A product manager is at the junction of the three blocks with which he or she constantly works: users, technology and business. Users We create a product for people. It is for them that we work as product managers. This block also includes marketing and sales teams that are at the forefront of communication with users. Technology The technical team, our developers, analysts and designers, those who directly create the product. Business The management, which has certain expectations related to understanding how a business should work, how much money it should be making and answering the questions: why do you work in this company, and for what purpose?
Users, marketing and sales
Main question — What do we have? After launching the product, we receive feedback from users (market feedback) about the results of product development: how much do they like / dislike the product, are the users willing to pay for it or not?
← What do we give users and the marketing and sales teams as a product manager?
User segmentation as determined by current product statistics.
Message to users — information about how you want to deliver the product to the user (end-user of the product). The marketing team works on this with you
Functionality, “features” are the advantages of our product, something that is worth paying attention to
The cost of the service
→ What does the product manager get from users and the marketing and sales teams?
Market feedback. The opinion of different user groups about the product, what they like or dislike, what is missing from the product, whether they consider the offered price of the service to be fair.
Business
Main question — How can we help? The business is the company’s management with whom the product manager works directly.
← What do we give to the business as a product manager?
A strategy, which decides what we will move towards and what we will create
Obligations and timelines that we set (usually in the format of a RoadMap)
→ What does a product manager get from the business, the leadership?
People, a team
A budget
Specific developmental goals: what the company needs at this stage is a global focus
! You are given resources and are expected to provide some sort of benefit to the business (financial or otherwise, depending on the company).
Technology
Main question — What to do? At this stage, you, as a product manager, form a set of documents and communication methods through which you will give your team the necessary information. It is important for the development team to be aware of ongoing changes in the market, as well as the results of user interactions.
← What do we give to the development team as a product manager?
Information about the market and its users
Task priorities — all information for developers should be clearly structured and established so that developers will not become distracted, but instead correctly perform task after task, starting with the most important one, as well as clearly understand why the team is currently focused on a specific task
RoadMap: a plan for the several months / quarters ahead, so that the team understands when and how the product development will move ahead and can choose the best ways to get to the right point.
Document formats • Technical Specifications (TS) • MRDs (Marketing Research Documents) • RoadMap • UserStories, Personas (with their help, it is possible to better explain the necessary cases that are part of the product, so that the developers add to these cases and make the best possible product). The product is developed not only by the product manager but by the whole team. The product manager’s task — is to organize approximately the same level of awareness, in order to synchronize with the development team.
→ What does the product manager receive from the development team?
A working product
Analytics and data, compiled from the use of the given product
Other roles that the product manager encounters and interacts with
Project manager
Has a described and prioritized set of tasks. With the help of the development team and the use of his or her skills, is responsible for the timely product development and implementation. Makes sure that all timelines and specifications are met.
Marketing manager
Helps identify the best target audience as well as a strategy to let users know about the product.
Analyst
Conducts an analysis of users’ behavior: which functionality is more successful than others, what should be improved, what aspects require more attention, as established by collected data.
Business development manager
Decides who to partner with in regards to the product and which partners will be the most useful (traffic, content, licensing).
Monetization manager
Answers the questions: “What will earn money and how?” & “How can profits be increased?”
Product designer
Decides what can be done to make the product easy and convenient to work with or use. Empathy! Very often having only one or a few of the above-mentioned roles in a team is not enough. In this case, the tasks that would normally be done by the missing role should be performed by the product manager. If the PM understands that he or she is not able to perform them due to a lack of time and/or focus that is needed to perform these tasks, then he or she needs to find and hire new members into the team.
Good luck and get wonderful insights for your products!