Why does a company need full-time product managers? Product Manager. Who is it and what is it for?
Nathan Craswell, product manager at Zuora, wrote about his job: “Product manager is a strange job in Silicon Valley. you almost CEO. But in reality - no. You are a Swede, a reaper, and a trumpet player, but you know neither one nor the other, nor the third. You have all the power in your hands, and at the same time you have absolutely none. You have all the responsibility, and at the same time you are not responsible for anything.”
Olga Sorokina, especially for GeekBrains, figured out who products are, what they do and how to become one. I pass the microphone.
What does he do?
Most precise definition What a product manager should do is reflected in the following phrase: “discover a product that is valuable, usable and feasible.” That is, literally: “to discover a product that is valuable, usable and feasible.” This position is at the intersection of three pillars: business, technology and user experience. The product manager does not code, does not draw interfaces, does not sell, but must manage these processes and unite the team with a common idea to obtain results.
Business
The product manager is most interested in obtaining a profitable product from a business point of view. Therefore, he knows everything about sales, he does not sell himself, but manages this process. His task is to create a product that will bring the greatest profit to the business owner with minimal investment. From a business perspective, the product manager represents the interests of the owner.
Technologies
In order to realize the idea of creating a product, you need to understand the technology of its production. A product manager must understand the language of the developer, because most of his work consists of interacting with a team of developers, designers, and designers. That is why most often product developers become developers who have the ability to cover the entire process from design to sales.
The product may not be able to create code and draw interfaces, but he must understand how this is done. This knowledge allows him, as a leader, to assess not only the capabilities of the team, but their limitations. It is the Agile programming development methodology that is the essence of the work of a product manager, which basically lies in constant interaction with the team.
UX
To create a product that will bring maximum profit, you need to do what the consumer wants, something that will solve his problems. Therefore, the product manager must perfectly understand the user’s position, as if he were one himself. Of course, the product manager does not call customers with questions; instead, he analyzes reviews, complaints, interests and requirements of the target audience, and uses the product himself.
Team management
Among other things, a product manager is first and foremost a manager. And he has to manage on almost all fronts, which is why he can be called a mini-CEO of the project. Translating into our mentality, a mini-CEO. He must manage everything, represent the interests of the owner of the company, but still without the powers that the position of Chief Executive Officer implies.
Analysis of user demand, idea creation, development, sales - that's not all. After the idea is implemented, the work of a product manager does not end; this is its difference from a project, for example. He continues to work on the product, again analyzes the user’s opinion, his reaction, problems that have arisen, and evaluates competitors. Based on new data, an existing product is modernized or a new product is created. His job is to constantly analyze and correct the idea to meet the client's expectations, and successful business. It is a continuous yet dynamic process that requires constant analysis and creative ideas.
Where does it come from?
As we've already discussed, a good source of product managers are developers. They understand the technology of creation better than anyone and sincerely support their creation. All that remains is to expand your views to understanding the business idea and perceiving the user experience.
Designers come to products less often. For example, Marissa Mayer was an engineer and then a designer at Google. The next step was the position of product manager, which she handled very well. She is now the CEO of Yahoo.
Sandra Liu Huang was an economist at Facebook and became a product manager at Quora. Sales professional Sachin Rekhi first became a product manager at LinkedIn and is now CEO at Connected.
How to become one
Most often, they become a smart person from the team who has the necessary skills, as the biographies of most famous product managers speak about this. In this case, a person has to replenish the necessary knowledge.
Study
There are few good schools and courses, but they exist. Look at these:
- NRU graduate School Economics offers a retraining course “Product Management of a Technological Product”. Duration - one year. The cost of training is 189,000 rubles.
- Course #tceh “Profession of product manager in IT.” 2 times a week for 2.5 months. Teachers Timur Gavrilov and Dmitry Shkolnikov. Cost 99,000 rubles.
- Seminar of the Russian School of Management “Brand manager. Product Manager." Duration 4 days, 7 hours. Cost 40,715 rubles.
- Product Vision, a school for training and development of product managers. Courses, trainings, seminars on various topics. Suitable for existing and start-up products.
Read
You can understand the needs of the user by understanding psychology, and not as an abstract concept, but in the psychology of your specific user. Useful information about customer behavior and human-computer interaction can be found here.
The main responsibilities of a product manager are: Help your team (and company) deliver the right product to your customers.
If you break this process down into smaller components:
1. Help your team
The best product managers spend all their time on the highest priority things that help their team perform.
This mainly concerns: (a) coordination - ensuring that the team effectively plans, makes decisions and works together with clearly defined goals and objectives; and (b) communication - making sure everyone understands what is happening, when and why, especially now, in the face of inevitable change.
