira-dot-com with their permission, to help the community here.]

“The point isn’t to manage anything but to create an environment where great things can happen.”, says David Pareira, a product manager for 10 years, in his recent blog post about the mindset required to be a successful product manager.

Product management is the art and science of managing the development and the lifecycle of a product from its conception to launch, and even beyond.?

Hence the role of a product manager is an important one, even a business-critical one, in any organization. More so in the world of start-ups where new product ideas are being implemented every single day. So there is no second-guessing the answer to “Is product management a good career choice for me”?

The product management process involves researching, analyzing, and deliberating a product idea with the target users in the market, and the stakeholders. It involves working with them closely to add capabilities that meet the market needs. The process also involves working with the architects, designers, and teams such as the development team, quality control team, product support team, marketing team, and so on.?

Product management career path involves being responsible for the success or failure of a product, and thus it is important for professionals in this field to have the right skills and expertise, including soft skills, to ensure product success.?

At a high level, the key responsibilities of a product manager include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Conducting market research and analysis
• Developing the product roadmap and strategy
• Developing product features and functionalities
• Understanding customer needs and preferences
• Managing product launch and post-launch activities
• Planning for a successful launch by working with stakeholders
• Working with cross-functional teams for a successful product launch

Significance of Product Management Today

The importance of product management is huge in the current economy which consists of fast-paced businesses leveraging big market opportunities. The explosion of web3 technologies such as Crypto, Big Data, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence has opened up tremendous growth opportunities. Businesses are looking to capitalize on this opportunity by identifying, developing, and launching new products quickly in order to stay relevant and competitive. Apart from, of course, making huge profits with the first-mover advantage.

The role of product managers in this mix is a critical one as they are responsible for driving the product strategy, creating the product roadmap, and ensuring a successful product launch. Do you wish to know how to become an effective product manager? Scroll on...

As a product manager, one should be able to understand market trends, end-user needs, and the competition from other companies in order to make informed decisions. Setting the vision of the product in the organization, identifying and prioritizing the features, and coordinating the development efforts with the cross-functional teams are all the responsibilities of this job. Hence, the future of many a startup is staked on the efficiency of its product manager.

Role Across Different Industries

The role of a product manager could vary by industry, but the core responsibilities remain the same. For instance, consider a software company. The product manager is responsible for defining and developing the product roadmap, and product strategy, including the launch and marketing strategy, and then executing the same. Work could also involve overseeing the support team’s needs.

If you look at a retail company, the product manager might be responsible for product conceptualization, selection, pricing, and the launch of the product, but might have a lesser say in positioning and marketing, depending on the policy and structure of specific departments.

However, in a manufacturing company, the product manager might be responsible for just the design, development, and launch of the product, with no involvement in other parts of the process.

Thus some of the factors that define the role and responsibilities of a product manager across industries could be company policies, departmental structure and role, size of the company, or even simply the capabilities of the product manager. The product manager’s individual strengths and weaknesses can impact the whole project.

Key Responsibilities

According to a McKinsey & Company report, 80% of product managers are involved in design activities as well as in go-to-market decisions and about 50% of product managers take part in product pricing decisions.

The average percentage of time spent by product managers in carrying out each specific responsibility is given in the image below. These are average numbers, the actuals vary based on the industry, company, and even product mix.

Let us look at these responsibilities in brief, mentioned generally in the product manager’s job description:

