Who is a Product Manager and how is this role different from other IT Job Roles

Product Manager is one of the hottest jobs in the Digital world.

In the Digital world or the VUCA world, where everything changes rapidly, organizations must ensure that their products/services keep up the pace. The products/services should fulfill the customers' needs and make them shout "Wow". In fact, the product/services have to exceed customer expectations so that the Business thrives.

Businesses rely on Product Managers for this. The product manager is tasked with building features for the product/service that will help the business grow.

With this context, I would say the Product managers are the people who are adding/deprecating/enhancing the Product keeping in mind

1. The existing customer needs,
2. The changing Market dynamics, Changing Business models, and thus changing Customer needs

A quote-worthy definition would be

In an uncertain and ever-changing market, Product Managers are trying to discover opportunities to Invest in for Business growth.

How is the Product Manager role different from other Roles?

In an IT organization, the typical roles are

Software Developer/Engineer
Software Tester
DevOps Engineer
Delivery Manager
Solution/Software/System Architect
Project/Program Manager
UI/UX Designer
Sales
Pre-sales

For all the above roles, what they need to work on is defined.

For example, the software developer writes the code as the design, the design is made by the architect as per requirements, the requirements are gathered from Product managers.

The product managers on the other hand are defining the work i.e what needs to be done. They are meant to get things done. But who decides what needs to be done. It is the Product Manager.

In short, the Product Manager is a unique role with the privilege to define "what needs to be done" and every other IT Job role is meant to get it done.

Of course, the Product manager does this in collaboration with others. The Product Manager defines "what needs to be done" in consultation with the Management and the other roles depending upon the feature being built. More on this topic when we discuss the various types of Features that a Product Manager deals with.

ProductMagic