This Product Mindset series aims to set foundational product mindset elements right.👌This covers some basic but practical information crucial for any aspiring or new Product Manager to build and strengthen their Product Mindsets. 🤯
What is the confusion about the role of Product Manager and Product Owner?
More such topics to strengthen product mindset…
Introduction
In the journey of learning product management and adopting a product mindset, we have already covered many topics 👏. Check the full Product Mindset Topic list here.
Now is the time to learn about the role that makes all of this possible. The magician 🪄behind this magic of creating products that customers love and works for the business.
In this edition, we will cover:
The Role of a Product Manager
Product Manager Skillset
Types of Product Managers
A Deep Dive With Core Activities, Specialised Needs, and A Day (more like a week) in Life
These pieces of knowledge nuggets should give you all that is needed to understand the role and decide if it is for you or not. If you choose to become a Product Manager, then it should also help you choose the type of product manager you want to be.
1. The Role of a Product Manager
Product management is often described as the art and science of balancing customer needs, business goals, and technical feasibility.
At the heart of it all, the role of a product manager (PM) goes beyond being a mediator between stakeholders.
A PM is the driving force behind the vision, strategy, and execution of a product. They are the champions of both the customer and the business, ensuring that the product being built is not only viable but also valuable.
Think of a product manager as the “mini-CEO” 👨💼 of a product. However, unlike a CEO, a PM typically doesn’t have direct authority over teams like engineering, marketing, or design. Instead, they must influence without authority, aligning cross-functional teams around a shared vision and keeping everyone focused on delivering outcomes. This ability to lead through influence is one of the most defining characteristics of a successful product manager.
What Exactly Does a Product Manager Do?
At its core, the PM's role is about problem-solving. They identify and define problems worth solving, prioritize which problems to tackle first and work closely with their teams 🤝 to find effective solutions.
The product manager owns the product roadmap, decides what to build next, and makes trade-offs to balance resources, timelines, and user needs.
From discovery to delivery, a PM’s responsibility spans the entire product lifecycle. They spend time researching customer pain points, analyzing market trends, setting the product’s strategy, writing clear product requirements, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to bring the product to life. Once the product is launched, PMs measure its success and continuously iterate based on customer feedback.
Being a PM requires a combination of strategic thinking 🎯 and tactical execution ⚡. The day-to-day can range from defining a long-term vision to making daily-level decisions about small feature details. This multifaceted role demands an understanding of user behavior, business metrics, and technology.
We will be looking at more of these in the sections to come below.
I share my micro perspective more frequently on LinkedIn. It’s a great way to diretly engage and learn from each other’s experiences. Are we connected yet? 🙄
As you can see, Product Manager is a diverse role that requires a broad skill set 🤯. To succeed as a product manager, you need to wear many hats and be effective across multiple areas. Listing a nonexhaustive, yet comprehensive set of skills that you can’t ignore in any product management profile. With each skill, we will also explore what it really means to be proficient at the skill, why should you care about the skill and how can you become better at it. So, let’s get to it one by one ☠️.
I. Communication 📣
What it means to be proficient? 🧠
Effective communication is not just about conveying information; it's about ensuring your message is understood, aligning stakeholders, and facilitating collaboration. A skilled PM knows how to tailor their communication style depending on the audience, whether it’s explaining technical details to engineers or discussing business outcomes with executives.
Why should you care about it? 🤔
As a product manager, you are the central hub of communication between teams. Poor communication can lead to misaligned priorities and delays in product development.
How to improve? 💪
Practice active listening, develop clear and concise writing skills, and learn how to present complex information in an easy-to-understand way. Joining a Toastmasters group or attending workshops on storytelling for business can help sharpen this skill. Check https://priydarshanjha.substack.com/p/communication-thinking-hats-for-product where I elaborate on this more.
II. Problem-Solving 🙅♀️
What it means to be proficient? 🧠
A proficient PM is able to break down complex challenges, think critically, and come up with creative solutions that balance user needs, technical feasibility, and business goals in a collaborative manner, leveraging teams collective capabilities.
