The role of the Product Manager (PM) is a broad one, encompassing a wide range of responsibilities pertaining to the product life cycle. In general, a Product Manager will oversee a product, or part of it, from ideation to distribution. Show
Find out what a long-term career in Product Management could look like for you and the career development options available. In this article you will learn more about: Product Management Role HierarchyBecoming a product manager does not require a qualification in computer science or design, so the opportunity to create products (and make a good living while you’re at it) is there for anyone who has good communication, leadership, and business skills. Of course, you will have to be truly passionate in understanding and addressing customer needs. The great thing about this career path is that there are a lot of opportunities for growth. One thing to note is that titles, roles, and responsibilities vary per company. The size and organizational structure of a company, the funding behind the product, and the product itself are just some of the factors why each company would have their own variations of these titles. Some companies may have all or some of these titles/positions and some may call them different things entirely. Furthermore, the higher the position is, their responsibilities become more specific to their organization. Associate Product Manager (APM)The APM position is where most fresh college graduates or people just entering the industry will likely start off. Candidates with degrees in computer science, business, and other related courses of study may stand out. APMs do not have ownership over anything, but will still be tasked with key projects and provide support to more senior product managers. They are generally hired at this level for the company to acquire talent early on to mold them to become the PMs the company needs. Average Salary (US): $80,000 / year Responsibilities:
Product Manager (PM)As a product manager you are the go-to person for the product. You are heavily involved in, and claim ownership of, processes throughout the product life cycle. PMs play a decision-making role due to having wider knowledge and deeper understanding of the customer needs, the product, and the stakeholders' demands. The PM constantly communicates and collaborates with teams across the organization as well as with external customers and board members. An Associate Product Manager can ascend to this position by showing both hard skills and people skills on top of the length of time spent in the organization. Average Salary (US): $110,422/ year Responsibilities:
Whilst not strictly part of the Product Management hierarchy, the Product Owner is still worth mentioning. Note that a Product Owner only exists in organizations that use Scrum. If your organization doesn’t, a Product Manager is the one likely performing a Product Owner’s responsibilities in a less time-sensitive manner. Product Owner (PO)The Product Owner is what is said to be the representative of the customer within the product development process. The PO gathers data on customer needs and translates them into product requirements for developers to work on. The PO prioritizes backlogs that developers will work on in sprints or short periods of productivity rather than managing the entire product development process as a PM would over a longer period of time. Roles: Improves team performance and prioritizes backlogs. Responsibilities:
Senior Product Manager (SPM)The Senior Product Manager role covers much of the same tasks as a PM but has more interactions with executives, the legal department, and similar higher-ranking teams. The decisions you’d make as an SPM have a bigger impact and are of higher visibility. They deal with the major features and functions, as well as enhancements of existing products. Furthermore, they are given people development duties such as mentoring junior PMs. They also serve as the voice of the product team at the leadership table and you will often see the SPM representing the product/business to external customers, attending conferences and similar events. Average Salary (US): $142,105/ year Responsibilities:
Once you reach the next level, you will have two positions to choose from: the product leader position, which is an individual contributor track; and the director/group product manager position,which is a people management track. Product Leader (PL)This is an individual contributor role meaning that the bulk of your responsibility is in product development. As a PL you would be more focused on the technical aspect of the product than managing people. In some organizations, this position is equal in rank to the Senior Product Manager and in others to the VP of Product. This role will suit you if you have ascended in tenure and seniority but do not want to further your involvement in managing people or being the conduit of information on which other teams rely. Taking this path leads to the Principal Product Manager position. Average Salary (US): $123,739/ year Responsibilities:
Group Product Manager (GPM)This position is on the people management track where you become responsible for the development of the junior product managers within your group and you will have less direct involvement in the technical aspect of product management. As a GPM, your focus is on working with teams, people issues, and alignment. To succeed at this, you will have to take a step back and look at the bigger picture to optimize processes and improve team performance. Communication, leadership, and collaboration skills are necessary to succeed in this position as you are tasked to constantly communicate with both your end-user customers and team members to identify previously unseen challenges and possible opportunities. It is a GPM’s role to create consensus around the organization. To become a GPM, you must have 5-10+ years of experience, usually a PM who has moved up within the company’s ranks. Taking this track leads to the VP of Product position. Average Salary (US): $172,198/ year Responsibilities:
Principal Product Manager (PPM)This is one of the highest positions or titles an individual contributor can attain within an organization. Once you have reached this level, there are rarely any people management tasks and the focus is entirely on the technical aspect of the product as you will be assigned to tackle the most complex and most significant technical work. For you to be hired as a PPM, you must have successfully launched multiple products and have around 8+ years of experience. Average Salary (US): $180,934/ year Responsibilities:
VP of ProductSometimes labeled Chief Product Officer, this is an executive position where your involvement with the technical aspect of product development is low, progressing to managing a wider scale of the operation — much like running a business instead of focusing on a product. The VP of Product is responsible for funding and is considered to be the face of the product to the customer. Expansion is also a main focus of a VP of Product as well as hiring of members and building teams. The roles and responsibilities of a VP of Product are organization-specific. Average Salary (US): $199, 563/ year Responsibilities:
Differences In Responsibilities Of Product Management RolesYour Career Is In Your HandsProduct Management is an exciting career choice because it gives you the opportunity to play multiple roles and work with a lot of interesting, talented people. Successful product managers possess a good mix of hard and soft skills such as user research, creating a product roadmap, communication, and time management. You can see the full list of skills and suggested methods of developing them here. Our mission at The Product Manager is to help people and teams build better products. We’re a community of product people, exploring the latest and best of customer insights, UX, design, development, marketing, and analytics. You can subscribe to our weekly newsletter and we’ll keep you in the loop with emails with fresh articles, podcasts, how-to guides, tool reviews, updates, deals, and product exclusives. Want to take a look into the future? Check this podcast out: Future Trends In Product (with CK Hicks and Scotty Moon from Crema) By Kai del Corro I write about the latest developments, software, systems, and industry trends and news for project management. What is managing the product mix?What is a Product Mix Strategy? A successful product mix strategy enables a company to focus efforts and resources on the products and product lines within its offerings that have the greatest potential for growth, market share, and revenue.
How can managers effectively manage products?What does managing a product team entail?. Set objectives and establish goals.. Organize tasks and execution.. Motivate and communicate.. Measure results and progress toward goals.. Develop people.. What are the 3 major areas of product management?It identifies the three primary areas of focus for product management, namely:. Product discovery.. Product Planning.. Product Development.. What is the difference between product manager and marketing manager?A Product Manager is responsible for the overall vision and strategy, while a Marketer is responsible for defining, building and communicating a product's positioning, value and go-to-market strategy.
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