No tech skills needed for product management role, expert says

Product and Applications Analyst, Ogheneovo Nwachukwu, has said that prior knowledge of any tech skills is not needed in product management (PM).

She explained that though PM does not require coding skills, to be successful one needs knowledge of the field, customer understanding and strong efficient communication.

She said PM is an art of managing the development of a product, which involves an entire process of bringing in a new product to the market or developing an already existing product in the market.

“It involves the process of conceiving, planning, developing, testing, launching, delivering and sometimes withdrawing products in the market with a goal to provide innovative products that would benefit end-users,” she said.

Nwachukwu stated that for a product to be successful, the product management process includes; identifying the customer problem, formulating a hypothesis to solve the problem, developing a roadmap, prioritising features, delivering to respective teams, and analysing data—all in a loop.

“Product management is critical to every organization as it acts as the voice of the customers inside the organization. As the voice of the market, it is the product management’s responsibility to assure the company’s solution are aligned with company strategy and market needs. Any misalignment of market, product or strategy will result in less-than-optimal profits for the company. Product management is significant as it helps the rest of the company understand the value of a product. It’s essentially about knowing what will sell and how to turn a developed product into revenue,” she added.

According to her, challenges associated with PM includes; finding the right product-market fit, defining the business problem you are trying to solve. When developing new products, most organizations do not clearly define the market/business problem they are trying to solve. Such enterprises draw hasty conclusions, thereby wasting resources, missing opportunities, and pursuing projects that do not align with company goals. A PM should identify and articulate its business problem concisely and early in the development stage.

Multitasking. Product managers need to delegate tasks and make use of task and team management tools.

“Product managers work with different people with varying skills, experience and opinions, the challenge is in integrating those different people for the most effective team possible. One that avoids conflicts and misunderstanding. However, problems can easily begin when this variety of perspectives interacts. Here, managers must successfully manage team expectations, emotions and motivation.

“User onboarding experience. This can make or break a user’s relationship with a new product. If a company fails to deliver customer satisfaction in the onboarding process, no matter how good their product is, it will fail to make the desired mark. The best method is to begin user. Fixing issues alongside the final finishing of the product can help achieve a better and loyal customer relationship in the long run,” she added.