Footnote
“By “team” I mean a certain number of people working together both on the development of the product itself and everyone else involved in its promotion, including designers, engineers, quality assurance workers and those responsible for technical documentation, as well as marketing and development departments client, technical support, legal, etc.
Many people think that a product manager is the executive director or the one who “writes” the specification; however, I think this view misrepresents the influence and power of a product manager. The best teams create a work environment where the team feels involved in the project and where everyone contributes and has the opportunity to voice their suggestions and ideas. The best product managers coordinate key decisions by involving every team member, and they are responsible for identifying disagreements, eliminating downtime, and finding general solution(or at least make sure everyone is on board). This does not mean that you need to do what the product manager thinks is right. I'm not saying that product managers shouldn't have their own good ideas, but the goal is not to find a team that simply does what they've been told. Instead, the best product managers build a process around shared decision-making that involves everyone on the team.
From a tactical perspective, helping your team often involves jotting down and summarizing notes after a long meeting, or writing a specification that reflects writing actions agreed and planned by the team. I have often noticed that writing a good report can take longer than the meeting itself. And, often, working together with people from your extensive team means collecting feedback, sharing an action plan, making sure that no obstacles or pitfalls allow the team to deviate from the intended path - delivering the product to the consumer. On Twitter we called this “engaging all groups in the extended ACT SOLID team.”
ACT SOLID
Abbreviation for Analyst ( A nalytics), Communications ( C communications), Reliability/trust ( T rust), Support departments ( S upport), Operations ( O ps), Legal ( L egal), International ( I international), Designer ( D design).
While engineers write code and designers develop appearance and graphics, product managers do not attach tangible characteristics to the final product. Ultimately, however, I believe that the success of the team and the product depends on the effectiveness of the product managers.
2. (and companies)
As a product manager, you must understand common goals and company objectives, as well as how your team aligns with the overall vision. The best product managers I've met or worked with understood this very well - they often looked to the founder's vision and made sure that what their team was working on would help them get closer to realizing that goal. They could clearly articulate how achieving their goals and metrics for their product would help overall strategy companies. And they believed that their team should work for the benefit of the entire company, together with other teams, and not just do what they themselves considered important. One thing I always try to find out from candidates when interviewing for a product manager position is how often they align their own vision with the overall vision of the company, specifically the vision of the founder, CEO or VP of their group. Just like with helping your team, I'm not saying that product managers shouldn't have good ideas of their own, but they should be able to implement their ideas in a way that aligns with the company's core vision and goals, and gets buy-in senior colleagues.
3. deliver
In fact, there is nothing more important than delivering products to your consumers. You can be a great helper for your team in creating cool things, finding the desired product or realizing a shared vision, but all of this will only matter if the result of it all is helping your team get the product to market. Great product managers understand the fine line between developing the right product and getting it to market. Teams must constantly test, test their products, listen to feedback, but in any project there comes a point when the team must declare that the product is ready to a sufficient extent (although, of course, it will never be 100% ready). Teams with clear goals and objectives, and a good understanding of the customer and what they need, will be able to find the necessary compromises. Typically, good product management facilitates this process.
4. required product
Delivery is important, but the best product managers also help the team get the product right. Creating something that doesn't exist yet is always fun, but it doesn't always end in success. However, this is precisely the task of the team - to be creative and come up with an original solution that will personify the required product and solve the needs of the consumer. Good product managers have a good sense of what is right and what is wrong, and they also know how to listen to feedback from testers and those who have tried the product. They perfectly grasp the essence of the idea of the founders and management, and do everything to ensure that the product corresponds to it.
More importantly, once delivery has taken place, the best product managers can figure out whether the delivered product is “the one.” They must work closely with the team to ensure that the key features of the product are measurable and that the hard questions about whether people actually use the product or not can be answered. Once the product is delivered, they scrutinize the data and help the team figure out which parts work and which don't; they then work together to quickly develop a plan for improvement and further testing.
5. to its consumers
The most difficult part in developing any product is articulating its primary use—that is, describing who will use the product and why. The best product managers act as advocates for their customers and represent their interests in almost every meeting where product decisions are made.
This requires a deep understanding of your target audience: what their difficulties and problems are; and how your product will bring them value and satisfy their needs. Good product managers constantly listen to customer feedback, whether it's through usability tests, meeting customers in the field, reading tech support emails or tweets, or working with the people in your company who do this every day. But the best ones absorb all this invaluable information and transform it into a product vision that helps the team feel confident that it's making the right product.
