What is Product Management?

In my experience, firms often hire product managers with a narrow view of their responsibilities and fail to recognize the wide range of skills and expertise required for success. Product management is a multifaceted and demanding role that involves overseeing the entire lifecycle of a product, from its conception and launch to ongoing support. While effective prioritization and execution are important skills for product managers, they must also possess strategic thinking abilities and a deep understanding of the market, competition, and customer.

Fundamentally, product management involves four main stages: discovery, design, development, and deployment. Each stage plays a crucial role in ensuring the success of a product and requires specific skills and approaches.

Discovery

The discovery phase entails gaining a comprehensive understanding of the problem to be solved and creating a prioritized list of features.

The first step is to define the vision and value proposition of the product. The vision should be an inspiring and aspirational statement of what the product aims to achieve. The value proposition, on the other hand, should be a clear, concise, and persuasive statement highlighting the benefits the product provides to its users.

Conducting market and competitor research is invaluable in developing a compelling vision and value proposition. This research should address two key questions: How does the product compare to existing products from both competitors and within the same company? What are the unique selling points of the product?

The next step is to gather input from customers. Creating user personas can provide a better understanding of the needs and desires of the target users. User personas are fictional representations of the target customers and can help answer questions such as: Who is the target customer? Who will purchase and use the product? Are they the same person? Which customer needs will the product address?

Once the key user personas have been identified, conducting customer interviews with representatives of each persona is essential. Asking questions like "Walk me through your current process from start to finish," "What is your competitive advantage over other firms?" and "What advantages do you suspect some competitors have over you?" can provide valuable insights.

At this point, a preliminary feature list can be prepared based on the understanding of the problem. Each feature should be aligned with both the addressed customer needs and the business goals it helps accomplish.

After creating the preliminary feature list, the next step in the discovery process is to validate these features with customers. It is beneficial to approach clients who tend to provide constructive criticism. Presenting them with a rough sketch or outline and asking whether the idea will help them, followed by probing their response with "why or why not," can be insightful. Another helpful question is, "What is the single thing without which this feature or project cannot succeed?"

The final step is to prioritize the feature list and assess the relative size, impact, and timeframe for each top project. Breaking down each project into manageable pieces that the development team can tackle, while anticipating potential obstacles that may hinder the product's success, is crucial.

Design

During the design phase, product managers develop wireframes, prototypes, and mockups to gather user feedback for the top items in the feature list.

A popular and effective approach, as described in the book "Sprint" by Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky, and Braden Kowitz, involves assembling a cross-functional team. Each team member individually sketches potential solutions, essentially engaging in a process of "brainstorming on paper." Once these ideas are shared and discussed, the team votes on the proposed solutions, ultimately selecting the most promising ones. Mockups of a minimum viable product (MVP) are then created to present to clients.

One common mistake made by product managers in this phase is allowing clients to take control of the design process. Instead, product managers should present clients with mockups to obtain their feedback and gain insight into their preferences and concerns.

Development

The development phase revolves around translating the design into a fully functional product. It entails coding, testing, and debugging, all of which require close collaboration between product managers and engineers. The product manager must make sure that the product the team delivers meets the predetermined definition of success. 

The goal of agile is to quickly deliver a functional version of the product that can be tested and validated. It takes time to determine if the product is delivering the desired impact. Hence, it is essential to move on to the next MVP and continue developing new iterations and improving the product as feedback is received. Once feedback on the initial MVP is obtained, the product manager can choose to iterate and refine it until the desired impact is achieved or learn from the project and transition to the next one.

Deployment

The deployment phase focuses on getting the product into the hands of users and evaluating its impact. It also provides an opportunity for the marketing, sales, and support teams to establish relationships with users.

A key aspect of this phase is conducting comprehensive user testing to analyze the product's impact and make necessary adjustments. A successful product manager is highly responsive to user feedback, actively seeking ways to enhance the product based on real-world usage and evolving user needs. Additionally, ensuring the product's scalability during this phase is essential, as it enables future growth and improvement while maintaining a seamless user experience.

Each stage of product development plays a critical role in achieving the success of a product. By understanding and focusing on each stage, product managers can effectively build products that meet the needs of the target market.