Why should you care about it? 🤔
Problem-solving is the foundation of product management. You’ll constantly face ambiguous situations that require decisive action and innovative thinking while leaning on teams collective xpertise in a lot of areas.
How to improve? 💪
Develop a structured problem-solving approach, such as using frameworks like the “5 Whys” or design thinking. Regularly challenge yourself with case studies or by analyzing real-world product issues.
III. Strategic Thinking 🎯
What it means to be proficient? 🧠
Being able to see the bigger picture and make decisions that align with long-term business goals is key. Strategic thinkers can prioritize initiatives based on impact and feasibility while keeping the product vision in mind.
Why should you care about it? 🤔
Without strategic thinking, a product manager can get lost in tactical execution, missing opportunities to drive meaningful growth or innovation.
How to improve? 💪
Familiarize yourself with business strategy concepts. Regularly review industry trends and competition, and work on aligning your day-to-day decisions with broader business objectives. Check the below post for more specific steps:
A strong sense of user empathy means you can truly understand the needs, pain points, and motivations of your users. It’s about thinking from the customer’s perspective and translating that into the product experience.
Why should you care about it? 🤔
Products that don’t resonate with users will fail, no matter how innovative or technically advanced they are. Empathy helps ensure that you're solving the right problems.
How to improve? 💪
Conduct user interviews, immerse yourself in customer support roles temporarily, or use your product firsthand as a customer. Experience mapping and empathy mapping techniques are also great tools to hone this skill.
V. Data-Driven Decision Making 📊
What it means to be proficient? 🧠
Proficient PMs rely on data to inform decisions, validate hypotheses, and measure product success. It’s about knowing what metrics to track and how to analyze them effectively to know the direction and the progress in that direction.
Why should you care about it? 🤔
In today’s fast-paced environment, intuition alone isn’t enough. Data provides the foundation for making informed, unbiased decisions that lead to better outcomes.
How to improve? 💪
Learn basic data analysis tools like Excel, SQL, Tableau, and product analytics platforms (e.g., Mixpanel or Google Analytics) along with emerging useful capabilities such as AI for research. Familiarize yourself with key performance indicators (KPIs) relevant to your product and industry.
A great PM can inspire, motivate, and guide teams without having direct managerial power. This involves building trust and influencing people across different functions.
Why should you care about it? 🤔
Since product managers often don’t have formal authority over the people they work with, the ability to lead by influence is essential for getting things done and achieving alignment.
How to improve? 💪
Practice building relationships, actively listen to your team members' concerns, and become a facilitator in team discussions. Learn to negotiate and resolve conflicts with tact.
The terrain of Product Management is full of challenges. I have traveled this path in the past. So, I want to show the path and guide professionals who are struggling in their professional journey.
Mastering prioritization means being able to balance competing demands and focus on what will deliver the most value in a limited time. You’ll need to make trade-offs regularly and defend your choices.
Why should you care about it? 🤔
Resources are always constrained, and without proper prioritization, you risk wasting time on the wrong tasks. A PM must focus on delivering impact, through prioritization.
How to improve? 💪
Learn prioritization frameworks like RICE (Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort) or MoSCoW (Must have, Should have, Could have, Won’t have). Regularly practice ranking features or initiatives based on these models. You should explore qualitative as well as quantitative prioritization techniques and use them as per the context to your advantage.
VIII. Technical Understanding ☸️
What it means to be proficient? 🧠
While you don’t need to code, a PM should have enough technical knowledge to communicate effectively with engineers, understand technical constraints, and make informed decisions.
Why should you care about it? 🤔
The better you understand the technology behind your product, the more credible and efficient you’ll be in discussions with technical teams. It helps avoid miscommunications and leads to faster, more effective problem-solving.
How to improve? 💪
Take basic courses in computer science or web development to get comfortable with the fundamentals. Some topics such as API, cloud capability, AI innovation, etc. are a must have these days. Spend time shadowing engineers or asking them to walk you through technical decisions.
