What Are Product Manager's Roles and Responsibilities

A product team without a product manager is like an orchestra without a conductor. Even a group of phenomenal virtuosos would be completely uncoordinated and sound discordant without a conductor to guide and synchronize them.

Just like an orchestra conductor, the product manager is supposed to lead a cross-functional product team and coordinate product creation from strategy to execution. A product manager needs to be the leader who should ensure that everyone on the team is working toward the same goal.

To be able to handle such a complex and versatile role, a great product manager should have knowledge of several areas, most notably technology, business, and user experience.

What Does the Product Manager Do?

A product manager is responsible for setting a strategic plan for product creation and making sure that the plan is executed. In other words, a product manager is in charge of the following:

• Conducting market research, competitor analysis and customer research
• Setting a product vision and strategy that states the unique value of the product
• Creating a product roadmap with a clearly defined action plan, defining the responsibilities and the timeline
• Coordinating among design, engineering and marketing teams 
• Owning the Daily Scrum and Sprint Planning meetings, ensuring that all developers understand the user stories and are clear on what needs to be built
• Defining and analyzing product metrics and analytics

Put even more simply, as a product manager, you will have three main responsibilities:

1. Set the strategy and long-term vision
2. Share this strategy with all the stakeholders
3. Oversee the execution of the strategy

Transparency Is Key

A great product manager should be the go-to person for all questions related to the product and the linking element of the whole team. That’s why he or she needs to be as transparent as possible in the prioritizing process.

Although the product manager will have the final say, it’s important to keep all the stakeholders in the loop when it comes to making decisions.

Having all the data necessary in one place - or one tool - will make it much easier for product managers to explain why they are prioritizing certain features over others and why they sometimes have to say no.