User Research & Strategy
Product Management
The Art of Product Management: Balancing Business Objectives and Customer Needs
As a seasoned product manager, I understand that the development of a product is not an altruistic activity - the ultimate goal is to create a product that generates more profit than if it had never been developed. However, I also strongly believe that successful products can and should meet the needs of customers while driving business growth. As a product manager, I am passionate about delivering products that strike this balance and deliver exceptional value to both customers and the business. With my experience and expertise, I am well-equipped to guide a product through the entire development lifecycle, from ideation to launch and beyond.
Who is a product manager?
A product manager is a professional responsible for the strategy, development, and launch of a product. They identify the customer need and the larger business objectives that a product or feature will fulfill, articulate what success looks like for a product, and rally a team to turn that vision into a reality. After more than a decade of working in this field, I have acquired a complex understanding of how products work and what it really means to be a product manager.
Product managers work cross-functionally with teams such as engineering, design, sales, and marketing to ensure that the product meets the needs of the target audience and achieves business objectives. They are responsible for the success of the product, from ideation to launch and beyond.
What does a product manager do?
As a product manager, I am responsible for defining the why, when, and what of the product that the engineering team builds. This means I lead cross-functional teams from a product's conception all the way through to its launch. I am responsible for guiding the success of a product and leading the cross-functional team that is responsible for improving it.
A regular day for a product manager often involves being bombarded with requests from clients, questions from team members, instructions from the boss, and a hundred tasks to juggle and decisions to make. There's a lot of work to deal with as a Product Manager, but it will also end up rewarding when everything comes into play. Delegating and finding what tasks can be prioritized and which initiatives are the very best in a sea of good ideas is a crucial aspect of the process.
Product Manager Responsibilities
As a product manager, my responsibilities include:
- Understanding and representing user needs
- Monitoring the market and developing competitive analyses
- Defining a vision for a product
- Aligning stakeholders around the vision for the product
- Prioritizing product features and capabilities
- Defining measurable metrics
- Creating a shared brain across larger teams to empower independent decision making
- Managing the end-to-end process of projects from concept to design and delivery
My experience is broad and responsibilities include the end-to-end process of projects from concept to design and delivery. Projects are typically managed using an agile process.
As a product manager, I am passionate about advocating for the customer. My job is to gain a deep understanding of their needs and work closely with cross-functional teams such as engineering, design, sales, and marketing to ensure that we are delivering a product that meets those needs and exceeds their expectations. Building a successful product requires not only meeting customer needs, but also creating well-designed features that are intuitive and cohesive. To achieve this, I have developed strong leadership skills to inspire my team with my vision, research, and data, while working towards a common goal of delivering exceptional value to the customer.