Google’s AI overview describes a digital product manager as: “responsible for the entire lifecycle of a digital product, from initial concept to market launch and beyond. They act as a bridge between business needs, user expectations, and technical execution, ensuring the product aligns with overall business goals and delivers value to users.”

Okay, but what does that actually mean? And why do businesses even need Product Managers?

Most people I encounter haven’t even heard of a Product Manager. And I’ll be completely honest, neither had I before I applied for the role. Most people ask, ‘so is it kind of like a Project Manager?’ and I suppose it is; kind of… Product Managers are less involved in the logistics of things like resource planning and budgeting, and more involved in strategic decisions like what to work on and why.

So in an attempt to describe it in layman’s terms, here’s my definition of a Product Manager:

A Digital Product Manager is responsible for the quality and success of a digital product or service (such as an app, software package or website). They define the overall vision and strategy for the product by creating a synergy between business goals and the needs of the end user. Their priority is to ensure the technology complies with relevant regulations, contributes to the success of the company, and works brilliantly for the people who use it.

Typical tasks that PMs might undertake include:

• Build your understanding of business needs and user needs by talking with customers and stakeholders
• Initiate research (e.g. interviews) to understand your audience and make sure you’re building features that give them a better experience
• Develop the narrative around what people need from your product and why – these ‘user stories’ help designers and programmers to build something that truly works well
• Create product documentation in the form of product requirements documents and technical specifications
• Test your product with users to validate its effectiveness and highlight potential areas for improvement
• Own and priortise a ‘roadmap’ of initiatives focused on improving the product
• Monitor product performance, market trends and competitor activity (and using these insights to inform your decisions)
• Set objectives and key results to measure success
• Create and deliver presentations to stakeholders (this could be regular reports, project updates or to pitch a new idea)
• Decide what is an acceptable ‘definition of done’ – and making the final call on compromises and trade-offs.

The balance of these tasks will vary depending on your organisation. In my current role I work in an organisation with low user-centered design maturity, which means communications, storytelling and proposition development are more important to help stakeholders understand the value of what we do. It’s a large, complex organisation with multiple strategic priorities, which means I need to priortise ruthlessly based on what can deliver the most value at any given time. And with limited resource, I need to be very pragmatic about the ‘minimum viable product’ (what is essential) and what trade-offs are acceptable.

And then there is the unique spin you put on the role as an individual.

For me, this tends to be focused around:

• Understanding human behaviour and using technology to improve our experiences
• Crafting stories and narratives that inspire and align teams

I think it’s important to find the ‘why’ behind what you do – much like you articulate the ‘why’ behind your products. You can shape the role to your strengths based on the areas where you can provide the most value. Understanding what motivates you also helps you to know what type of products you’d like to work with, and the values you want to contribute to. I’ll do a whole separate post on this, as I’m passionate about aligning your career with your personal values.

But for now, I hope that gives some clarity on the purpose of a Product Manager and what their work looks like.