What Is a Product Manager Position?

A product manager is an expert who bears the vision of a product. They seek to identify a customer's pain point, a suitable product idea, and ways to turn these ideas into reality. You can say they're the thinking cap in a product's development process. 

While there are several definitions of what a product manager's position is, Martin Eriksson's widely misunderstood Venn diagram sums it all up. It places a product manager at the center of design, technology, and business. 

Contrary to several opinions of this diagram, the product manager position requires balance and tough calls among the three needs. They must understand the requirements of all three areas (but not function fully in them).

‍What Are the Roles of a Product Manager?

A product manager's role isn't fixed but depends on the team's setting. However, in a general sense, these are 16 things you'll most likely find in a product manager job description: 

• Have a deep understanding of customer needs.
• Conduct user research.
• Define the product's vision.
• Develop a roadmap of features.
• Work with engineering, design, and sales teams to execute the product vision.
• Communicate product requirements to the development team.
• Gather customer feedback to refine the product.
• Analyze data to measure product performance.
• Define product strategy.
• Conduct market research.
• Launch a product into the market.
• Track product success after launch.
• Identify potential risks to the product's success.
• Keep stakeholders informed about the product's progress.
• Stay updated on industry trends.
• Encourage innovative thinking to drive product growth.

How Is a Product Manager Different From a Project Manager?

Product managers are different from project managers in their line of action. 

Let's recall the definition and roles of a product manager: product ideating and goal setting. However, project managers take the other route—the action route—to handle project timelines and collaboration among cross-functional teams. 

Here's a table comparing these two roles: 

Comparison Table

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Starting Your Career in Project Management in 4 Steps

The product manager position is still largely unknown to many. While roles like project managers and product designers are getting congested, good product managers are a rare talent. You can leverage this gap if you're looking for ways to transition to tech.

Step 1: Develop the Soft and Hard Skill Sets 

To begin a career in project management, here are the top 10 soft and hard skills required:

Soft and Hard Skills Table

‍Step 2: Take a Professional Training

A product manager position is a professional role that demands several training sessions. Some of the best in the industry are: 

Joincolab.io

Joincolab is a product management training platform that helps people globally break into tech, regardless of their background. Its model is based on one-on-one expert sessions (with mentors from Amazon, Instacart, and Coursera) and team collaboration. 

Compared to other product management training you'll find out there, Joincolab doesn't just teach you theories about product management. It pairs you with a team or an experienced product manager (depending on your plan) and lets you build a product while learning the best practices of being a product manager. 

Product School

The Product School team is the same one behind one of the biggest yearly product management conferences worldwide, ProductCon. Like Joincolab, they run a cohort program with an average of 20 students, learning for 30 hours under instructors from Apple, Meta, and Google.

Pragmatic Institute 

Pragmatic Institute provides training for data, product, and design teams. They partner with top firms like ADP TotalSource, Salesforce, and Microsoft. 

Pragmatic offers an opportunity to scale your product management career from product manager to product marketing manager. 

Step 3: Build a Portfolio 

Your portfolio shows you can and have functioned in a product management role. While you can tell employers about your skills, a portfolio is a proof that you have them and have used them in practical ways. 

One of the best ways to create a portfolio is to build a product and write a case study outlining your process. You can publish this on your website. 

Another way you can start is by applying to NGOs for free work. You can help them build a product in exchange for reviews—a good form of social proof. 

Or better still, you can scrap all these processes and sign up for Joincolab.io's next cohort. There, you build an actual product with a team of developers, designers, and the like. You also receive guidance from industry professionals on creating a standard portfolio.

Step 4: Connect With Others

The career world today requires lots of networking. Most companies no longer post their jobs on job boards, so you stand a chance of getting in if you know someone on the inside. 

Besides this, networking creates room for growth. You get to share ideas with those within your level, learn from those above you, and share with junior product managers—it's a cycle. 

Some of the best ways to connect with others include:

• Joining a cohort that supports team collaboration and mentor sessions.
• Joining slack channels like The Product Folks or Mind The Product.
• Connecting with professionals on LinkedIn (the best free way to start). 
• Attending product management events online or in your area.

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Conclusion

Product management is only becoming popular as compared to 20 years ago. This creates an opportunity for non-tech people to transition into tech roles. 

Joincolab offers the best environment to foster product management skill development. With the best tutors and mentors at your service, you can easily move from a newbie to a successful product manager in eight months or less. Check out Joincolab plans and pricing on the website.

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