Product Management - What is it?

What is product management? Is it marketing, sales, business development? Over the years I have learned it is all of the above.

Product management is general management, a role which thinks about the business today and plans for the business 3-5 years out. The ability to balance the near and far with equal focus is key.

Products are not created or sold in isolation. Products result from intricate collaboration and product managers are alliance builders. They build effective alliances through internal and external ecosystem. They look at alliances as inputs to planning for tomorrow.

Product managers use data and intelligent intuition. Data validates ideas and intelligent intuition makes decisions. Data can show patterns but intuition born of experience helps transform data into information and action. Knowing when to trust one's instinct and  validating instinct with great data is a powerful combination.

Product managers are change agents. The best of them seek new product adventures and thrive on change and uncertainty. Change is the one constant in business, both in the external markets but also within the organization. Product managers flex as external markets and internal priorities change.

Product managers at the end are story tellers. They can tell powerful stories that move the entire organization and the entire ecosystem and they change behavior. The best product managers are always thinking of the story, of the start, the details and the uplifting end.