What or Who is a Product Manager?

For as long as I have been a product manager the role, the term, the definition of a ‘product manager’ has been the subject of much deliberation and debate. Is it a part or whole of new product development, business justification, planning, verification, forecasting, pricing, product launch, and marketing at all stages of the product life-cycle. While at the basic level, it is paramount for a role to have definition to avoid chaos and bring clarity to the KRAs. At the same time, it is also hazy to comprehend the logical flow of the expertise and where or how you fit in the scheme of affairs in the organisation.

What I encountered and inferred from my recent interactions with aspiring product managers, mid-level successful PMs and the likes, the role is difficult to write a formal ‘specification’ for and it has been bastardised as organisations have introduced the role type/title without fully understanding it. It’s a role that’s been confused by recruiters who have been tasked with hiring for a diverse range of jobs that have been forcibly preceded or appended with the word ‘product’. It’s even been re-branded many times over within the product community — terms such as ‘product owner’ now carry disdainful undertones or ‘customer evangelist’ add superfluous vagueness.

If I quote Marty Cagan from his speech - "What has not changed is my overarching belief that behind every great product, there is someone, usually someone behind the scenes, working tirelessly, that is playing this critical role. They usually have the title ‘product manager’ but they might be a startup co-founder or the CEO, or they might be in another role on the team and stepped up because they saw the need. The title is not important; the work they do is."

Even, in the remotest manner, if you ever are in need to articulate and encapsulate the responsibilities, skills, and character traits of an individual or team, maybe just for the sake of it, what I feel can be captured with is LIT-2 MVP

L: Leader, Lover (of the product/solution)

I: Integrative, Influencer

T: Thinker, Team Player

M: Maker (Innovate a Solution)

V: Visionary

P: Pragmatic