Roles of the Product Manager

While it varies by company, the role of product manager generally encompasses three areas:

• Experience (design). This is the user-facing aspect of the product. It means deciding which features to build for the users—not necessarily which features will make money but which ones make for a better product.

• Technology (engineering, project management). This involves understanding the implementation of the product. At the least, it means managing the schedule and checking in on accomplishments. In a more technical product manager role it might involve working directly with developers to create an API specification.

• Strategy (business). This is the piece most aligned with brand management. Strategy means deciding which business areas the product needs to grow in and why. It also means running A/B tests and other experiments to help optimize the performance and revenue of the product.

Evolution of the Product Manager: Better education needed to develop the discipline by Ellen Chisa | ACMqueue