A product manager ( PM ) is a professional role that is responsible for the development of products for an organization, known as the practice of product management . Product managers own the product strategy behind a product (physical or digital), specify its functional requirements , and manage feature releases . Product managers coordinate work done by many other functions (like software engineers , data scientists , and product designers ), and are ultimately responsible for product outcomes.
20-574: A product manager considers numerous factors such as the intended customer or user of a product, the products the competition offers, and how well the product fits with the company's business model. The scope of a product manager varies greatly, some may manage one or more product lines and others (especially in large companies) may manage small components or features of a product. In the financial services industry (banking, insurance, etc.), product managers manage financial products (for example, credit card portfolios), their profit and loss, and also determine
40-678: A battery of over 2,000 questions to elicit non-functional requirements. Her approach is to build a stakeholder profile and then interview those stakeholders extensively. The questions are grouped into three sections, all focused on user needs: In 2013, Murali Chemuturi suggested the usage of Ancillary Functionality Requirements instead of Non-Functional Requirements as "Non-Functional" connotes "never functional". Second, these requirements in fact fulfill some requirements which are supportive to main or Core Functionality Requirements. Chief Product Officer A chief product officer ( CPO ), sometimes known as head of product or VP of product ,
60-399: A feature should do, including a checklist of items that are required to be in place for the feature to be considered done, called the acceptance criteria . The details of how the feature is developed are worked out by developers and designers. At the end of the development sprint, the product owner is responsible for verifying that the acceptance criteria have been met; only then is the work on
80-459: A project. The product manager role, in contrast, requires a long-term perspective of the market and product line. The day-to-day responsibilities of a product owner within an agile project include creating and prioritizing the product backlog, which is a list of things to be done by the development team, to maximize the business value created by the project. The product backlog is made up of user stories which are brief narrative descriptions of what
100-710: A set of guidelines for requirements elicitation, to address concerns such as those identified by Christel and Kang: In 2004, Goldsmith suggested a "problem pyramid" of "six steps which must be performed in sequence": However Goldsmith notes that identifying the real problem "is exceedingly difficult". In 2008, Alexander and Beus-Dukic proposed a set of complementary approaches for discovering requirements: Alexander and Beus-Dukic suggested that these approaches could be conducted with individuals (as in interviews ), with groups (as in focused meetings known as workshops, or via Electronic meeting systems ), or from "things" (artifacts) such as prototypes . In 2009, Miller proposed
120-407: A strong focus on the market success of a product, a product owner aims to maximize the business value of the product or increment created by an agile project which can include benefits within an organization and does not explicitly relate to a product's marketability. Therefore, a product owner focuses mainly on developing a product and may limit their product owner's responsibilities to the duration of
140-447: Is a corporate title referring to an executive responsible for various product -related activities in an organization. The CPO is to the business's product what the CTO is to technology. They focus on bringing the product strategy to align with the business strategy and to deploy that throughout the organization. They are most common in technology companies, or organizations where technology
160-414: Is a part of the requirements engineering process, usually followed by analysis and specification of the requirements. Commonly used elicitation processes are the stakeholder meetings or interviews. For example, an important first meeting could be between software engineers and customers where they discuss their perspective of the requirements. The requirements elicitation process may appear simple: ask
180-484: Is non-trivial because you can never be sure you get all requirements from the user and customer by just asking them what the system should do or not do (for Safety and Reliability). Requirements elicitation practices include interviews, questionnaires, user observation, workshops, brainstorming , use cases , role playing and prototyping . Before requirements can be analyzed, modeled, or specified they must be gathered through an elicitation process. Requirements elicitation
200-500: Is often seen as a training ground for C-level leadership roles in technology companies. Notable individuals who have held the role of product manager include: Product Management communities A way for career progression for product managers is to join communities. A lot of communities have started. Notable product management communities include ProductTank Lenny Rachiskvey and Friends Product School Requirements elicitation In requirements engineering , requirements elicitation
220-401: Is responsible for all product-related matters, including strategy, alignment, hiring, and management. To reach a new level in professional development, product managers should improve data-driven skills: product analytics, unit economics, decision-making based on metrics, the ability to work with other departments, and financial skills. Because of the broad responsibilities, product management
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#1732775797036240-417: Is the practice of researching and discovering the requirements of a system from users, customers, and other stakeholders. The practice is also sometimes referred to as " requirement gathering ". The term elicitation is used in books and research to raise the fact that good requirements cannot just be collected from the customer, as would be indicated by the name requirements gathering. Requirements elicitation
260-640: The Google Associate Product Manager program or the Facebook Rotational Product Manager program. Individual contributor product managers have no direct reports: they "lead through influence" in a cross-functional product team. As individuals grow in seniority, they eventually take on managing other PMs, under titles like Group Product Manager, Product Lead or Product Director. The Chief Product Officer (sometimes known as Head of Product or VP Product)
280-404: The business development strategy. The term is often confused with other similar roles, such as: The role of the product manager was created to manage the complexity of the product lines of a business, as well as to ensure that those products were profitable. Product managers can come from many different backgrounds because their primary skills involve working well with customers and understanding
300-522: The customer, the users and others what the objectives for the system or product are, what is to be accomplished, how the system or product fits into the needs of business, and finally, how the system or product is to be used on a day-to-day basis. However, issues may arise that complicate the process. In 1992, Christel and Kang identified problems that indicate the challenges for requirements elicitation: Requirements quality can be improved through these approaches: In 1997, Sommerville and Sawyer suggested
320-425: The feature is needed to stay competitive. To facilitate this decision-making process the product manager may set out a vision for the product or a general framework for making product decisions. The product manager also ensures an atmosphere of cohesiveness and focused collaboration between all the members of the team, all in the interest of driving the product forward. Product managers are often thought of as sitting at
340-460: The feature officially done. Product managers often start their careers as engineers or specialists in other functions and eventually transition to product management. Product managers undergo a structured interview process, often a mix of case-based product strategy interviews, analytical interviews, and more traditional behavioral interviews. Increasingly, large technology companies are hiring and training young graduates directly through programs like
360-432: The intersection of business, design, and technology. Within an agile software development environment, product delivery responsibilities are taken on by a product owner , a project role that a product or engineering manager can perform to ensure the successful implementation of tactical plans and requirements during the development stage of a product. While the product manager has a strategic and long-term perspective with
380-424: The lifecycle the product manager's primary focus may be on acceptance testing of the product. Throughout all the stages of the product development process, the product manager represents the needs of end-users, evaluates market trends and competition, and uses this information to determine what features to build. For example, a product manager may decide a feature is needed because users are asking for it, or because
400-442: The problems the product is intended to solve. A product manager is responsible for orchestrating the various activities associated with ensuring that a product is delivered that meets users' needs. A software product manager's role varies as the software moves through its lifecycle; earlier in the development process the product manager meets the intended audience of the product to engage in requirements elicitation , whereas later in
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