What are the main job responsibilities of a product manager in a small or medium sized company?

I've been working in an internet company for 7 years.

Product managers and engineers are at the heart of every company, one responsible for what "wants" to do, and the other responsible for implementing ideas.

Except for the boss, these two positions are the most important, because all the other functions revolve around the product.

This is not the case with traditional industries, which simply represent interconnection.

Content from users: 158 for three years, five years

As a new product manager, or even a senior PM, you may be more or less confused about the position. What exactly is a product manager? What are the main responsibilities of this position?

The definition of this position seems to be different in different areas of the IT industry, and even in different companies in the same field. While the roles and responsibilities of product managers vary from company to company, there are some key responsibilities that any product manager should have. It can be summarized into the following six aspects:

1. Market research.

Market research is the study of the market to understand customer needs, competitive conditions, and market forces, with the ultimate goal of identifying potential opportunities for innovation or product improvement. Market research can be done in the following ways:

1. Communicate with users and potential users.

2. Communicate with front-line colleagues who are directly facing customers (such as sales, customer service, technical support, etc.)

3. Research market analysis reports and articles.

4. Try out the competition.

5. Carefully observe user behavior, etc.

Market research culminates in a business opportunity, product strategy, or business requirements document (BRD) detailing how to capitalize on potential opportunities. The main outcomes that emerged were: Business Requirements Document (BRD) or Business Opportunity or Product Strategy

2. Product definition and design.

1. Product definition refers to determining what needs to be done with the product. This is usually described in a Product Requirements Document (PRD), which may contain information such as:

1. The vision of the product.

2. Target market.

3. Competitive analysis.

4. Detailed description of product functions.

5. Priority of product features.

6. Use case

7. System requirements.

8. Performance requirements.

1 In this stage, in this stage.

What makes a good product manager? In addition to grasping user needs, what other capabilities do product managers need?

[Product Manager]Internet work experience, product capabilities, job content.

The product manager is the key enabler of the implementation of specific project requirements at the micro level, and the key to assisting the project manager in project control, but from a functional point of view, it usually does not have real power, so it is a typical "obligation, no authority" position.

The product manager is mainly responsible for cooperating with the project manager to complete the project planning, management, coordination, specification and document formulation, and is responsible for the planning and design of products in data-related projects, and formulating product development, design, tracking and optimization plans. In the process of project development, it is necessary to maintain communication with visual design, front-end architecture, front-end development and other departments to ensure that the product requirements are understandable, achievable and executable. According to the company's planning, design product design documents, prototype design documents and product interaction prototype design, including interface, process, function, components, etc.

For the overall product project quality management and schedule management, ensure that the project completes the planning, development, testing and launch according to the schedule.

Since product managers need to face all aspects of planning, design, development, testing, and launch, a strong sense of responsibility, innovative work spirit, rigorous work attitude, strong communication skills and logical judgment skills are essential qualities for a successful product manager. Proficiency in the application of common tools for product project and life cycle management, such as mind mapping tools, product prototype tools, product process tools, version management tools, project management tools, etc., is a necessary vocational skill.

There are four main phases to the product manager's workflow:

Industry research stage, including market research, industry status analysis, user portrait analysis;

Product definition stage, including market opportunity analysis, product planning, operation strategy, user demand stage, including demand collection, demand sorting, document output, and technical discussion;

Development stage, including project follow-up and project release;

Job Responsibilities of a Product Manager:

First, analyze the market environment and the competing products of other companies in the industry where the company is located, and design the product function.

Second, deeply explore user needs, innovate products, effectively plan the development and function of products, and promote the implementation and implementation of product functions.

Third, we should always pay attention to the data of the operation and do a good job in user research and feedback.

Fourth, we should pay attention to the situation of competitors, make targeted adjustments to their marketing activities, and launch corresponding countermeasures.

Fifth, it is necessary to plan the project management schedule and ensure that the project is implemented in a timely manner within the agreed time.

Sixth, it is necessary to guide product designers to build high-quality UI and interaction teams for enterprises.