IX. Market Awareness 🛒
What it means to be proficient? 🧠
A strong PM knows their market inside out. This includes understanding competitors, industry trends, and the needs of different customer segments.
Why should you care about it? 🤔
Being aware of the market helps you position your product more effectively, spot opportunities, and avoid being blindsided by competitive threats.
How to improve? 💪
Stay updated on industry news, read analyst reports, attend webinars or conferences, and regularly talk to customers or sales teams to understand the evolving landscape.
X. Adaptability 😇
What it means to be proficient? 🧠
Adaptability is the ability to pivot and adjust your strategy when conditions change. A skilled PM is flexible, open to feedback, and able to shift priorities when necessary.
Why should you care about it? 🤔
Product management is full of uncertainty, and you’ll face constant changes—from customer demands to shifting business priorities. Being adaptable ensures that you can keep moving forward, even when plans go awry.
How to improve? 💪
Embrace change and seek out situations that push you outside of your comfort zone. Learn from both successes and failures and develop a mindset of continuous learning.
This is a glimps and a lot more goes into being a great product manager. But, not all product manager is same. We will see different types of product managers in the next section.
3. Types of product managers
Thus far, you might have built an understanding that a product manager is a product manager 😳. But, as the world of product management is growing and maturing, more and more specializations are emerging 🥶, and rightly so. While the fundamentals remain the same, irrespective of specialization; some changes needs to be mastered to become specialized as a specific type of product manager. Let’s briefly explore some key specializations in the product manager role:
I. Technical Product Manager (TPM)
A TPM works closely with engineering teams and is deeply involved in the technical aspects of product development. They ensure the product is technically feasible, scalable, and aligns with the overall architecture.
💡Special Skills Needed:
Strong technical knowledge (APIs, databases, cloud architecture, AI, and more)
Ability to bridge technical and non-technical teams
Understanding of system architecture and infrastructure
Data analysis and performance optimization
Excellent communication of complex technical details
II. Growth Product Manager
Growth PMs focus on driving customer acquisition, retention, and revenue growth. Their goal is to optimize the product experience to maximize growth, often working on A/B testing, funnels, and metrics like conversion rates.
💡Special Skills Needed:
Data-driven decision-making and experimentation
Strong understanding of growth funnels and metrics (e.g., CAC, LTV)
User acquisition and retention strategies
A/B testing and optimization
Customer journey mapping
III. Platform Product Manager
Platform PMs work on the foundational technology that supports multiple products or services. Their focus is on scalability, performance, and ensuring that the platform meets the needs of internal and external stakeholders.
💡Special Skills Needed:
Deep technical understanding of infrastructure and platform scalability
Stakeholder management across various product lines
API design and integration skills
Cross-functional collaboration
Systems thinking
You are strengthening your Product muscles. Let your friends also do the same.
Data PMs manage products related to data infrastructure, analytics, or AI/ML capabilities. They ensure data is accessible, accurate, and usable across the organization while driving value from data initiatives.
💡Special Skills Needed:
Strong grasp of data analytics, data architecture, and machine learning
Ability to define data-driven product roadmaps
Understanding of privacy, security, and compliance (e.g., GDPR)
SQL and familiarity with data tools (e.g., Tableau, BigQuery)
Business intelligence and data storytelling
V. Consumer Product Manager
Consumer PMs work on products aimed at individual users. Their focus is on user experience, personalization, and creating products that delight end-users, from mobile apps to e-commerce platforms.
💡Special Skills Needed:
User empathy and customer-centric design
UX/UI design understanding and collaboration with design teams
Ability to translate customer feedback into actionable features
Understanding of customer lifecycle management
Marketing collaboration for product positioning
VI. B2B (Enterprise) Product Manager
Enterprise PMs focus on building products for businesses rather than individual consumers. They work closely with sales and customer success teams to meet the specific needs of large-scale clients, such as SaaS platforms.
