Product Manager 101: What Does A Product Manager Actually Do?

Product Manager 101:What Does A Product Manager Actually Do?Presented by Christopher Cummingshttp://www.christophercummings.comWhat Is A Product Manager?Product Management is a strategic and business-oriented role,focused on delivering solutions to market needs.Product Managers...‣ Identify profitable opportunities that meet market needs‣ Launch products into the market‣ Oversee products already in the market‣ Wind down products that longer meet market needsWhat Does A Product Manager Do?No, seriously. What does a Product Manager actually do?Understands The Market‣ Communicates with customers & prospective customers‣ Conducts usability tests‣ Surveys‣ Keeps an ongoing record of compliments/complaints‣ Actually uses the product regularlyDevelops Market-Based Product Strategies‣ Research, research, research‣ Is aware of, and understands, the competition...‣ ... but is not just slavishly copying their feature sets‣ Don’t feed The Blob by creating bloatware!Creates Relevant, Usable Documentation‣ BRD: Business Requirements Document - Identifies business problems, solutions‣ MRD: Market Requirements Document - Functional, non-functional requirements‣ PRD: Product Requirements Document - Feature details, user interface, flow‣ FSD: Functional Specifications Document - Engineers, screen by screen‣ Note: Not every company uses these acronyms--or docs--in the same way!Image source: http://www.library.cornel .edu/olinuris/ref/eng185dwb.htmlBrings Products Into (And Out Of) The Market‣ Your job is to meet market demands and actually make it to market‣ Realize that pioneering doesn’t always pay…‣ But understand the importance of not falling behind the curve‣ Timing is crucial‣ Examples: Xerox’s Star computer (’81), Lycos TV (’99)Image source: http://www.ioffer.com/sel ing/daylily120Develops Customer RelationshipsThe Means...The 5-C Method...‣ Face to face‣ Clear, not jargon‣ Email‣ Concise, not convoluted‣ Blog‣ Confident, not weasel words‣ Telephone‣ Courteous‣ Social networks‣ Completely understands the issueImage source: http://www.relenet.com/Image source: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/01/04/nytfrontpage/20070104POD_index.htmlBridges Every Department That Touches Product‣ Sales‣ Marketing Communications‣ Engineering‣ Design‣ Customer Service‣ QA‣ OperationsThe Product Manager’s Role: To Avoid This