What is product management?

Qu’est-ce que le product management ?

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Product management is a strategic organizational function of companies that covers all stages of the product life cycle.

Product management encompasses all key stages of a product, from design and production to marketing and customer support. By mastering product lifecycle management, companies can provide their target audience with better designed and more effective products.

What are the main objectives of product management?

1. Define a product vision

A clear and defined product vision is fundamental to any product management strategy. It must meet the expectations of the target audience as well as the company’s business objectives and challenges.

This vision, which is the essential guide to the product roadmap, must strategically position the product(s) relative to its competitors while meeting the expectations and demands of the market.

2. Define a product strategy

The product strategy defines the strategic direction of the product in order to achieve the vision and business objectives. Most often conceptualized in the form of a product roadmap, the product strategy frames and plans all stages of the product cycle by involving all project stakeholders.

3. Manage product development

Once the product vision and strategy have been approved by the various project stakeholders, product development consists of delivering the new product and is composed of the development, testing, production and marketing phases.

Product Manager vs Product Owner: what are the differences?

Even today, the terms Product Owner and Product Manager are regularly confused and used in the same way in companies, the major difference between these two product-oriented functions remains the nature of their involvement:

The Product Owner

The Product Owner plays an operational role and focuses on the team and the product. He or she is responsible for defining and prioritizing the backlog, for product quality, for delivery and for meeting the deadlines set by the roadmap.

The Product Manager

The product manager plays a strategic, user-focused role in identifying customer needs and defining the product vision.

Product management: what are the tools?

Product management tools are software, most often SAAS, designed to manage the entire life cycle of a product, from development to marketing and user support. These tools facilitate all the planning, design and testing that goes into product deployment.

Collaborative communication platforms:

Knowledge, monitoring and analysis of user activity:

A/B testing and information gathering:

Collaborative design tools, prototyping and wireframing:

Creation of roadmaps, tasks and projects management:

Marketing process automation:

Data management: