What is Product Management? Definition and Examples

Summary

In this video, Josh Vector, founder of Product Manager HQ and Squibbler, explains the fundamentals of product management, differentiating it from project management. He highlights the importance of product management in modern businesses and discusses methodologies like Scrum (Agile) and Waterfall, focusing on their impact on development and management processes. The video covers the history and evolution of product management, various frameworks used by companies, and how agile product managers operate today. Lastly, it emphasizes the key responsibilities of product managers, from customer research to product strategy and lifecycle management.

Takeaways

• 📦 Product management involves overseeing all activities related to developing a product, from conception to launch.
• 🚫 Product management and project management are different: product management focuses on the lifecycle of a product, while project management is more task-oriented and follows specific phases.
• 🌀 Agile methodology, including Scrum, emphasizes iterative progress and continuous feedback, which is critical for complex product development.
• 💧 The Waterfall approach in project management is linear, with each phase needing to be completed before moving to the next, unlike Agile's iterative cycles.
• 🔄 Product managers in Agile environments focus on speed, customer feedback, continuous planning, and iterative improvement.
• 🚗 Product management has roots in Ford Motor Company, where the role was created to bridge the gap between designers and engineers.
• 🧑‍💼 Modern product managers need to be skilled in frameworks like Agile, Scrum, and customer-centric approaches to adapt to market needs.
• 📊 Product managers are responsible for customer research, creating user personas, and developing strategies that align with customer pain points and market demand.
• 🚀 Agile product management focuses on continuously releasing and iterating product features based on feedback and performance data.
• 🛠 Different companies use various frameworks for product management, such as the experimentation approach (Spotify) and the working-backwards approach (Amazon), to align product development with customer needs.

Q & A

What is product management?

Product management is a practice adopted by companies to oversee all activities related to the development of a product, from the initial conception of an idea to the launch and maintenance of the product.

How is product management different from project management?

Product management focuses on the end-to-end development of a product, ensuring its success in the market. Project management, on the other hand, focuses on the execution of specific tasks within a project, often following a sequential process like the Waterfall model.

What is Scrum, and how is it relevant to product management?

Scrum is an agile framework used in development that emphasizes iterative and incremental practices to manage complex products. It is relevant to product management because it supports fast-paced development and constant product improvement through regular feedback and adaptation.

What is the Waterfall approach, and how does it differ from Scrum?

The Waterfall approach is a project management method where each phase of development follows a sequential, step-by-step process. In contrast, Scrum is iterative, where phases can overlap and happen simultaneously in smaller cycles called sprints.

What is the history of product management?

Product management originated at Ford Motor Company when they needed someone to mediate between designers and engineers to ensure timely and cost-effective car designs. This gave rise to the first product managers, valued for their ability to unify teams toward a common goal.

What is Agile product management?

Agile product management emphasizes speed, customer focus, continuous iteration, and flexibility. Agile product managers leverage iterative processes to continuously improve products, prioritizing customer feedback over rigid, long-term planning.

What are some modern frameworks used in product management?

Some modern frameworks include the Agile methodology, the Experimentation Approach used by Spotify, the Working Backwards approach from Amazon, and the Typeform two-part framework focused on product discovery and delivery.

What is the 'Working Backwards' approach employed by Amazon?

In the 'Working Backwards' approach, Amazon starts any new product by writing an internal press release that focuses on the customer problem and how the proposed product will solve it. If the press release is difficult to write, the idea is scrapped.

What are the main responsibilities of a product manager?

A product manager is responsible for customer research, developing a product strategy, managing the product backlog and roadmap, overseeing the product development process, and ensuring continuous iteration and improvement after launch.

Why is customer research important in product management?

Customer research is essential because it ensures that the product addresses real user needs and pain points. It helps product managers develop user personas, understand market trends, and create a product that provides a good market fit.

Outlines

00:00

👋 Introduction to Product Management

Josh Vector, a founder at Product Manager HQ and Squibbler, introduces the topic of product management. He highlights its growing importance in the business and tech sectors, and how companies are recognizing the value of investing in product management. Josh teases the discussion by comparing product and project management, and sets the stage to explore the differences between the two. He also encourages viewers to subscribe for more insights.

05:02

🛠️ Defining Product Management

Product management is defined as the practice of overseeing all activities involved in the development of a product, from conception to launch. Josh emphasizes the role of the product leader as the central figure responsible for ensuring all tasks are completed successfully. The paragraph highlights that product management should not be confused with project management, setting the stage for an exploration of two important frameworks: Scrum (product management) and Waterfall (project management).

10:02

🔁 Scrum vs Waterfall Frameworks

Josh introduces Scrum and Waterfall, explaining the fundamental differences between the two frameworks. Scrum is goal-oriented and iterative, promoting teamwork and adaptability, whereas Waterfall is sequential and phase-based, with each step flowing into the next. He contrasts the iterative nature of Scrum (used in agile methodologies) with the linear process of Waterfall, illustrating how each framework aligns with product and project management, respectively.

15:05

🚗 The Origins of Product Management

Josh traces the origins of product management back to Ford Motor Company, where the role emerged to bridge the gap between designers and engineers. The paragraph explains how the product manager's role was born from a need to reconcile differing goals and ensure timely and budget-friendly delivery. Today, agile product managers have adapted this role to modern practices, focusing on speed, customer focus, and continuous improvement.

🧪 Agile and Experimentation Frameworks

Agile product management has evolved with the introduction of frameworks like the experimentation approach, used by companies like Spotify. The experimentation approach emphasizes continuous product iteration, risk mitigation, and operational efficiency. Josh also mentions the 'working backwards' method used by Amazon, where product development begins with a customer-focused press release before actual development starts.

🔍 Product Discovery and Delivery

Josh discusses the Typeform framework, which divides product management into two phases: discovery (identifying problems and testing solutions) and delivery (scope, execution, and measurement). The framework is unique in its division of MVP (Minimum Viable Product) into three stages: testable, usable, and lovable products. This approach ensures constant feedback and refinement throughout the process.

👥 Customer-Driven Approach

Josh outlines the customer-driven approach to product management, which prioritizes user and sales interviews and data usage to gain an in-depth understanding of customer needs. Companies like GoGoVan use this framework to define success metrics before building a product, ensuring alignment with user expectations and business goals.

🔨 Building and Launching Products

This paragraph explains the product management process, from identifying customer problems to building and launching the product. Product managers must prioritize problems and create solutions while overseeing the development process. After launch, the product team gathers user feedback and measures product impact, allowing for future iterations and improvements.

📊 Responsibilities of a Product Manager

Josh breaks down the responsibilities of a product manager, focusing on customer research, product strategy, and backlog grooming. Product managers must understand market needs, create user personas, and analyze competitors. They must also develop a coherent product strategy that aligns with business goals and guides the product team through development.

🚀 Product Development and Lifecycle

Josh explains how product management involves overseeing the development phase, managing cross-functional teams, and facilitating product life cycle management. This includes gathering feedback from users, setting realistic expectations, and preparing for future iterations post-launch. Product managers also play a key role in communicating with stakeholders and maintaining a unified vision for the product.

🎬 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

In the final paragraph, Josh recaps the importance of product management and its various frameworks. He encourages viewers to pursue a career in product management and promotes specialized courses at Product Manager HQ. He concludes by inviting viewers to engage with the content by answering a question about the disadvantages of the traditional waterfall approach in an agile environment, and reminds them to like and subscribe for more content.

Keywords

💡Product Management

Product Management is a practice where all activities related to the development of a product, from conception to launch, are handled. It is a highly in-demand field in the business and tech world. In the video, it is described as a complex yet essential role within companies, focusing on coordinating different teams and ensuring successful product development.

💡Project Management

Project Management involves overseeing and directing a project's progress through a series of sequential phases. It is distinct from product management, which is more iterative and continuous. The video emphasizes that project management follows a structured approach, exemplified by methodologies like the waterfall model.

💡Scrum

Scrum is a goal-oriented methodology used in product development that leverages iterative and incremental practices. It is a subset of the Agile methodology, which focuses on periodic analysis and adaptation for product improvement. In the video, Scrum is highlighted as a key framework in Agile product management, emphasizing teamwork and iterative progress.

💡Waterfall Approach

The Waterfall Approach is a sequential project management methodology where each phase cascades into the next. It is associated with project management rather than product management. The video describes how this model requires one phase to be completed before the next begins, contrasting it with the iterative nature of Agile methodologies.

💡Agile Methodology

Agile Methodology is an iterative approach to product development that emphasizes flexibility, continuous improvement, and customer feedback. It contrasts with the Waterfall approach by allowing simultaneous phases and iterative progress. The video explains Agile's importance in modern product management for its ability to quickly adapt to changes and improve products incrementally.

💡Iterative Development

Iterative Development involves repeating cycles of planning, development, and testing to improve a product continuously. It is a core principle of Agile methodologies like Scrum. In the video, iterative development is presented as crucial for refining products through regular feedback and adjustments.

💡Product Lifecycle

The Product Lifecycle refers to the stages a product goes through from ideation and development to launch, maintenance, and eventual retirement. The video outlines how product managers oversee this entire lifecycle, ensuring each phase is executed effectively to meet business goals and customer needs.

💡MVP (Minimum Viable Product)

MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product, a version of a product with just enough features to satisfy early users and provide feedback for future development. The video mentions how frameworks like the Typeform approach break the MVP into three parts to gather feedback and data incrementally, ensuring a measured and testable approach.

💡Customer Research

Customer Research involves gathering and analyzing information about customers to understand their needs and preferences. It is a fundamental aspect of product management. The video highlights how product managers conduct extensive research to create user personas, analyze competitors, and shape product strategies effectively.

💡Frameworks

Frameworks in product management are structured approaches or methodologies used to guide the development and management of products. Examples mentioned in the video include Scrum, Waterfall, the Experimentation approach, and the Working Backwards approach. These frameworks help product managers organize tasks, prioritize activities, and achieve successful product outcomes.

Highlights

Product management is one of the most in-demand fields globally and has become a buzzword in both business and tech companies.

Product management involves all activities related to product development, from ideation to launch, with the product leader at the center of these activities.

Product management and project management are often confused, but they differ in their approaches: product management focuses on iterative product development, while project management often follows a more sequential process.

Scrum, a subset of the Agile methodology, emphasizes iterative, goal-oriented development for managing complex products and improving them continuously.

The Waterfall approach, associated with project management, follows a sequential progression of tasks, whereas Agile projects are iterative, with tasks happening simultaneously in sprints.

Agile product managers are becoming more sought after, with their focus on speed, customer needs, continuous planning, and adaptability.

Product management originated at Ford Motor Company when they created a role to mediate between designers and engineers, giving birth to the product manager role.

The Experimentation Approach, used by companies like Spotify, focuses on iterative development and feedback to reduce risk and optimize products over time.

Amazon’s 'Working Backwards' approach begins product development by writing a press release from the customer's perspective, focusing on the problem being solved and customer reaction before any development begins.

Typeform’s two-part product management framework emphasizes both product discovery (identifying and testing solutions) and delivery (scope, execution, and iteration).

The customer-driven approach in product management centers around user and sales interviews, using data to develop the simplest and most effective solutions.

Gogovan’s approach links success metrics to team objectives, helping avoid instant reactions when reviewing incoming data.

The iterative nature of Agile projects allows companies to gather user feedback continuously, refining their products through multiple iterations.

Product managers play a key role in customer research, understanding the product market, creating user personas, and analyzing competitors.

A well-developed product strategy is essential for aligning a product’s features and functionality with customer needs and business goals.

Transcripts

hi there my name is josh vector i'm one

of the founders here at product manager

hq i'm also the head of product and

founder of a software company called

squibbler and in today's video i'd like

to discuss one of the most common

questions

about product management which is what

is it

so what is project management and as you

may know it is one of the most in demand

field in the world and with it has

quickly become one of the major

buzzwords in the business field today as

well as within lots of different tech

companies and companies understand that

the time to invest in product management

is now which leads business leaders to

ask what exactly

is product management how is it

different from project management will

product management bring any benefit to

my business and in this video you'll

learn the answer to all those questions

and more but first don't forget to

subscribe and hit that notification

button to get direct notifications from

product manager hq whenever we post new

and insightful videos just like this one

and that way you'll always be first in

line to get great content from product

management experts let's dive right into

the discussion what is product

management as you can imagine with

product management being such a diverse

field no doubt there are hundreds of

definitions that you can find each one

with its own unique subtleties however

in my opinion there's no need to over

complicate

an already complex field especially when

there's a simple definition that will

help us to get a clear understanding of

what product management is at pmhq we

like to think of product management as a

practice adopted by company in which all

activities related to the development of

a product are handled my activities i'm

talking about everything from the

conception of a product idea all the way

to the launch date and all that comes

with it a product leader therefore is

someone who is at the center of all

these activities in turn being the

person who supervises what is done and

ensuring that they are done well

before we continue it's important not to

confuse product management with project

management in order to illustrate these

differences it's crucial that we first

discuss two of the most important and

well-known frameworks

used by companies to solve specific

problems namely scrum and waterfall

approach why you might ask simple each

of these frameworks is heavily

associated with each of the fields that

we're going to be talking about let's

start with scrum scrum is a

goal-oriented methodology used in

development that seeks to leverage

iterative and incremental practices to

help manage highly complex products

scrum is one of the main branches or

subsets of the agile methodology a

broader framework applied to development

that emphasizes iterative periodic

analysis and adaptation for product

improvement apart from being an

iterative approach to product management

agile is also recognized for the focus

that places on three other aspects of

product projects so we have one a

leadership framework that inspires

teamwork while still respecting the

importance of self-organization and

individual contributions to projects

then we have two an approach to product

creation that speeds up the design

development and implementation process

without compromising on quality and

three a business focus that seeks to

bridge the gap between company goals and

customer needs this brings us to the

second framework that i want to discuss

today which is the waterfall approach

one which is associated with project

management as opposed to product

management the waterfall model

emphasizes that projects should follow a

logical progression of steps throughout

the software development lifecycle or

sdlc just like the name implies each

phase of the project cascades into the

next progressively flowing down like a

waterfall the main difference between

them is that waterfall projects are

completely sequential while agile

projects are completely iterative in a

cycle

waterfall projects can be broken down

into several distinct phases there is an

ordered set of phases and each phase

needs to be completed one by one phase

two cannot be started until the previous

phase has been completed and so on and

so forth on the other hand agile

projects are based on small phases that

can happen simultaneously involving

various team members these individual

deliverable pieces are called sprints

and lasts a few weeks

once each sprint is completed the

feedback is used to plan the next phase

therefore to bring this back full circle

product management differs from project

management in terms of the very process

and approach used to tackle tasks during

a given project now that we've seen the

differences between product management

and project management let's go ahead

and take a look where product management

came about the history of product

management can be traced back to the

early days of ford motor company they

had a problem with getting their

designers and engineers working together

on car designs they needed someone to

reconcile the two groups conflicting

goals so that they could deliver on time

and within budget what ford did was to

create a separate role for someone who

could get the two groups working

together

thus the product manager was born the

first product managers were valued for

their ability to bring together teams

negotiate between groups and come to a

common consensus for the betterment of

the product a role which still endures

in many organizations today what we have

come to recognize as traditional product

management is a 20th century version of

this model which has largely stood the

test of time although it must be said

that with the agile development approach

today companies are looking for agile

product managers which simply means a

product manager who is familiar with the

agile approach

agile product management attempts to

solve many of the problems that exist in

