What is a Product Manager?
By: Jason Saber
Tags: Technology, Product Management, Careers, Product Manager, Tech

When my journey in product management first began, I was in college, and did not fully grasp what it meant to be a product manager. As my career advanced and I gained a better understanding of what the role entailed, I noticed that the people around me who were not familiar with technology also did not fully understand what a PM (aka product manager) does. They often confused being a PM with being in marketing or even being a software developer. Those roles are not product management.

To help clarify, I decided to jot down some thoughts on what exactly a product manager is and does.

Product Manager 101

Think about your favorite website or app. It could be something widely popular, like Instagram, Google, Lyft, or Venmo. Or even something as impactful as a healthy habit-building app that allows people to successfully lose weight. People use these apps frequently because they provide simple and elegant solutions to modern-day problems small and large, whether hailing a car service, sending money virtually, or tracking your meals.

Most popular websites or mobile apps have a team of designers crafting how these services should look. These designers spend a great deal of time creating illustrations of what the website or mobile app should look like. To build it, the designers work with a team of software engineers, testing what’s possible and navigating through limitations.

But what if there is a disagreement between the team on what to build and why? Who can help the team decide what to develop in the first place? Who helps craft a vision of the app or website? What happens after you launch? How will you know if your product is successful?

This is where the product manager comes in.

A product manager is the person who is responsible for guiding a team (usually designers and software engineers) to improve areas of a product (typically a website or mobile app). The PM is responsible for working with and navigating the team through the messy day-to-day life of trying to make something from nothing.

To reach the goal of having the team create elegant, problem-solving products, the PM spends their time:

Talking with various departments internally to align on what problems the team should focus on resolving. This is done by creating new products or updating existing ones.

Creating a manifesto-type document that lists the goals for your product and team’s long-term work ambitions.

Defining what success looks like for the team. In other words, how do you know when you truly made an impact on the people who use your product?

Removing obstacles that block the team from making progress on improving their product.

And much more!

At a high-level, the role of being a PM is the combination of a sports coach, ambassador, artist, and scientist. You are a supportive leader who combines the creative freedom of being an artist with the data-driven mindset of being a scientist.

The Nuances

A PM’s typical day varies depending on the problems they need to tackle with the team, the context for the issues, and the severity. The changing dynamics of being a PM can confuse folks — even PMs themselves!

Thankfully, there are sources that can help. One great example: “Good Product Manager/Bad Product Manager” by Ben Horowitz. Horowitz highlights the qualities that a good PM possesses as well as the qualities of a not-so-great PM. It’s’ a staple read for any PM. I’ve re-read it many, many times. With inspiration from that document, I’ve written the below to outline the nuances of being a product manager.

If “Good Product Manager/Bad Product Manager” helps explain what a great PM is to anyone with a technology or product background, think of the below (or even this entire post) as a prerequisite! The idea here is to help illustrate the nuances that are a part of being a PM.

1) You have to enjoy the process of making a change to a product, but love the impact and outcome even more. A PM’s success is primarily measured not by what changes you implement, but by what impact the team’s changes have on the people who use your product.

2) You need to be able to think in the clouds but live in reality. A PM has to have the ability to help create “out-of-the-box” solutions but also be grounded enough in reality to know what is realistically feasible to implement. Some PMs get caught up in perfecting designs or talking about a theoretical change. Remember, you are measured by what you actually achieve, not by what you plan or assume is going to help.

3) You are not a Swiss Army knife, but possess a wide range of skills to help guide your team to a goal. A common misconception for PMs is that they need to have the skill set necessary to be a designer, engineer, data analyst, and more. That is not the case. A PM needs to have enough expertise and knowledge in these areas to guide the team to make sound decisions. You are not an engineer or designer, but you understand enough about these areas to lead the team to create great products.

4) The people on your team do not report to you, but you hold a position of leadership. Your team usually consists of designers, engineers, analysts, and more who do not report to the PM. In some organizations, the PM may be their manager, but usually, the PM is not the boss of the product team.

An analogy for this is how a surgeon interacts with a team of people such as nurses, operating room technicians, and anesthesiologists. While the team collaborates to accomplish a goal and the surgeon leads the team to achieve that goal, the surgeon typically does not manage the others in the room. The same is true for the relationship the PM has with their product team.

5) It’s not about being right or wrong; it’s about your team and your product being right, in that order. This is important. Since the responsibilities of being a PM ultimately include a leadership role, some PMs mistakenly think that to be successful, they have to have the answer to every question — not true. The PM needs to work closely with their team to create and develop ideas together, not by themselves. Each member of the team has a unique perspective, which allows the team to craft ideas that have a higher probability of being successful. When multiple people of different disciplines review and give feedback on how to improve something, you have a higher chance of reaching success as opposed if you did not.

This isn’t an exhaustive outline, but it highlights some of the essential qualities of a product manager.

Last Thoughts

Product managers have a unique role. They have many hats to wear, they must display constant leadership, and they have a sense of duty to both their company and to their users. There is a delicate balance between all of these areas. The PM is ultimately responsible for the success of both the team and the product. If the team or the product fails, the burden is on the PM.

That said, the reward is great. You can make a positive change in the lives of the people who use your product or service!

For example, at WW I’m part of a team that enables people around the world to join our program and live healthier lives. We’ve developed easy to use tools that allow anyone to learn and seamlessly join our program. Most recently, we worked on the release of a new customized program that matches members with a food plan that best aligns with their lifestyle and food preferences. The work may be challenging at times, but it’s massively fulfilling!

— Jason Saber, Product Management at WW (formerly Weight Watchers)

Interested in joining the WW team? Check out the careers page to view technology job listings as well as open positions on other teams.