💡Special Skills Needed:
Strong stakeholder management and client-facing communication
Knowledge of enterprise-level systems and workflows
Understanding of sales and customer success processes
Ability to prioritize based on customer contracts or SLAs
Expertise in complex integrations and customizations
VII. Fintech Product Manager
Fintech PMs work on financial technology products, such as payment systems, lending platforms, or blockchain solutions. Their work requires a deep understanding of financial regulations, security, and trust in the digital economy.
💡Special Skills Needed:
In-depth knowledge of financial services and regulations (e.g., KYC, AML, Open banking)
Security, compliance, and risk management expertise
Ability to balance user experience with regulatory constraints
Data security and encryption knowledge
Collaboration with legal and compliance teams
VIII. Product Management Consultant
A Product Management Consultant provides expert advice to organizations on how to improve their product development processes, build better product strategies, and optimize team performance. They are very senior and experienced product managers who often have in depth product management expertise and multiple speciality with deep consulting experience. They typically work across industries, helping businesses solve complex product challenges.
💡Special Skills Needed:
Cross-industry knowledge and understanding of various product lifecycles
Strong communication and consulting skills, across multiple product management specialities
Ability to diagnose organizational and process-related product issues
Expertise in change management and transformation strategies
Stakeholder management and client engagement
There is more specialization in the industry, but we will limit ourselves to the above list for our current learning purposes. There are a lot of transferable skills across these specializations and it’s very common for product managers to move across different specializations and build a multi-disciplinary specialty in product management and fuel their carrier progression and growth in product management.
4. A Deepdive - Technical Product Manager
A Technical Product Manager (TPM) is a specialized role that bridges the gap between business needs and engineering execution. Unlike general product managers who may focus on market research, user experience, and business strategy, TPMs focus heavily on the technical aspects of product development. They work closely with engineering teams, ensuring that the product is not only aligned with the business goals but also technically feasible, scalable, and well-architected.
TPMs are often responsible for API-driven products, platforms, cloud infrastructure, or any product with complex technical dependencies. They must speak the language of engineers while keeping the user and business perspective in mind, making them key players in product development for technology-driven organizations.
Core Activities of a Technical Product Manager 👩💻
Collaborating with Engineering Teams TPMs work closely with engineers to translate product requirements into technical specifications. They ensure that technical constraints and possibilities are considered during product planning and ensure the smooth execution of development cycles.
Defining the Product Roadmap with Technical Feasibility in Mind TPMs are responsible for creating and maintaining the product roadmap, with an emphasis on technical feasibility and scalability. They need to balance long-term architectural decisions with immediate delivery timelines.
API and Infrastructure Planning For API-driven or platform products, TPMs must oversee how different systems communicate. They are often responsible for designing and managing APIs, integrations, data pipelines, and cloud infrastructure.
Problem Solving and Technical Debt Management TPMs help prioritize technical debt and technical challenges, making sure that the engineering team isn’t just shipping features but also keeping the system clean and scalable. They work on finding technical solutions for scaling issues, performance bottlenecks, and system reliability.
Stakeholder Management Across Technical and Non-Technical Teams Since TPMs work at the intersection of multiple teams, they often act as a bridge between engineering, design, marketing, and business teams. They must ensure everyone is aligned on the technical roadmap and product outcomes.
Specialized Needs for the Technical Product Manager Role 😎
Deep Technical Knowledge A TPM must understand system architecture, APIs, cloud infrastructure, and databases. While they don’t need to code, they should be able to engage meaningfully with engineers on the technical aspects of product development. This includes understanding how systems scale, how APIs function, and how infrastructure needs evolve.
Strong Problem-Solving and Analytical Skills TPMs often deal with complex technical challenges, ranging from system performance issues to scaling infrastructure. They need to break down these problems and work with the engineering team to develop robust solutions.
Technical Communication A key skill for a TPM is the ability to communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders. They need to translate business requirements into technical terms and vice versa. Clear, concise documentation and communication are essential.