• Defining Product Strategy With a deep understanding of customer needs and market conditions, the product manager is responsible for setting up the product vision, strategy, and product roadmap, including identifying the opportunities for product innovation on a continuous basis. The product strategy also contains details about how the product is marketed, how customer feedback is collected, and how the data is analyzed for better decisions. ?
• Collaborating with Technical and Design Functions The product manager shares the product roadmap with all stakeholders involved in the project, to make sure that everyone is on the same page and works together on its implementation. The product manager is also responsible for ensuring that the design, technical, and quality assurance teams work well together. This requires being aware of any potential conflicts proactively and being able to resolve them if and when they occur.? ?
• Defining Product Requirements While overseeing the product development process, the product manager defines the product and works with end users, developers, designers, and other stakeholders to ensure the product meets the documented requirements. The product requirements are not limited to features but also include usability and performance needs.? ?
• Product Launch Launching a product as a product manager requires plenty of preparation and planning. One needs to consider the target audience, the competitive landscape, and the available budget. The product is tested and certified by the quality control team before the launch. The marketing plan is developed to create anticipation in the market and excitement for the product. Coordination with other departments to ensure the product is launched smoothly is also the job of a product manager.? ?
• Engaging with Customers and Partners The product manager must develop good relationships with customers and partners to ensure the successful development, launch, and maintenance of products and services. This involves understanding their needs, aligning them with the project’s needs and company requirements, and ensuring cooperation and collaboration throughout. Actively listening to customers' and partners’ problems, concerns, and feedback, and responding to them in a timely manner is crucial as well.? ?
• Planning and Maintaining the Product Roadmap The product strategy leads to a product roadmap, which can undergo changes as market needs evolve over time. The product manager is responsible for defining key milestones for each feature and product release, and for coming up with release timelines. This helps the team manage their release cycles and scope per cycle.? ?
• Reviewing Metrics Reviewing various metrics is an essential part of the product manager’s job. Knowing which metrics are important, how to collect data, how to analyze it, and how to interpret is critical, as key decisions are taken based on them. These metrics help gain valuable insight into how the product is performing in the market and whether preventive or corrective measures are required. For example, for a product with a monthly subscription, if users are unsubscribing, the product managers will review the user experience to identify root causes and use the data to make informed decisions about improving user engagement. ? ?
• Coaching, Team Management, and Recruiting The product manager is responsible for coaching teams and helping the recruitment team hire the right talent to build products. This also involves listening to team members’ needs, providing necessary guidance, mentoring, and developing teams to help them reach their full potential. ?
• Researching Market and Competition The product manager is responsible for direct and indirect marketing of the product. This may include developing a marketing plan, setting pricing, and creating promotional materials either individually or with the marketing team. The manager should be able to identify the target audience and create strategies to reach them.? Their overall responsibility also includes analyzing market trends and resultant customer feedback to improve the understanding of the market and how the product is being perceived in the market. Some of the tools the product manager can use include customer surveys and competitor analysis.
• Pricing and Packaging The product manager strives to create the optimal pricing and packaging plan to maximize customer satisfaction and give the company a good return on investment. She involves early customers for their feedback and studies the competitors’ pricing, and other financial data to develop the plan. All these responsibilities can make you ponder if product management is hard. But with the right skills, you can have a successful product management career path.?

Job Prospects

As new technologies emerge, demand for new products and services is growing. As companies rush to cater to the growing demand, they are increasingly on the lookout for product managers to build, launch, and manage their products.

According to productschool-dot-com’s recent survey, 59% of respondents said that product managers are the main drivers of innovation and digital transformation in a company.

The other finding of the survey conducted is that along with a rise in hiring product managers, there is a corresponding increase in the pay packages being offered to them.

According to data from Indeed, the average salary for a product manager in the United States is $106,627, which is, interestingly, the double average salary in the U.S., which stands at $53,490 in 2023. The average salary for a product manager in the UK is ￡53,590 per year. This is around ￡20,000 higher than the national average salary of ￡29,600 per year. In India, the average product manager's salary is ?9,00,000 per year (around US$13,000). This is much higher than the national average salary figure of ?3,87,500 per year (around US$5,000).

Considering all these factors, is being a product manager a good idea? It definitely is.

Developing and Working on Skills

There are various ways to get into product management but for a successful career in product management, you need to have a wide range of skills. You need to be able to understand customer needs, have an understanding of the market and competitive landscape, have the ability to juggle multiple projects, and be able to manage both; stakeholders and teams.?

As a product manager, you need to ensure that the product meets the needs of customers, is profitable for the company, and is successful in the market. A career path in the product management field requires one to work on their skills in order to manage a wide variety of needs and expectations.

You should be able to collaborate with stakeholders and cross-functional teams, create innovative solutions, be aware of industry trends, and make decisions that will benefit the company.

Must-have Product Management skills

“Product managers do not live in a black and white world of Yes & No, but more so in the gray area of What ifs and Maybes.” says Vivek Bedi in his article “Why do I hire product managers primarily based on emotions over experience”.

According to him, if a product manager answers a question with Yes or No, they lack in-depth experience because product managers seldom get straightforward answers, yet they seek the right solution by working with different stakeholders.

Thus, being able to work with uncertainties and separate ‘signal from noise’ is one of the primary soft skills needed for product managers. As a product manager, you need to be able to work with different stakeholders, teams, data and analytics, and management. Some of the key specific skills required for entering into the product management field.