The absolute truth is that there is no product that suits everyone; it is a continuous process of continuous development and improvement of the product. The best product managers are the ones who roll up their sleeves and help their team make this journey.
Anyone who shares the basic principles set out in this article, write in a personal message. We need such people to join the Yandex.Browser team.
In the new section “Creative Management” we will talk about what people do who surround representatives of creative professions - musicians, directors, artists and designers - and help them organize concerts, exhibitions, filming, etc. Despite the importance of such professionals, we sometimes don’t know what exactly they do and why their work is so important. Look At Me explains the responsibilities of creative managers. In the new issue we talk about product managers - people who help designers and programmers create popular products.
Product Manager
Places of work
Technology companies,
design bureau
Tasks
work with designers, programmers and marketers; study the needs of the audience; formulate tasks for the team; approve the concept of the final product; monitor compliance with the concept at all stages of product creation
Famous product managers
Marissa Mayer
Former product manager at Google
Yahoo CEO
Sandra Liu Huang
Quora Product Manager
Sachin Rekhi
LinkedIn Product Manager,
CEO Connected
Expert in technology, design and business
The responsibilities of a product manager always depend on the company in which he works. But in both small startups and large technology companies, this position should be filled by people who understand several areas at once, most often technology, business and design. Because special education in the field of product management does not exist (although Facebook requires from applicants for this position with a computer science degree), well-known professionals in the field are engineers like Marissa Mayer, a former product manager at Google, or economists like Sandra Liu Huang, who worked at Facebook and is now a product manager at Quora . In addition, product managers must be communicative and be able to switch from one task to another. To get an idea of what such a professional's day is like, just look at Marissa Mayer's schedule, which Bloomberg Businessweek published in 2006, when Mayer was still working at Google.
Another view of the profession is offered by LinkedIn product manager Sachin Rekhi, who distinguishes three aspects of his activity: creating a product concept, developing a design and organizing the entire process. This is a description of the three main stages of a product manager’s work on a specific project.
Study user problems and conduct research
The first stage of work on creating a product isaudience research. Before designers, programmers, and other professionals begin developing a product, the product manager must know how successful the company's previous products have been and what audience the new product will be aimed at: for example, who will buy designer furniture, use software or a mobile service that the company plans to create. For example, Jeffrey Wine, responsible for Adobe product development and Creative Cloud development, in an interview with the online publication The Great Discontent said that despite understanding that the company has created several dozen programs, his work is greatly simplified by the fact that Adobe's audience is creative professionals.
When the research results are ready, the product manager analyzes them and tries to understand in what situations and how the user will interact with the product and why this product can outperform competitors. Important aspect The work at this stage is preparing an argument. Sachin Rekhi talks about this: a product manager must justify all conclusions drawn from audience research.
Formulate product requirements and approve them final result
Based on research, the product manager formulates tasks for the development team final product. The manager also ensures that the product being created meets the needs of the audience, its psychology and behavior patterns. Throughout the entire period of work on the product, the product manager approves most of the decisions made with the team and controls the implementation of specific tasks, into which the large task facing the team is divided. In addition, all stages are discussed with the company's management: for example, Marissa Mayer's schedule, drawn up during her time at Google, includes a meeting with Larry Page and Sergey Brin, where they discuss current problems.
They're watching
for compliance with the concept
IKEA catalog for all countries and for Saudi Arabia
The product manager must ensure that everything the company produces is subject to a single concept. In modern global world This is especially important: if a company deviates from its once formulated principles in one city or country, then this will most likely become known to all its customers and can harm its reputation. For example, when IKEA removed all images of women from its catalogs for Saudi Arabia, representatives of the company had to apologize to customers. IKEA has repeatedly stated that its furniture expresses its ideology, but for many customers the catalog is as important as the furniture. Thus, a product manager must think through not only what the product will be, but also its entire marketing strategy. It is the ability to see the whole product and not lose sight of important details that makes some product managers good executive directors - this is precisely the career of Marissa Mayer, who was a product manager at Google and then headed Yahoo!
Designer Eugene Esnau believes that typical articles about what a modern product manager should be like contain only 40% of the actual information, and are more likely to describe the profession of a designer rather than a manager. In his Medium post, he listed all the qualities a product manager should have.
I believe that behind every successful product there is a person who worked tirelessly on it and led the team to develop it. Someone who has successfully combined design with engineering skills to solve real client problems in a way that meets the needs and goals of the business.
Typically this person is a product manager. I understand that there is no magic way that will help you become a successful product manager. But I believe that he must have some key qualities. Unfortunately, many managers ignore them and perhaps that is why there are so many bad and weak products on the market.
