Michael, that's an excellent description of the role. as i've been primarily a product guy in one guise or another for the past 3 yrs, i'd like to split some hairs:
1. Product Managers can have a technical or design background - some companies prefer one over the other - it really depends on the structure of the organization, the type of products it develops, etc. 2. Product Managers function as the operational hub of the organization. they filter requests from marketing/biz dev for product features or functionality as well as those from users, determine requirements, figure out how they should or could work, help to design and implement these features, prioritize them in the product development roadmap and queue and manage expectations and timelines. In larger organizations, they may own one product vertical or even just one aspect of a product. In smaller organizations like mine, they do everything but wash the dishes and take out the trash. speaking from personal experience - i devise my own features as i identify areas that are lacking or translate raw requirements (i'm lucky if they're in bullet point form) into something tangible that can be defined, designed and specified. i also prioritize feature development, bug fixes and enhancements as well as write copy, supervise editorial, supervise QA, manage product support and work directly with our in-house marketing, biz dev, design and technology teams to insure functionality and required features are implemented into the product. On Nov 30, 2007 11:46 AM, Michael Micheletti <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Software companies often have a separate Product Manager role or > department. > This person or group is responsible for setting strategic product > direction, > determining the feature set to be included in specific product releases, > naming of versions, setting the highest level of schedule requirements, > and > determining the target market segments or customer groups the product is > aimed at. Each company organizes responsibilities a bit differently. There > are overlaps with designers (both are concerned with product feature sets > and target customers). There are overlaps with project managers (both are > concerned with schedules and the features to be included in specific > releases). There are overlaps with marketing (both are interested in > presenting the right product to the right market segment). The difference > that I see is that a product manager has a tight business focus rather > than > technical or informational or design-oriented. A strong product manager > with > good connections helps shape a competitive product in the marketplace. > Weak > or non-existing product managers lets designers/developers/marketeers go > nuts and build things that nobody really wants. > > All the above is IMHO - I haven't ever been a product manager, but have > worked with some good ones. PMs and friends on the list please correct or > clarify if you can. Thanks, hope this helps, > > Michael Micheletti > > On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 09:11:57, ELISABETH HUBERT <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > > > > In response to Michael what exactly do you refer to when you say the > > product management side? > > > ________________________________________________________________ > *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* > February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA > Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > -- -------------------------------------------------- www.flyingyogi.com -------------------------------------------------- ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