Seventh, it is necessary to put forward constructive suggestions for the long-term development of the product and write a plan in advance.

Eighth, before the product is landed, it is necessary to estimate the possible future risks in advance and do a good job of complete control.

Product managers need to consider the characteristics of the target users, the competitive product, whether the product fits into the company's business model, and many other factors. In general, a product manager manages one or more tangible products. However, a product manager can also be used to describe a person who manages intangible products such as products, information, and services.

The role of a product manager in the tangible products industry is similar to that of a project director in the service industry.

Related Notes:

The description of a product manager's responsibilities is still very diverse, and it varies from person to person and company to company. Even in the relatively consistent high-tech industry, job descriptions vary widely from company to company.

However, it is generally believed that the responsibilities of the product manager mainly include: the product manager is responsible for investigating and determining what kind of product to develop, what technology to choose, what kind of business model, etc. according to the needs of users. She or he also coordinates R&D, marketing, operations, etc., determines and organizes the implementation of the corresponding product strategy, and other series-related product management activities according to the product life cycle.

In the financial services industry, product managers are typically responsible for managing products (such as credit card portfolios) and their profit and loss, as well as determining their business development strategy.

The work content of the product manager includes demand collection, demand analysis, demand landing, project tracking, project launch, data tracking, and training of business personnel, assisting in operations, sales, customer service, etc.

The product manager is a leader who focuses on solving problems, integrates and manages various human, material and other resources, and efficiently turns solutions into actual product output.

The roles and responsibilities of product managers vary slightly from company to company, but the core responsibilities are the sameWe can interpret the main work content of a product manager from the five stages of product development:

1. Product planning

The purpose of product planning is to make R&D work more orderly.

In the product planning stage, the responsibility of the product manager is to do a good job of preliminary research and output a complete product planning plan.

The main work of preliminary research includes market research, policy analysis, industry trends, competitive product analysis, customer research, etc.; After doing a good job in the preliminary research work, the product manager should further sort out the research results and data, clarify the positioning of the product, combine its own resources, clarify the business development trend, plan the direction of system construction, and finally output a complete product planning plan.

2. Demand analysis

The process of demand analysis is not a simple demand handling, the product manager first needs to classify the collected requirements according to the actual situation, such as business needs, user needs, and functional requirements according to different objects.

After classifying the requirements, the product manager can screen the requirements from the three dimensions of authenticity, value, and feasibility, filter out the false, unfeasible, worthless, invaluable, or unsatisfactory input-output requirements, and extract the essential needs of customers from the remaining requirements.

The requirements are then categorized and prioritized to help the product be organized and developed, and finally the requirements document is output.

3. Product design

The process of product design is the process of functionalizing and visualizing product requirements, and product managers need to output specific functional design solutions that can achieve demand goals to support efficient communication and business execution by relevant parties such as demanders, R&D teams, and operation teams. The main tasks of the product manager at this stage include process design, functional architecture, prototyping, etc.

Fourth, promote the realization of product goals

First, the product manager needs to coordinate the timelines of each position and further answer the questions about the needs of each position.

Secondly, the product manager should also make a correct judgment on the difficulties encountered in the development process, eliminate the interference factors of the outside world on the development, eliminate the difficulties for the development team, and make timely decisions on demand changes or technical solutions, track the progress of product research and development, and ensure the smooth progress of research and development.

In this process, the product manager should do a good job of communication and coordination with superiors and team members, maintain the consistency of information from all parties, conduct effective communication, and ensure that the product moves forward according to the established goals.

5. Acceptance and delivery of products

After the product is launched, the product manager should pay attention to the relevant data in time and do a good job of data analysis. Evaluate whether the product or function has achieved the expected effect based on the data, and if the expected effect is not achieved, the product manager should take the lead in the review work, analyze the reasons for the failure to achieve the expected effect, output perfect measures and plans, and implement them effectively. At the same time, product managers need to track customer feedback in a timely manner and accumulate data and experience for the next release or product.