A product backlog here can help a team decide what they’re working on and what they want to focus on. It’s a description of how the team will carry out the idea laid out in an agile roadmap. It’s a gigantic to-do list for your development team in many ways. 

Projects can be part of larger products with a product backlog to manage them. A Product backlog example can be customer implementation projects, which may be delivered as part of a bigger product backlog. Alternatively, a game production studio could treat each generation of a game as a separate project with a set deadline (for example around Christmas).

What is Product Backlog in Scrum?

In Scrum, the agile product backlog is a prioritized features list that includes brief descriptions of all product functionality. If you are working on a project then it is not required to begin it with a lengthy effort to document all requirements using Scrum. A Scrum team and its product owner can start by including anything they can think of for agile backlog prioritization.

This agile product backlog is more than enough for a first sprint. As additional information about the product and its customers becomes available, the Scrum product backlog permits it to expand and adapt.

In Scrum, the product backlog is a prioritized features list that includes brief descriptions of all product functionality. It is not required to begin a project with a lengthy, upfront effort to document all requirements while using Scrum.

In custom software development services, a scrum team and its product owner typically start by jotting down anything they can think of for agile backlog prioritization. Almost always, this agile product backlog is more than enough for a first sprint. As additional information about the product and its customers becomes available, the Scrum product backlog is permitted to expand and adapt.

How Product Backlog Journey Starts?

First comes the vision or an idea, then the strategy takes place, to accomplish the idea there is a need for the roadmap, and after laying the roadmap comes the product backlog. Below given pointers show what each of the product backlog journey terms mean.

• The product strategy is an outline of how the company’s goal will be realized at a high level
• The product roadmap dictates the plan to be carried
• The product backlog contains the task-level specifics required to produce the pro product

How Product Backlog and Product Roadmaps are Different?

The two key product management tools are the product roadmap and the product backlog. Each instrument has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. A product backlog should not be confused with a product roadmap. Both of these living documents are useful for agile development process teams for different reasons. The backlog provides tactical development specifics, whereas the roadmap concentrates on the overall strategy.

Product backlog management entails a variety of tasks and strategies. Because the product roadmap is frequently changed, it must be closely linked to the product backlog. As a result, the backlog must be prioritized (and re-prioritized) regularly to reflect changes and discoveries.

The product backlog includes epics and user stories, workflow diagrams, user-interface design sketches, and mock-ups, as well as other outstanding work required to construct a product. It’s a tactical tool that guides the development team’s work and serves as the foundation for tracking development progress with tools like a release burndown chart. The primary distinctions between the product roadmap and the product backlog are summarised in the diagram below.

The product roadmap is a strategic product-planning tool that outlines how the product will evolve over the following time. It establishes a sense of purpose, encourages stakeholder participation, aids in the acquisition of funds, and makes it easier to coordinate the development and launch of various products.

Additionally, special attention should be paid to keep the backlog structured and accessible. The product backlog management practices recommend aiming for a Detailed appropriately, Emergent, Estimated, and Prioritized (DEEP) product backlog in which the items with the highest priority contain the most detail, and the level of detail reduces as the priority increases.

Most agile teams also participate in product backlog grooming sessions, which are used to refine and arrange backlog items. During these meetings, the team collaborates to plan ahead of time for a few sprints’ worth of user stories. Agile backlog grooming sessions guarantee that the user stories at the top of the backlog have enough detail to be understood by the delivery team.

Product Backlog Prioritization Techniques

• Rather than being a one-time event, product backlog grooming is a continual process involving product owners and development teams. Subject expertise is often present in development teams, which they can refine. The Scrum team, on the other hand, determines when and how the optimization will be completed.
• The act of adding detail, estimations, and order to items in the Product Backlog is known as product backlog refinement. Within each Sprint, ongoing Product Backlog Refinement is required to refine products so that they are ready for future Sprints. Refinement of the product backlog typically requires no more than 10% of the development team’s work.
• The product backlog items at the top of the Product Backlog (highest priority, biggest value) are decomposed so that they fit within one Sprint once the backlog items have been refined to the appropriate level of granularity.
  

All estimation work is handled by the development team. By assisting the team in assessing trade-offs, product owners can have an impact on their decisions. The person doing the task, on the other hand, determines the final estimate.

Benefits of Product Backlog

Backlog as Placeholders

Backlog items serve as placeholders for future discussions regarding a solution for reaching your goal. This means that a team does not need to have a completely developed idea before adding it to the product backlog. When a product backlog item is first introduced, it just needs to have enough information to remind the team what the alternative was. When a team is about to start working on a product backlog item, it just needs to be fully explained.

