Changing careers is an expensive term. Its weight is as much as
the first salary on a new job. Why wouldn't choose something that
we understand plus something that is an uprising on a job market?
Management might be an area where some of us have worked before or
even had experiences like this ourselves - in which case knowing
how things work should help out. But what about Software Product
Manager? What are we know about this discipline? As we narrow down
the job descriptions, it becomes clear that this type of
profession needs specialization.
Software Product Manager is a specialized profession that requires
special mindset to be successful. This text is made for a better
understanding of effective techniques which produce better
software products. As we comprehend the position and the role of
SMP, it will be easier to adopt a way of disciplining ourselves.
Better discipline-closer to beginning the new product. So, whether
you are changing your career or finding a meaning of a specific
job position, inspection in Software Product Management will not
harm you.
Software Product Management, understanding
The Discipline.
Software product management is the discipline of building,
implementing, and managing a software product. It is a discipline
and process which governs a product from the inspection to the
market or customer delivery.
A software product manager needs an intuitive mind to assess
whether the project is meeting client expectations, as to be able
to work with a development team to solve clients' problems.
Before diving into the job description keep in mind that Project
and Product management are two disciplines that overlap. It is all
about timing, and that fact uses both Project and Product
management. At some point, it is requested from the Product
Manager to act as Project Manager meaning uses some of Project
manager duties or/and responsibilities. And vice versa.
To unwrap SPM discipline, we need to understand what a Software
Product Manager’s point of view is. The number of goals or
viewpoints are needed to understand to achieve better software.
The first aim will be providing the right software products for
the clients. It has to meet their needs, solve their problems, and
end up happy with it. To be a successful product, the software
needs validation. That would be the medal for this phase.
The second aim has a focus on meeting the needs of customers by
having software that's been designed and implemented properly.
This viewpoint aims to have the software product done right.
Reviews and tests are run by developers, to make sure they're
following what was required for each stage in order not only to
uphold quality standards but also improve upon them where
possible. When the process in this phase is done, verification is
awaiting.
The third perspective is to have the software project managed
right. This means adopting just enough processes and suitable
practices so that everyone involved in organizing work with a high
understanding of what is their role. Responsibilities are clear
and this approach eases communications and feedback.
Role of
Software Product Manager.
To achieve better software, three goals need to be met: the right
product (which is defined as something that solves a customer’s
problem), done right, and managed correctly. The SPM has been
tasked with ensuring this success for any company's products
through their management skillset.
The product manager is not just a project leader, but also someone
who can speak to clients and developers on their terms. The key
responsibilities of the role include understanding what makes up
your end-users' experience as well as effectively communicating
with those on development teams for motivation. One must be able
to communicate clearly so that both parties understand one another
needs.
The challenge for product managers is that they do not have a
clearly defined role. The design and engineering professions have
been able to segment themselves by specializing in one specific
area but this talent does not exist within the realm of consumer
products. As the picture says more than 1000 words, here is an
example:
Venn diagram helps us see what is SPM consists of. That is the
intersection of user experience, business, and technology.
The Product Manager is the person who makes sure projects don't
fail!
The summary we've come to know and love about this position is
that SPM is in charge of project success. The Product Manager is a
critical component of any project team. They are responsible for
managing the entire life cycle from requirements gathering,
analysis and design through testing to launching new products or
service offerings on time with minimal budget overruns so that
their clients can focus on core business activities rather than
logistics.
How to discipline ourselves for the
SPM position?
For the task to be completed successfully and efficiently by the
Product Manager, a diverse set of skills are required. From both
design thinking as well as a marketing strategy - two fields that
have been oftentimes studied by different disciplines but come
together here at one point: product management.
What can be said about skills that a Product Manager requires?
Refer to this above, here what is winning combination:
-
Communication skills: The importance of well-presented
information cannot be overstated. Poorly presented data can
cause missed deadlines and unhappy employees, which means that
the business suffers as a result.
-
Diplomacy: Listening and empathizing are the key. It's important
to find common ground with both sides before moving forward, so
try settling an argument by asking "What do we agree on?"
-
Technical knowledge: Small steps on a big technology trip will
improve your technical proficiency. Needleless is to be a coding
magician, but there is a certain area of skills that is in front
of you to discover.
-
Persuasion skills: Persuasive people are skilled at changing or
influencing the behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes of others.
That includes using all sorts of different techniques like humor
or compelling arguments based on your personal experiences as
well as some statistics.
-
Delegation skills: To ensure your product is marketable, relying
on smart people within the organization is the right way of
doing it. If they are willing and able to handle, then give them
some of these responsibilities so that everyone can succeed
together.
-
Strategic thinking: It is the key to success for any company and
a highly desirable Manager skill. It ensures that focuses stay
on critical factors and variables that will influence the
long-term success of a business, or/and team.
-
Self-management: Self-management means understanding personal
responsibility in different aspects of life, and doing what's
necessary to fulfill that duty.
-
Interpersonal skills: Product management isn’t all about being a
taskmaster—it’s about supporting and empowering others by
understanding their strengths and weaknesses. Having enough
influence to keep everyone working together toward the same goal
is a professional SPM goal.
-
Research/analytical skills: Skills that combine data mining,
metrics interpreting, and reporting are something that will help
grow successful SPM.
-
Understand the user lifecycle: Covering all the aspects of the
product development life cycle is the Product Manager’s job.
Growing product from “its birth” contributes a deeper
understanding of something that this role is in charge of.
If it adds a passion for solving the problem to this mix of
skills, it wouldn’t be a problem to manage software products.
How success is measured?
When the answer is wanted, fully packed Software Project Manager
stands above his product asking himself the next questions:
- Was it on-time delivery?
- Is it completed within budget?
- Is it delivered with all features complete?
But the measurements can also be taken from:
- The number of post-release bugs
- The support needed after a release
- The software product’s customer rating
- The revenue generated
-
And something that needs to be followed during the whole process
is the client’s satisfaction
As seen “measurements” are blend from standpoints, both Product
and Project management.
Conclusion
A successful Software Product Manager must have insight into winning
strategies. They are needed to make sure that they can produce
high-quality results meeting all necessary specifications before
time runs out on deadlines or budgets. The product manager is the
person who leads and manages one or more products from their
inception to phase-out. The software's job includes creating
customer value while delivering measurable business benefits,
collaborating with cross-functional teams such as marketing, sales
engineering, etc. All that in order to achieve the goal by building
a quality product which all members are happy working on together
towards an ultimate success of the production.
If there is any profession that sits on an intersection on multiple
functions-that is Product Manager.
So, do you have the discipline to take over a new product?