I believe that a product manager should be the second most important and qualified person in the company. His task is to gather a group of people who care about the end result, and not about the work itself. After all, the success of the company depends on the result.
“If the product is successful, then everyone on the team did what was needed. But if it fails, it’s the product manager’s fault,” said Marty Kagan in his book “Hooked.” How to create hit products."
The funny thing is that anyone can be a great product manager, even if you're a designer, engineer, or marketer. The main thing is that you have the following qualities.
You know your client better than anyone else
I don't know how you'll get to know him that well - maybe you take him out on a date, buy him a beer, or marry him. But you must know everything about your client: his problems, desires, way of thinking, life, work and decision-making methods.
All of this is very important because it affects your decision making both every day and in the long term. Your actions are determined not by the CEO, not by engineers or designers, but by the client. You must not forget about the client for a second.
You know your business like the back of your hand.
Isn't this about the CEO? Not only. Successful product managers must understand how the business works and what role their product plays in it.
You need to know the employees from each department and understand how they work. Good manager product manager knows how to convince others what is right, understands all the limitations and proves that he wants to help in every possible way and achieve the best results.
You are the leading expert in your field
You are aware of all relevant trends and technologies and know customer behavior and expectations. You understand everything so well that you could even write a book about your work.
Competitors? You know everything about them, but you don't let the knowledge distract you. The latter is very important. In one of my articles, I said that quite often companies fail because they stop listening to customers and start copying competitors.
You can easily tell how many people have unsubscribed or subscribed to your product today
Some modern companies and startups believe that a product manager should be fluent in data and analytics. The person in this position is expected to have mathematical ability. First and foremost, you need data that tells you what your customers are doing with the product.
Most product managers start their day by reviewing data about what happened in the past 24 hours. They look at sales, usage, customer satisfaction, A/B test results. At the same time, it is important not to entrust this task to an assistant or employees of the analytical department. You shouldn't miss important details about your clients. You have to know everything to see the big picture.
You are an inventor who is not afraid to take risks
Machine learning, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, voice control - all these are not one-day threads, they will always be relevant. You need to learn to adapt, experiment, take risks, and not be afraid to make mistakes when you try something new.
If you're not excited about the prospect of learning all these new technologies with your team, then perhaps you should reconsider your career choice. Still, passion for products is important for a product manager. It cannot be learned, you just have to have it.
Aren't these all qualities of a CEO?
A product manager is essentially the CEO of a product. And it's not easy being one. I know this from my own experience.
A product manager must deliver a business outcome, not just define what the product will be. Therefore, he must understand all aspects of business - financial, marketing, legal, and so on. You need to understand how the product will impact the business and the people on your team and beyond.
If you do your business only in work time, it will be of little use. You must devote all your time to it. A product manager should be one of the most influential people in the company.
What about empathy and communication skills?
I didn't include them in the list because I think they should be your default. When you work with technology, you shouldn’t forget about human qualities.
You must maintain strong working relationships with all project stakeholders and business partners. You need to convince them of the following:
- You understand their terms and conditions.
- You will provide them with solutions that will work within those constraints.
Strive to develop strong working relationships with your team - and your team members will become your family, supporting you throughout your journey.
A brand manager is a specialist who manages the sale of a certain category (group) of goods, united in their classification by brand (in foreign practice there are brand purchasing managers, which is still very rare in Russian conditions).
Brand (from the English “brand”) - factory, trademark, mark. Another translation option, reflecting another semantic meaning of this word, is “to be imprinted in memory, to leave an indelible impression.” Thus, a brand can be understood trademark, which reflects the image of the enterprise, as well as the industry orientation of the goods. A well-advertised brand that is provided with a stable positive image of an enterprise allows not only to stimulate the sale of goods, but can itself be an object of trade, bringing additional benefits to the copyright holder on the basis of licensing agreements, commercial concession agreements, etc.
Often, the consumer is more focused on the brand name rather than on the actual characteristics of the product, psychologically associating a well-known brand with quality. The task of a brand manager is precisely to convince the buyer to purchase the product. This manager is the last link that directly promotes the product (an already developed and advertised brand) to the buyer. This is a kind of indicator that allows you to evaluate the quality of creative brand development and the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. A positive assessment will be stable demand for goods. Of course, not the least role in this case is given to the abilities of the manager himself. When promoting a product, he mainly focuses not on the technical sale itself (this is done by the sales manager), but on its information and advertising support, thereby facilitating the promotion of the brand to the market.