Prioritization of Technical Debt TPMs need to balance the need for new features with the imperative to reduce technical debt. They must ensure that the engineering team isn’t bogged down by legacy issues while still delivering value to the business.
Architectural Oversight While TPMs don’t typically design the full system architecture themselves, they need to understand the big picture. They are responsible for making sure that architectural decisions align with the long-term product strategy and that the technical infrastructure can handle future growth.
A Week in the Life of a Technical Product Manager (Macro View) 🗓️
Below is the macro view of a typical week of a TPM, showing a mix of responsibilities and interactions that define the role:
🥸Monday: Product Roadmap Review
Begin the week with a product roadmap review meeting. Discuss the progress of ongoing sprints, evaluate technical blockers, and ensure alignment between product and engineering teams. Review technical dependencies, clarify features, and make adjustments to the roadmap if necessary.
Meet with the engineering lead to discuss potential technical debt. Prioritize the debt items that are affecting the current sprint and create a plan for tackling them without compromising feature delivery.
😵💫Tuesday: API Design and Technical Discussions
Spend time with the backend engineering team to finalize the design of a new API. Review the API documentation, ensure that the new endpoints meet scalability and performance requirements, and confirm that the integration won’t introduce any bottlenecks.
Work on writing detailed technical requirements for an upcoming feature. Specify data flow, infrastructure needs, and key performance metrics that need to be monitored post-release.
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🥳Wednesday: Cross-Team Collaboration
Attend a meeting with the sales and customer success teams. They’ve flagged a few technical issues reported by customers using the API. Work with the engineering team to identify root causes and propose short-term fixes and long-term solutions.
Join a design review meeting with the UX/UI team. While the meeting is primarily about frontend features, provide feedback on how the new design might affect backend systems, ensuring that the engineering team can accommodate the changes.
😏Thursday: Sprint Planning and Problem Solving
Conduct sprint planning with the engineering team. Review the sprint backlog, clarify technical tasks, and ensure all user stories are aligned with technical constraints. Answer questions from the team about feature implementation.
Jump into an emergency meeting to troubleshoot a production issue. A new API release has caused unexpected downtime. Work closely with the engineering and DevOps teams to debug the issue and roll out a hotfix.
🙃Friday: Data Review and Strategy Alignment
Review product metrics and system performance data from the latest release. Analyze how the new API endpoints are performing in terms of response time and system load. Work on creating a report for stakeholders on technical performance.
Meet with the CTO and product leadership team to discuss the upcoming quarter’s technical roadmap. Present the long-term technical vision, highlighting necessary infrastructure upgrades and how these will impact product features.
🤡Weekends
Give it a break. Let the product manager relax and recharge on weekends. There is another busy week ahead 😱
This week showcases the balance TPMs need to maintain between being deeply involved in technical execution and keeping an eye on the broader product strategy. They must navigate between teams, solve technical problems, and prioritize tasks based on both business and technical needs.
But, no two weeks are the same and the week level gives only a macro view. Most of the time, the day of a TPM is much more loaded and diverse. Let’s have a look at the micro view now.
A Day in the Life of a Technical Product Manager (Micro View) ⏳
8:30 AM – Morning Check-In and Email Review
The day starts with a quick scan of emails and messages, checking for any urgent issues or questions from the engineering team. There’s a flagged notification from last night about a bug in the latest API release, so a quick check into the bug tracking tool helps confirm the severity. You note the issue and plan to discuss it with the team during the stand-up.
😃9:00 AM – Daily Stand-Up with Engineering
Join the engineering team’s daily stand-up. You listen as the engineers provide updates on the ongoing sprint tasks and discuss any blockers they’re facing. The bug from the API release is raised, and you prioritize it for immediate attention. You help clarify a few questions about an upcoming feature and discuss the implications of a recent architectural change. The conversation quickly shifts to ensuring system performance as the new feature rolls out.
