Roles and Traits of Product Managers

Name: Roles and Traits of Product Managers
Author: Jingyun Zhang

Learn what skills product managers use at their job

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Course: On-Demand

Product managers will need a certain set of skills to be able to effectively perform their duties. Let's go over some topics related to the job aspects of product management, including how managers are involved in the development process, as well as their basic roles and recommended skillsets. How do companies actually manage the development process? In the traditional US approach for product management, organizations have distinct departments. These include research and development, as well as engineering and production. Each department is responsible for a set of distinct and fixed activities such as conducting research or designing and manufacturing products. This approach lacks forward thinking, and it doesn't consider how downstream departments deal with ideas and concepts, how the customers evaluate the products, or whether or not they're satisfied with the products. This approach was used for many years, especially in larger corporations involving manufacturing, as it follows a more linear way of developing products. In this setting, product managers are typically responsible for planning and creating new products. They work with the research and development department to generate new product ideas, then work with the engineering team to create the product. Depending on the company, the product managers may participate in marketing and promoting the product alongside the marketing department. A more popular approach is to assign a product manager to champion a specific product throughout the entire development process. In this role, product managers act as leaders who oversee and manage a variety of product development activities from beginning to end. This approach is more commonly seen in the use of innovation teams to develop new products. In recent years, companies started using innovation teams to specifically focus on developing new products. Innovation teams are oftentimes cross-functional teams consisting of people from different functional areas of the company, such as research and development, engineering or IT, marketing and finance. This approach can also be more project based, often designed to develop a single new product with guidance and direction from the top executive management with distinct strategic visions and goals. Another reason this approach has achieved strong results in developing new products is due to its cross-functional nature. Cross-functional teams promote better communication as well as constant collaboration, which result in increased efficiency and faster speed for new product development. Many of the more flexible product development and management systems can be easily implemented in an innovation team setting.

Beginner Provider : Jingyun Zhang 3 Lessons · 10m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

This course discusses the roles and essential characteristics of product managers. You will learn about how product managers run their teams and what traits they need to embody so they can succeed.

What You'll Learn

Learn the important roles of product managers
Identify the essential characteristics and traits product managers need to succeed
Understand the skills required to become a successful product manager
Explore how product managers run their teams
Examine product managers within innovation teams and the development process

Key Takeaways

The course covers the roles and essential characteristics of product managers.
Product managers must embody specific traits in order to succeed.
Becoming a successful product manager requires particular skills.
The course examines how product managers run their teams within the development process.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this course cover?

This course discusses the roles and essential characteristics of product managers, including how they run their teams and what traits they need to embody to succeed.

What will I learn in this course?

You will learn the important roles of product managers, the skills required to become successful, and how to identify the essential roles and characteristics of product managers.

What topics are included in the lessons?

The lessons cover Product Managers, Innovation Teams, and the Development Process; Basic Roles of Product Managers; and Essential Characteristics of Product Managers.

Who is this course for?

This course is for those who want to understand the roles, skills, and characteristics needed to become a successful product manager.