• Analytical and Problem-Solving Skills A product manager should be able to spot opportunities in every situation, and be able to develop creative solutions either on her own or with the help of the team. For instance, a product manager could conduct surveys, interviews, or focus group discussions and use analytical and problem-solving skills to identify specific customer needs. And doing this can improve existing products or create new products and services. ?
• Business Acumen Product managers should be able to understand the business aspects of the product such as pricing, marketing, and distribution, and be able to analyze them for product improvement or new product opportunities. For example, say Joan is a product manager for an e-commerce company. She’s been asked to look for ways to improve conversion on the website. She decides to look for potential blockers for navigation on the website. Not finding any she then uses her understanding of data, markets, and industry trends to devise a reward solution. She works with the team to implement a system that incentivizes customers to recommend the service to friends. This gives the company a steady stream of new customers. And thus the product manager's business acumen helps the company achieve its objective. ?
• Leadership Leadership is a very important skill for product managers. One must be able to lead the product team, support team, quality control team, and any other team that may be involved in creating or improving the product. A key leadership skill is the ability to motivate the team. It is not uncommon for a product to undergo rapid changes in features based on how the market reacts to the new product. The team can in such cases feel that their work isn’t appreciated because the feature changes may seem like a rejection of their earlier work. Or, some of the features could be complex from the implementation perspective. In such a case, the product manager should be able to encourage team members by acknowledging the difficulty of the problem and making them understand how important the features are to the product, to the customer, and to the company. The product manager can also help by identifying tools or other support resources to simplify the solution. Motivating the team helps it stay focused on the job.? ?
• Technical Knowledge Although the product manager is not mandated to have in-depth knowledge of all the technology used in product development, some amount of understanding of the architecture, technology, tools, and processes would help work with the team smoothly. Some of the technical skills that are required for product managers are SQL, A/B testing, coding basics, Excel, Prototyping, etc. ?
• User Focus and Empathy Ability to fully understand the needs of the users of the product and be able to translate those needs into features of the product is crucial for a product manager. ?
• Negotiation Skills Sometimes customer needs and business objectives may not align well. The product manager should be able to find a balance between them. Negotiating skills would be handy in such situations. This could involve convincing the development team about the priority of certain features or negotiating with the customer for additional features in exchange for a longer contract term. This way the best interest of both the customer and the company is kept in mind. Sometimes there are no clear winners and the product manager should be able to get both parties to find a common ground. ? ?
• Communication Skills This goes without saying, doesn’t it? Good communication is essential for the product manager to communicate product ideas and plans with customers, teams, and other key stakeholders. It is clear that the opportunities for product managers are on the rise. It is a unique and prime position in a company with bright chances of growth.

Working Together for Success

A good product manager can have a significant impact on a company's success so it's important to hire a product manager with the right skills and expertise to ensure product success. Above all, a good product manager is able to identify the stated and unstated needs of potential customers, envision, develop, and launch products within a reasonable time, and then manage the entire product life cycle.

Overall, the product manager should be able to:

• Create and maintain the product roadmaps to ensure that products are launched as per schedule
• Constantly identify new market opportunities and develop product strategies to capitalize on them
• Work with stakeholders and cross-functional teams to ensure everyone is aligned with the product vision
• Conduct regular market research to understand customer needs and develop or refine product requirements accordingly
• Work closely with the team and end users to develop a quality product
• Develop and maintain relationships good with vendors, customers, and partners
• Analyze and report on product performance to identify areas for improvement
• Perform product launches and ensure that they are well-received in the marketplace

Demanding Job yet a Fulfilling Career

Product management is a critical role in any organization, more so as startups are springing up to capture the opportunities created by new technologies. This opens up multiple career paths for you in product management.

Product managers are the ones who make the dream of every company a reality by envisioning, planning, road mapping, developing, and launching the best quality products quickly. They need to have a wide range of skills in order to be successful, including strong communication and interpersonal skills, the ability to manage teams and stakeholders, and the ability to think strategically and solve problems.

The company's success is directly related to the success of the product. And the product manager is completely responsible for the success of the product. Thus, to be successful, it is integral that a company hires good product managers. A good product manager can hence, attract the best compensation and growth opportunities, irrespective of the industry.?

And so the answer to the question “Is the product management path right for me?” is an obvious yes!?

[The original article is published here.]