What is a Product Manager?

A product manager is the person responsible for guiding a product’s success and leading the team that makes it happen. As a PM, you’re at the core of product development – which is to say that you should be best placed to decide what next to build.

You should be aware of the customers’ usage of your product and their desires, while at the same time being able to weigh internal stakeholders’ directional desires, and the business objectives. The main job is to ensure the product you’re working on meets user needs while achieving your company’s goals. This means listening, analyzing, and making strategic decisions to drive the product forward.

As a product manager, you work where technology, business, and user experience meet.

Why Does the Role Exist?

In any company, there are a lot of stakeholders, from customers and business leaders to developers and marketers. Each group has its own requests, ideas, and priorities. Amidst this sea of voices, someone needs to sort through everything and decide what features or products will best drive the company’s strategy forward. This is where you come in as a product manager.

You are responsible for ensuring that the right features are built to make the biggest impact. You analyze and prioritize different opportunities, making tough decisions on what to build next. This role exists because, without someone focusing on these priorities, a company could easily go off track, building products that don’t meet customer needs or align with the company’s goals. Essentially, you make sure every feature developed contributes to the business’s mission.

Where Do They Work?

As a product manager, you work where technology, business, and user experience meet. Picture a Venn diagram where these three critical areas overlap – that’s where you’ll find yourself.

Tech: You need to understand the technical side of the products you manage. You work closely with developers and engineers to ensure that the product is feasible, scalable, and built with the right technology.
Business: You also need to have a good grasp of business basics. This means understanding market trends, competitor analysis, and the financial implications of your decisions. You collaborate with marketing, sales, and finance teams to ensure the product fits within the broader business strategy.
User Experience: A product is only as good as its usability. You need to have a keen eye on the user experience, ensuring that the product is intuitive, enjoyable, and meets the users’ needs. This often involves working with designers and user researchers.

The Best Things About the Role

Being a product manager can be incredibly rewarding. Here are some of the best parts of the job:

Impact: You have a direct hand in shaping the products that users interact with daily. This can be immensely satisfying, especially when you see a product or feature you’ve worked on making a positive impact on people’s lives.
Variety: No two days are the same. One day you might be deep in data analysis, the next, you could be leading a brainstorming session, and another, you might be meeting with customers to gather feedback.
Collaboration: The role involves working with diverse teams across the company. This collaboration fosters a rich learning environment and helps in building a well-rounded skill set.
Problem-Solving: At its core, product management is about solving problems. Whether it’s figuring out how to increase user engagement or how to pivot a failing product, the challenge is stimulating and fulfilling.

What Has Brought Me Here

My journey into product management has been a mix of luck and experience. Over the past eight years, I’ve worked in different industries, including fintech, insurtech, travel, and ecommerce. Each of these sectors brought its own unique challenges and learning experiences, shaping how I approach product management.

From the beginning, I’ve been driven by a passion for creating value for users while enabling business growth. This dual focus has allowed me to develop a strong B2C profile, always keeping the end user in mind while aligning with business objectives. The diverse experiences across these industries have enriched my understanding and provided a solid foundation for making informed decisions as a product manager.

In the end, the role of a product manager is about being the bridge between different parts of the company and the user. It’s about making sure that every decision and every feature built is aligned with the company’s strategy and delivers real value. It’s a role that requires a blend of skills, a lot of communication, and a passion for problem-solving. And while it can be challenging, it is also one of the most rewarding careers out there.