Product Insights - Types of Product Managers?

Issue 5 - February 2024

Welcome to Product Insights - Types of Product Managers. This is a topic that I could talk about for ages! In this episode we will look at the different types of product managers and why each is different.

While you will often hear people talk about product managers in the general sense, you will also hear about specialised product managers. Depending on the background, you might find one of these specialisations a more appropriate career choice then the general role.

The most common specialisation is technical product management. This refers to a PM who has a strong technical background, and who works on a technical product. For example, this person might work on a software API where the end customer is a software developer. Technical PMs won't be writing the code or performing technical tasks, but they need understand the details of what goes into those tasks.

Another specialisation is strategic product management. This role is the complement to a technical PM, and it's someone who has a strong business-oriented background.

Once in a while, you'll also see titles liked to specific variables or tasks, such as growth product manager or mobile product manager. These roles are more focused than the general PM role, and a person in such a role will have a more specific set of skills, such as being an expert in all the different things you can do to grow a product - that is, get more customers using it.

I hope that this short newsletter has given you a couple of insights that I seen this month within Product. Next month we will cover "Product Insights - All things Roadmap!".

If you have a story or insight you would like to share to be added into next month's newsletter, great! I want to hear from you! Drew.Stevenson@next-ventures.com