Product manager

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Please improve this article if you can. (February 2008)

Product manager is a collective term often used to describe a combination of roles that form the product management team model.

The product management team is comprised of four distinct roles that organizationally resides in the product management department. The four roles in the product management team model are the product planner, product marketer, sales engineer, and marketing communications (MarCom) manager. These four roles are the basic providers of the planning, deliverables, and actions that guide the inbound oriented product definition and the outbound marketing efforts.

The most common combination of roles to which the title is attributed are the product planner and product marketer.

1 Different roles
2 Software product manager
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Different roles

Diverse interpretations regarding the role of the product manager are the norm. The product manager title is often used in many ways to describe drastically different duties and responsibilities. Even within the high-tech industry where product management is better defined, the product manager's job description varies widely among companies. This is due to tradition and intuitive interpretations by different individuals.

In the financial services industry (banking, insurance etc.), product managers manage products (for example, credit card portfolios), their profit and loss, and also determine the business development strategy.

In some companies, the product manager also acts as a:

Product marketing manager — may perform all outbound marketing activities
Project manager — may perform all activities related to schedule and resource management
Program manager — may perform activities related to schedule, resource, and cross-functional execution

[edit] Software product manager

A typical software product manager is responsible for eliciting software requirements using a Marketing Requirements Document (MRD) developed by the product planning/marketing team and developing a high level Product Requirements Document (PRD) and an elaborate Software Requirements Specification (SRS) for the software engineering/development organization for subsequent design, development, and testing activities. In most organizations, the software product manager is responsible for creating User Acceptance Test (UAT) procedures, facilitating UAT sessions with end-users, and ensuring that the product meets the specifications and is deployed successfully.