Product management, Product management…. We hear it everywhere, we like it, but do we know what it is? How does it work in real life?
Luckily, we have a team member who can answer all the questions and make everything clear.
Meet Achi Bakhsoliani, who worked in Leavingston, Redberry, Tbc and now is product owner in Webiz.
He is here and he is happy to share his experience with you.
Let us start
Product manager - “Hey, project manager, right? “Certainly not. There’s no strict definition for this role, it depends on the company and works environment.
Product managers can do various kinds of things in different types of companies. F.E. work on product value proposition, define the product roadmap, conduct research/workshops with potential users, analyze customers’ behavior and produce new ideas, deliver these ideas to the dev team and work closely with the designer to illustrate how new features will look like. Even in some companies, they do some project management too (although they should not). This list can be too long, so to make a long story short, the product manager is a person who must think about how to make customers’ lives easier.
What is the most important thing a product manager does?
As I said, there are different job descriptions in different companies for product managers. F.E. In many companies they do not conduct any workshops, or they do not work on the value proposition.
But one thing which is always required from product managers is to analyze customers’ behavior and journey. It is impossible to deliver a good product/service without working on customers' journeys and knowing what their main needs and pain points are.
Why product management
For me, it’s fun and challenging to think about different problems and then their solutions, which, in the end, can improve users’ experience with the product.
What are the pros and cons of this job
As I mentioned above one good thing about this job is that it is challenging. Also always thinking about customers' journey and experience improvements, really trains your mind. You start to easily understand how different businesses and processes work around you, in the end, you start to come up with your own ideas more frequently.
Cons - It really requires extra hard work, but every job does 🙂
What tools are best for product management
Figma is really good for some wireframing and prototyping and even for presentation.
Miro is a great collaboration tool and good for describing different user flows.
I also use Notion to manage my different to-dos, files, documents, customer feedback, etc.
Analytics tools like Mixpanel or Hotjar are essential for understanding customers’ behavior
What do I need to do to become a product manager?
Understanding how different business models and processes work a must is because you’ll implement that business logic later.
If you want to work on digital products, then knowing the basics of software development is mandatory.
Also, it’s very important to understand the fundamental principles of UX/UI
Who needs a product manager
Any company who wants to have a good product.
What skill do beginners need to develop to become Product Manager
Empathy is a very crucial skill to have as a product manager, which is a cornerstone principle of the Design thinking approach (If you haven’t heard about it, check it out)
It’s not important to be able to create the best designs yourself but having a good design taste is a must if you want to work on user-facing products.
Are there any certificates?
Yes, F.E. Product School’s certificate, MicroMasters, in Digital Product Management (Boston University edX), Product Management Studio (UC Berkeley), and many others.