A brand manager should focus not so much on the price characteristics of the product, but on the quality and operational parameters, know the features that allow when carrying out comparative analysis with similar products of other brands to identify its advantageous characteristics. Essentially, in in this case he acts as a representative of the manufacturer of the product and therefore must know not only economics and marketing, but also the production technology of the product being promoted. A brand manager can work both within the structure of a manufacturer that independently sells its product, and trading company, which is a distributor or dealer of the manufacturer on a mutually beneficial contractual basis.
The following requirements are imposed on brand managers: communication skills, the ability to coherently express one’s thoughts both orally and in writing, focus, and the ability to persuade an interlocutor.
BRAND MANAGER INSTRUCTIONS
1. A brand manager belongs to the category of managers.
3. The brand manager must know:
3.1. Laws and regulatory legal documents regulating the implementation of entrepreneurial and commercial activities.
3.2. Market economy, entrepreneurship and the basics of doing business.
3.4. Market conditions.
3.5. Assortment, classification, characteristics and purpose of goods.
3.6. Pricing methods, pricing strategy and tactics.
3.7. Fundamentals of marketing (the concept of marketing, the fundamentals of marketing management, methods and directions of market research).
3.8. Patterns of market development and the formation of demand for goods.
3.9. Theory of management, macro- and microeconomics, business administration.
3.11. Fundamentals and principles of PR technologies.
3.12. Psychology and principles of sales.
3.13. Features of the brand, production technology.
3.14. The procedure for developing business plans and commercial terms of agreements and contracts.
3.15. Trade and patent law.
3.16. Ethics of business communication.
3.17. Rules for establishing business contacts.
3.18. Fundamentals of sociology and psychology.
3.19. Foreign language.
3.20. Enterprise management structure.
3.21. Methods of information processing using modern technical means communications and communication, computer.
6. During the absence of the brand manager (vacation, illness, etc.), his duties are performed by a person appointed in the prescribed manner. This person acquires the corresponding rights and bears responsibility for the improper performance of the duties assigned to him.
II. Job responsibilities
Brand manager:
1. Study the features of the promoted product, analyze consumer requirements for the product based on the results of marketing research.
2. Carries out market analysis, determines target consumer market segments for product offerings.
3. Develops a strategy for promoting the product to the market, taking into account the proposals of the marketing and advertising departments for carrying out advertising campaigns, exhibitions, presentations, and other PR events.
4. Organizes product presentations to potential buyers and consumers, thematic seminars ( professional counseling O consumer properties and product qualities).
5. Develops a pricing policy for the product, determines the conditions for the sale of goods (systems of discounts and benefits for certain groups of buyers).
6. Forecasts sales volumes.
7. Draws up a budget for the product, calculates the expected profit and profitability from the moment the product is introduced to the market, determines the possibility of losses for the enterprise in the first stages of product promotion and develops proposals for minimizing them.
8. Develops product sales schemes (from the creation of new sales divisions to the reconstruction of existing sales channels).
9. Organizes contractual work in the product department, keeps records of payment transactions, analyzes operational data on sales results.
10. Coordinates product merchandising.
11. Monitors the position of the product on the market (progress of sales of the product, demand for it), determines and analyzes the attitude of consumers towards the product.
12. Identifies unsatisfactory parameters of the product, customer requirements for the product (not taken into account in the product) and reports them to the design, technological and production departments to adjust the product, giving it new consumer properties.
13. Monitors the pricing policy and demand for competitors' brands, determines the position of the product relative to similar or similar competitors' products.
14. Coordinates and controls the work of subordinate employees.
15. Prepares reports to the management of the enterprise on the work done.
17. Performs other related duties for the promotion and sale of the product.
III. Rights
The brand manager has the right:
1. Independently determine the forms and methods of promoting the brand and establishing business relationships with consumers.
2. Sign and endorse documents within your competence.
3. Request personally or on behalf of the immediate supervisor from the heads of departments of the enterprise and specialists information and documents necessary for its implementation job responsibilities.
4. Get acquainted with the documents defining his rights and responsibilities for his position, criteria for assessing the quality of performance of official duties.
5. Submit proposals for improvement of work related to the responsibilities provided for in these instructions for consideration by management.
6. Require the management of the enterprise to provide organizational and technical conditions and prepare the established documents necessary for the performance of official duties.
IV. Responsibility
The brand manager is responsible for:
1. For improper performance or failure to fulfill one’s job duties provided for in this job description - within the limits established by the current labor legislation of the Russian Federation.
2. For offenses committed in the course of their activities - within the limits established by the current administrative, criminal and civil legislation of the Russian Federation.
3. For causing material damage to the enterprise - within the limits established by the current labor and civil legislation of the Russian Federation.
