Is a product manager important to your business?

A high quality product manager is vital to the success of a tech team. I know that...maybe so do you. Are you not sure if your business needs a product manager or maybe you have a product manager and you aren’t really sure what value they offer (hopefully this isn’t the case)...then I hope myself and Airbyte product lead Luke Hawkins can help. 

Let's start with the fundamentals - what does a product manager do?

LH: “A product manager can have a lot of roles within an organisation, depending on the size of the team. Their essential role is to bridge the gap between the development team and the other key stakeholders within that business. 

They will also provide guidance and vision to the new product development, by analysing a myriad of factors that can have implications on the most appropriate things to build, this can include competitive market conditions, users, company data, etc.

Product managers also help to oversee the agile development of digital products. This includes writing specifications, assigning tickets, planning sprints, prioritisation, and estimations. They work closely with cross functional teams to make sure that the process of product development works like a ‘well oiled machine.’”

Product managers at Airbyte sit between three key aspects: the business, tech and design of our partners' products. We view them as CEO of products as they have to take a number of goals and milestones into account ensuring business growth goals are met (a lot of responsibility right)

So, to get the most out of your team, where does a product manager sit best in a business?

LH: “In many ways, a product manager is the port of communication between stakeholders and the development & design teams. They will essentially be a ‘translator’, turning objectives into complex specifications for developers. They will also be the barrier stopping unnecessary requests going directly to the development team and interrupting their workflow. 

Design, development, and business goals don’t always sit well with each other. This is why it is important to have a product manager who can assist with coordinating these objectives. For example, they can help designers with the development-viability of their designs, explain UX and UI decisions to developers, in a way they understand, and help CEOs manage their expectations when incrementally improving the product.”

Not every business can afford a new hire or more than one member of their product/tech team, can you as a smart hard working CEO be a product manager yourself?

LH: “Yes! In fact, in a startup, most CEOs have to play that role to some degree. Although it takes years to ‘master’ product management techniques, the pure fact that the CEO will guide the product development decisions, inspire the team, and analyse the market, does make them a ‘product manager’ in a sense. There is an endless supply of tools, resources and courses online, that can help to guide your decisions as an interim product manager.

Product management, especially in a tech business, is a demanding job. Without the necessary skills and experience, it may take up large portions of a CEOs valuable time. A big part of the role is improving the processes and synergy within the design and development teams. A busy CEO may struggle to dip in and out of this effectively.”

Ok so it definitely is possible for a CEO to combine a product focused role and their other business functions, however doing it to the quality that may be necessary is a challenge. How about a technical co-founder or CTO?

LH: “Many product managers start their careers involved in technology (such as software development), then progress into a product management role, and vice versa. 

There is a lot of crossover between the two that makes the horizontal transfer of skills highly effective. This doesn’t mean to say that you should push your CTO into a product manager role, though. 

Depending on the stage and size of your organisation, the CTO may already have their work cut out for them. Having said this, many of their day-to-day responsibilities and tasks, will directly feed into product decisions, so you can certainly consider working in tandem to fulfil product management tasks”

A high quality product manager is priceless to a business, especially one that is technologically or digital product focused. In the early stages of a startups lifecycle, founders and entrepreneurs can ‘get by’ and will have a great understanding and learning if they don’t have a pre-existing skill that will help the tech progress down the line. Often hiring a product manager before a CTO is a good route to go.