Do we need discipline for the Software Product Management discipline?

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?