Why every Organization needs Product Managers in 2021

There is likely to be a huge shift towards digital technologies in 2021 and organizations of all sizes have to start thinking like software companies to remain competitive. Regardless of if whether an organization is a technology company or not, there is a critical role that can no longer be overlooked. As long as an organization has a digital product/channel/website that customers interact with, a product manager is required. In this article, we delve into the key responsibilities of the product manager role and the advantages they bring to your team.

“As long as an organization has a digital product/channel/website that customers interact with, a product manager is required”

Recently, I watched in amazement as my three-year-old daughter dismantled a new toy I bought her and converted the frame to a makeshift skateboard. It is very normal behaviour for children to find a variety of use cases for their toys, but it did get me questioning if I should have bought a skateboard instead.  After all, I did not bother to ask her opinion before making the purchase and I wrongly assumed she would like whatever toy I bought.

This got me thinking about the similarities between buying toys that our children don’t want and building technology products that customers don’t need. It is amazing to think how much time, money and energy are wasted building products the market really does not need. Organizations can sometimes act like the all-knowing parent that gives customers a product without first taking time to ask the opinion of the customer. Too many product teams do not have a customer champion as part of the team and without the customer advocate, a software product may end up not being valuable or usable for the end customer.

“Organizations can sometimes act like the all-knowing parent that gives customers a product without first taking time to ask the opinion of the customer.”

In an ideal world, a subset of the customers should be part of the product team from concept to launch. However, customers have their personal lives to deal with and are rarely interested in investing that much time in helping organizations build products. In the absence of actual customer volunteers, it naturally falls to the role of the product manager to act in the role of the customer champion.

The product manager should be the chief customer advocate that brings in real data of user needs that can guide the development of a product.  The product manager is a very important role that brings the customer’s voice into the design and review meetings in a product team.

Given the importance of the product management role, it is still a surprise that product managers are not in higher demand in Nigeria. The biggest recruiters of product managers are usually sexy and well-funded startups while other product companies seem to focus heavily on hiring engineering skills.  For example, our technology recruitment business sees far more demand for software engineering skills than for product managers.

“The product manager should be the chief customer advocate that brings in real data of user needs that can guide the development of a product.”

Software engineers a crucial role; however, the end product is far more than just the set of implemented features. According to Jim Semick (CEO of Product Plan), the product is the way you acquire customers, the sales process that you go through to actually close a customer, the experience that someone has when they’re going through the process. All these falls under the remit of the product manager. This goes to show that the product manager is the glue that connects engineering, marketing, sales and design to ensure product success.  Some may even go as far as calling the product manager the Chief Executive Officer of the product. And without this role, product success may be hard to come by.

Given the limits on resources, there is every temptation for founders to skip the product management hire and take on the product management responsibility themselves. This may work fine initially and there are examples of startups that successfully bootstrapped in this way initially. However, this strategy quickly becomes unsustainable after the product is launched. The founder or senior manager soon gets bogged down with other priorities like customer acquisition, budgets, revenue, raising funds and subsequently are no longer close to the customer needs to make the right decisions. At this point, product design decisions will be based on gut feeling rather than any hard data on actual customer needs. This could be a recipe for product failure.

“…the product manager is the glue that connects engineering, marketing, sales and design to ensure product success”

While hiring a product manager does not guarantee product success, an effective product manager nevertheless can be the difference between shipping a product that customers like and shipping a product that customers do not need. Effective product managers usually perform some key responsibilities as listed below.

Setting Product Vision

Successful products must have an underlying version. The product manager should research the market, the customer and the problem thoroughly. The product manager needs to know everything that can be known and use that information to define a product vision.

Share and Communicate the Vision

All teams working on the product must share a common vision for the product to be successful. The product manager must align and communicate this vision to management, engineering, design, sales and marketing. Without a shared understanding of the common vision, an organization can get to a point where there are so much activity and busyness but no actual progress being made.

Develop Processes to get Customer data

This is a fundamental responsibility of all product managers. The product manager must be able to develop tools, processes and mechanisms for gathering relevant customer data before, during and after the creation of a product. Customer data provides the key insight that is required in making the right product decisions.

Prioritize features

There is a limit to time and resources and as such, the product manager must be skilled in ruthless prioritization to ensure the team is always focusing on the most important and valuable features.

Evolve the product

The day a product is launched, is the same day the product becomes history. An effective product manager must continually look for ways to improve the product and create more value for the customer and in doing so, also capture more value for the organization.

The product manager role is no longer optional in any technology team. This is one of the most important roles and should be part of the first few hires that are made in any team. The product manager is the glue that connects engineering, design, marketing, sales and the customer to ensure the success of the product in the marketplace.