A product manager is the person responsible for the creation of a particular product for a company or organization. Product managers are responsible for defining what the product is, what it does, and what it doesn’t do. From a technology perspective, you could say that they own the functional requirements.

The product manager is responsible for defining why, when, and what that the product team (technology / engineering) team builds. It is not the job of the product manager to specify how things are built. Specifying how things are built and the architecture is the job of the technology team and its leaders (CTO, VP Engineering, etc).

Product managers are responsible for leading the organization and making really strategic product decisions. They need to really understand what features will move the needle and which ones won’t. Product managers generally work across departments: technology / engineering, marketing, sales, and support teams.

Product Managers own the product roadmap and must prioritize what is being built based on the business goals and any other initiatives. It can be a really rewarding and really difficult job depending on the stakeholders involved.

A product manager knows when they are successful because the product is being used by committed customers, revenue is growing, and the team is happy. A strong product manager can really change the dynamics of startup or established company because of the ways they rank features against goals and initiatives.

To be an effective Product Manager in any organization, you need the following: trust, support, alignment and a shared vision for what “good” looks like