There is some confusion. And when Google says:
A product manager must: Coordinate cross-functional teams to ensure all team members are on the right page. Be a decision-maker using strategic thinking and guidance from the product team.
You can understand why. Not sure I'd know where to start if I was told to sit down and have a strategic think!
I also wouldn't put coordination and guidance at the top of my list - leadership might be better. In my businesses the Product Manager has a specific function:
To define and profitably manage the product lifecycle.
That's a big leadership job. So here's a quick description of the role:
As a Product Manager you will:
Create and manage the Product Lifecycle Plan (Product Roadmap). You will need to fully understand and articulate the customers' requirements, identify the products required, negotiate the development and delivery of those products, and manage their lifecycle.
As the customer champion, you will assertively represent the needs and desires of the customer within the business.
Define the key drivers for your product range, ensuring that each product is demonstrably better than its competition. You will lead the USP development and messaging with Marketing.
Write a comprehensive Product Description for each product (the 5D Plan) - which defines the market & competitive positioning, pricing strategy, product cost, feature and functionality description.
Take responsibility for gross profit, ROI and market share performance.
Define freemium and paid customer programs.
Work alongside the development team and the Project Manager to ensure the timely delivery of the product within the parameters of the Product Description. You will answer development, manufacturing, operations, logistics and customer service questions in a timely manner in compliance with the Product Description.
Work with the sales, marketing and launch teams to successfully launch each product into the global market. You will ensure adequate volumes of each product are available for the launch program including models, samples and launch volumes, working alongside manufacturing and distribution to ensure the customer requirements are clear, unambiguous and fully understood.
Prepare, publish and present sell-in materials.
Manage the day to day life of the product; making decisions about price positioning, distribution, customisation and allocation planning. Work alongside Marketing to generate promotional, advertising and social media plans.
Oversee the monthly forecast cycle for the product range and its adherence to the annual business and financial plans. You'll report deviations from the plan and the associated corrective actions.
Ensure stock volumes are within the defined business parameters.
Define and oversee ongoing cost reduction programs.
Define and manage end of life and succession planning in accordance with the Product Lifecycle Plan. In particular, ensuring that replacement models are launched on time, to cost, and that resulting obsolescence costs are minimised.
That's what a Product Manager does. Of course, I recognise that Product Managers come with different backgrounds, skillsets and experience, so for more junior positions they would take a subset of those responsibilities. But being a Product Manager is one of the best roles to grow into a senior business leadership position.
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