the current approach followed by most

organizations

agile product managers value speed

customer focus continuous planning and

iteration over predictive estimates

a product management framework provides

a basic steps involved in a company's

product roadmap from idea to launch

there are various frameworks are being

used in the world of product management

today businesses are using a revamped

methodology for product development

all of which vary based on the product

strategy that is being implemented while

this approach varies usually it contains

as many as 11 steps if you're familiar

with project management then the first

seven steps will come as a no-brainer

you have ideation a research design

prototype development document and tests

are all fundamental design and

development aspects of any successful

project however the remaining four

phases may come as a surprise to many

the first one after the testing phase is

known as train this is a new part of the

agile methodology whereby a product team

is expected to carry out a series of

iterative actions that lead to a

tangible result this result is then

released to customers and based on

insight gained maintenance upgrades are

carried out until the product comes to

the end of its life cycle a stage called

retirement another innovative and modern

framework currently being used is the

experimentation approach companies like

spotify have employed this framework to

great success the main focus of the

experimentation approach is delivering a

great product experience over a long

period of time by iterating the product

aspects to the best possible combination

the focus is not only to deliver a great

product but to do so at minimal risk and

operational costs the framework follows

a unique model during the think phase

teams research ideas validate problems

and experiment with concepts this is a

high-risk stage meaning that if a

product idea is released without being

properly vetted the probability that it

will flop is high during the build-it

stage teams develop their product and

test it on a small subset of users to

capture feedback they also spend time

assessing the quality of the process and

the product when shipping companies

usually operate with a limited blast

radius they'll release a new product to

a small set of users then they monitor

how those people use the product if the

product is a success they'll roll it out

to the entire customer base if it's a

failure though they go back to the

drawing board the tweak-it phase is the

longest stage of the cycle teams spend a

lot of time evaluating the data and

making tweaks and adjustments to the

product or feature they also fine-tune

the operation to reduce costs and

optimize for performance another unique

approach is a popular one called working

backwards approach in fact amazon has

been one of the biggest companies in the

world to have employed it in their

product strategy to explain here amazon

starts any new product by explaining

precisely what they hope customers and

the media will say when they get their

hands on it they don't start by

outlining a new product's intended

features or capabilities instead they

focus on the customer reaction they're

hoping to elicit when a product manager

has an idea for a new product or a

product feature they write an internal

press release that announces the

finished product no one may have done

any development on the idea at this

stage the press release focuses on a

customer problem and how the current

solution doesn't solve that problem from

there they explain how their proposal

will be the product that ends all

products if a product manager can't

write a convincing press release they

scrap the idea the general rule of thumb

is that if the press release is hard to

write or difficult to explain the

finished product likely won't succeed

amazon wants all of its projects to be

easy to understand and simple to use

with those goals it should be simple

enough to write a press release that

makes sense even without the finished

product once leadership team approves a

press release the product team uses it

as a roadmap for design and development

some companies like typeform use a

two-part product management framework

the first half focuses on product

discovery which is a very important step

the second half of their framework

focuses on delivery discovery consists

of identifying problems brainstorming

solutions and validating solutions with

a testable product once a feature clears

discovery it moves to delivery which is

made up of three more steps scope

execution and measurement and lastly

iteration what sets the typeform

framework apart is its unique approach

to mvps they don't have just one version

instead they break the mvp into three

parts

the earliest testable product the

earliest usable product and the earliest

lovable product their logic is that by

breaking down your mvp into bite-sized

pieces will help you get feedback and

data during every step of the process

that way you can use a much more

measured and testable approach to

delivering something your customers want

the next approach to product management

is loosely called the customer driven

approach and i say loosely as you know

there's not one good product management

framework out there that doesn't include

some reference to customer research

however in this framework the structure

of product discovery is tied directly

with customer discovery more than any

other in turn being based on three main

pillars so you have user interviews

sales interviews and data usage product

managers spend a lot of time talking to

users and listening in on sales calls

the goal is to get the most in-depth

understanding of your users as possible

and to use all this information to

develop the best solution to address

each problem area before building

anything this framework urges product

managers to put themselves back into the

customer's shoes one more time then

review their potential solutions to try