🤓10:00 AM – Deep Dive Meeting: API Design Review
Next up is a meeting with backend engineers to review the final design of a new API endpoint that the team is building. You go over the technical specifications and confirm that the new API will scale as expected when traffic spikes. You also ensure it adheres to security best practices and won’t introduce new vulnerabilities. This is a highly technical session, and you work with the team to optimize the data flow and identify potential bottlenecks.
😉11:30 AM – Cross-Functional Meeting: Product and Design Sync
Switching gears, it’s time for a meeting with the product and design teams. The discussion centers around an upcoming feature with a complex user flow that impacts backend architecture. While the designers focus on the user interface, you raise concerns about the backend system’s ability to support the added complexity. You suggest alternative technical approaches that could streamline the backend while keeping the user experience intact.
🤠12:30 PM – Lunch and Catching Up on Industry Trends
During lunch, you browse through recent industry articles and product management blogs. Keeping up with trends in cloud architecture and new API standards helps you stay ahead in your role. You also check in on your favorite forums and communities to learn from other TPMs and pick up ideas for optimizing technical processes.
In the afternoon, you present an updated product roadmap to the CTO and other stakeholders. The goal is to align technical priorities for the next quarter. You walk them through key initiatives, such as scaling infrastructure, addressing technical debt, and expanding API functionalities. You also discuss the trade-offs of introducing new features versus making architectural improvements, ensuring the business goals are met without compromising system stability.
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🤬2:30 PM – Firefighting: Production Issue Escalation
Mid-afternoon, you’re pulled into an emergency meeting about a production issue. The team has discovered a performance bottleneck in one of the microservices that’s affecting the user experience. You collaborate with the DevOps and engineering teams to quickly diagnose the issue. After some analysis, a temporary fix is implemented to restore system performance, and a plan is put in place for a more permanent solution. You ensure the incident is documented for future reference.
🫨4:00 PM – Sprint Planning for Next Week
After the firefight, it’s back to regular duties. You work with the engineering team to prioritize tasks for the next sprint. This includes reviewing technical debt items, finalizing user stories, and ensuring that all technical requirements are clear. You focus on making sure the engineering team can balance feature development with necessary infrastructure work.
😨5:00 PM – Wrap-Up and Documentation
Before ending the day, you spend time writing detailed documentation. You update the API documentation to reflect recent changes, ensuring that other teams and external partners have clear information on how to use the product. You also write a retrospective on the production issue, outlining the root cause and proposed solutions for long-term stability.
🥴6:00 PM – Day Ends, Time for Reflection
The day wraps up with a quick review of tomorrow’s calendar and tasks. You reflect on the day’s progress, thinking about how to streamline processes to avoid similar production issues in the future. With a mix of technical challenges solved, roadmap goals refined, and cross-team alignment achieved, it’s been a productive day.
Key Takeaways from a Week and Day as a TPM 👻:
Constant Context-Switching: As a TPM, you need to switch between technical deep dives and high-level product strategy, ensuring both are aligned.
Stakeholder Management: You’ll regularly engage with technical and non-technical teams, translating complex technical details into business-friendly terms and vice versa.
Problem-Solving on the Fly: Production issues or technical challenges are part of the role. You need to troubleshoot efficiently while maintaining a focus on long-term solutions.
Technical Focus with Product Vision: Whether it’s API design, system scalability, or managing technical debt, you always need to keep both the user and business goals in mind.
Hope this gives a details view of one of the product management specialization. Do let me know if you want me to do deep dives on more product management specialization in upcoming editions.
Conclusion 🙌
Product management is the key role that bridges customer needs with business goals, driving teams to build impactful products. In this article, we explored the essential skills, specializations, and daily realities of the role.
Whether you’re drawn to technical challenges, customer insights, or growth strategies, there’s a path in product management for you. If you’re passionate about problem-solving and leading teams to create products that matter, this could be the perfect career to pursue.
Now it’s time to explore further, refine your skills, and begin your product management journey.
Smart people learn from other’s experiences. I have traveled this path in the past. So, I want to show the path and guide professionals who are struggling in their professional journey.
