What is a Product Manager?

The Product Manager, also called PM, drives the development of a B2B, B2C, SaaS, platform, or mobile product to meet user needs.

They have full command of the product management craft and a deep understanding of the customer problem. Their ability to make trade-offs lets them take decisions for the product's future and shape a medium-to-long-term product vision.

The Product Manager is involved in company strategy and ensures the project moves forward. They are often confused with the Product Owner, whose missions are more operational.

Why do companies need this role?

Tech companies building a digital and technical product aim to deliver something viable, desirable, and feasible.

To do this, value must be continuously delivered to users through very regular iterations (every 2 to 4 weeks).

This role enables a company to organize a team's work around a tech project in an agile way, delivering that continuous value.

What role does the Product Manager play in the project?

Their impact on the business is critical because they are literally the project's pivot point, ensuring the link between the requester's needs and the design and development teams.

Their product vision and methods — frequent testing and iteration — let the business try new solutions while constantly reorienting toward what delivers expected results.

What are the PM's missions?

The Product Manager bridges user needs and the technical team's operational power. Their main missions are:

• Define performance indicators (KPIs) that let them measure the impact of the product and tech team's work on the project. These KPIs are foundational to defining project goals and act as the guiding thread for steering it.
• Be the guarantor of the discovery phase, which identifies pain points and deepens research on user needs. The PM forms hypotheses and is responsible for de-risking them through user testing.
• Direct the product team toward the right topics. The PM builds the roadmap to organize the work of tech and product teams. They prioritize features to develop based on their value to the company and time constraints. They also specify their boundaries and expected performance.
• Own the product vision and refine it over time to move the project in a direction consistent with the market in which the solution is deployed.

Ultimately, the Product Manager is the guardian of the product's evolution, from identifying user needs to shipping solutions to production and measuring their performance.

Team collaboration

The Product Manager works hand in hand with the product team and the tech team to develop each solution. They may engage directly with users to gather their needs.

Sometimes that's done with the sales team acting as intermediary. They are therefore in direct contact with the Product Owner, the developers, and the UX/UI Designers.

What are the skills of a Product Manager?

Product management requires wearing several hats and being multidisciplinary. The PM must have an excellent vision of their product and a solid grasp of the marketing, tech, and business stakes, more than skills on those topics — though those are a plus.

In addition, the Product Manager knows the industry in which their product is deployed well and has a strong understanding of how a technical project develops.

Soft skills

Organization and rigor must be among the product manager's qualities. Their synthetic mindset lets them handle the diverging product visions they face.

They are also a strong communicator by virtue of their facilitator role and know how to say "no." Day to day, they engage with stakeholders whose needs differ and must reconcile each party's expectations to deliver the solutions with the most added value.

The ability to make sound decisions is necessary, along with natural leadership that helps move all stakeholders in the same direction.

What methods & tools are used?

The Product Manager masters several product management tools and methods:

Methods:

• Agile
• Scrum
• Kanban
• Lean Startup
• Feature Driven Development
• Lean Software Development

Tools:

• Trello
• Jira
• Asana

What training is needed to become a Product Manager?

To become a Product Manager, solid foundations in project management are essential. They can train at an engineering school or business school at the Master's level, or in some specialized programs.

Going through a computer science school to learn tech is also possible. Many entrepreneurs and technical project managers transition into Product Manager roles.

What is the salary of a Product Manager?

Compensation varies by years of experience in the role. The salary of a junior product manager (less than 3 years of experience) starts at 38,000€ gross annual. A senior product manager with more than 5 years of experience can expect a salary above 60,000€ gross annual.

How can a Product Manager's career evolve?

The Product Manager role can lead to Head of Product or CPO positions to take on responsibility for product strategy and vision.