and understand if it's the simplest

solution possible companies like gogovan

have pioneered this framework before

gogoban spends any time building a

product they define success metrics

which must link back to the single

objective for their team define these

metrics is important as it avoids any

instant reflex reactions when the data

starts pouring in a basic product

management workflow follows the same few

steps first your goal is to try to

figure out what problems customers or

potential customers are having

problems lead to opportunities the more

problems you identify the more product

opportunities you'll discover as you

work more and more with a particular

product your understanding of it will

grow and so will your view of how each

problem is interconnected with the other

what's more is you'll be better at

judging what is the best product

solution to bring to the market with a

bucket full of problems you now need to

make choices and prioritize according to

your needs this is the creative phase

you're likely to get things wrong at

first and that's okay once you're

confident that the proposed solution

will address the problem then it's time

to build this is when the team begins to

work through the requirements discussed

and documented in the solution phase at

this stage the product manager can

leverage their project management skills

to guide the development process

after all these steps you would have

either fully completed your product

feature mvp or have accomplished a first

milestone in a larger product in either

case you will be ready to launch it even

if it's for a small group of users as

soon as a few users begin to experience

your new product you'll then be able to

get feedback and measure product impact

let's take a look at the main

responsibilities of a product manager

starting with customer research this is

one of the cornerstones of any good

product strategy and it's a manager's

job to both lead the product management

team's research efforts and to also

conduct their own research on a higher

level

one of the primary requirements for any

product is its ability to solve an

actual problem for the user that's also

one of the qualities that make it a good

product market fit while conducting

research product managers carry out

tasks that permit them to gain a

comprehensive understanding of the

immediate and expanded product market

they will also be charged with creating

user personas based on detailed analysis

of user stories and typical use cases

and will also analyze competitors

strategies and product approaches in an

effort to better shape their own product

vision and overall approach to

development another key role for a

product manager is to develop a product

strategy the strategy behind the product

is as important as the quality of the

product if not more a strong product

strategy involves considering the space

the product fills in the market

implementing features that allow the

product to address customer pain points

and instilling optimal functionality in

the product while developing a product

strategy product managers use the

product specific industry knowledge

they've accumulated to decide how the

product should be developed while

creating practical product objectives

and goals any product management process

needs a complete and coherent plan that

dictates which activities are to take

place at what time how they should be

carried out and who should be in charge

of what this is called backlog grooming

which refers to the maintenance of the

product backlog and its corresponding

product roadmap depending on the company

either a product manager or a product

owner will be the one in charge of this

aspect of product management ensuring in

turn that there is a steady and easy

flow of communication between various

members of the product team they must

also meet with investors executives

stakeholders and team members to clarify

doubts unified vision

and make sure to handle possible

conflict to ensure that everyone is on

the same path for product creation once

a product has exited out of the strategy

phase and obtained the go ahead from key

stakeholders product management then

goes into the development phase which

will involve the product leader being a

cross-functional figure for on-point

operations and development this entails

providing support to team members where

necessary gathering and implementing

actual feedback between teams and also

managing the product life cycle after

the launch product management also

entails analyzing both customer and

market data in order to facilitate

future product iterations this will

involve activities such as soliciting

direct feedback from prototype users

carrying out pre-launch testers

and setting realistic product

expectations with developers so there

you go that's all for today's video

lesson about product management we

looked at how companies have used

different product management frameworks

to launch successful products we also

spoke about how diverse and critical

product leadership roles are i hope that

you've learned more about product

management and now you know what to

expect if you want to pursue a career in

product management if you'd like to know

more about this field we at pmhq offer

different specialized courses in product

management everything from technical pm

to product ownership make sure to go

ahead and check out the link in the

description where we go ahead and list

those different certification courses so

you can level up your game and before i

go i'd like to test how closely you've

been listening to the video today

here's our question what are the main

disadvantages for employing the

traditional waterfall approach in an

agile environment

let us know in the comment section below

if you haven't done so be sure to like

and subscribe to our channel and i'll go

ahead and catch you in some of our

future videos and i wish you the best of

success in your career journey

cheers