Dynamic Nature

A product backlog’s dynamic nature allows teams to keep track of their learning about the desired goal and potential delivery methods. The product backlog does not have to be complete when a team begins working. Thus, they can begin with an original concept and add new product backlog items as they gain experience.

Easy removal

Just because something is in a product backlog doesn’t mean it has to be delivered. A team can remove items off the backlog if they don’t contribute to the desired end. This means that a team can avoid producing non-value-adding deliverables and instead focus on making truly useful changes.

Add a backlog item

Product backlog can be used by teams to avoid time waste debating whether an option is valuable or not based on limited information. When a new idea presents itself, the team can add a product backlog item as a reminder to investigate the idea further. The team can then prioritize consideration of that idea alongside other items, and remove the product backlog item if the idea proves to not provide progress toward the desired outcome.

Agile Product Backlog vs. Sprint Backlog- A Detailed Difference

In a nutshell, the sprint backlog is the team’s short-term sprint plan. The product backlog in agile is the product’s long-term plan, in which the vision is categorized into tangible deliverable items that add value to the product. Many people consider the sprint backlog to be a subset of the product backlog. This is ideal; the sprint backlog is made up entirely of items from the product backlog. Also the sprint will typically include other work that the team has committed to and the tasks that can be completed during the product design sprint.

The product backlog in agile is a collection of tasks you expect to complete in the future to maintain your product competitiveness. It is the result of collaboration between the product owner and stakeholders (customers, the team, analysts). It will be updated regularly, with new items being added or removed. 

In general, it will be larger than the sprint backlog. It will also include elements with varying levels of granularity, with fewer items broken down below the level of the user story. The product owner is in charge of it.

The sprint backlog is a collection of work that the team is committed to completing, either now or later in the sprint (typically a 1-4 week period). It is made up of user stories that the team has committed to completing during the upcoming sprint. 

However, it can also include things like bugs, refactoring work, and so on. It’s usually more detailed and divided out into activities, with the technical implementation of a user story at the forefront. It is the scrum master’s and team’s responsibility.

Time To Build Your Backlog

The need for proper planning and organization is critical to your success. That’s where backlogs come in handy. The backlog, when properly generated and maintained, becomes a tool that aids teams in navigating constant change, achieving peak productivity, and providing maximum value to both the business and the customer.

In the above blog we have described what product backlog is and how it helps a team in their working by creating a common ground for stakeholders and teams to align so that the most meaningful user stories are implemented, allow flexibility to respond to changing demands, and circumstances, create a common denominator across several teams working on the same product to improve the accuracy of product release forecasts.

The post What is Product Backlog? appeared first on Appinventiv.

They are also required to have the expertise in knowing how to identify the priority tasks and manage the team accordingly. Not just this, but mobile product managers are also given the responsibility to analyze the features added to a product (mobile app) and whether they are in sync with the client’s goals. 

All in all, every process, activity, and decision associated with a product is synchronized and aligned by the mobile product manager. What helps these product managers achieve their KRAs is a certain set of skills.

Now, obviously they will be required to explain certain product management ideas to their team members so that they all are on the same page. But, the thing to wonder is – how do they explain all the product management concepts and key ideas?

Well, I think a few useful diagrams for product managers do the trick. If you are interested in knowing what these diagrams are and how and when they are used by mobile product managers, stick till the end.

Diagram 1 – Communication bottlenecks

It is understood that as a manager, you need to be aware of what is going on in your team and how the team members are managing their tasks. But, it is ludicrous for any person to be involved in every communication and decision – one person cannot handle all the things on one’s own, right? Isn’t this why the delegation was invented? 

Now, it is natural you would want to be included in all the important inter/intra-team conversations, but you need to reflect on one thing – is it necessary? Is it something you should do by putting aside your other responsibilities? 

The answer is – analyze whether the team is capable of communication which is not dependent on you. And if it is, you need to make some conscious decisions to ensure that important things like fluent communication are not solely dependent on you. A diagram that can effectively explain the case in point is given below. 

Let’s say, a Web Engineer needs to discuss something with the Product Analyst and then the PA says they need to discuss something with the iOS developer in this regard. Now, the Web Engineer should ideally approach the PA and iOS developer directly, instead of being dependent on the PM (as shown in the image on the left). 

The diagram on the left shows the dependency of the team on product manager to communicate with other members of other teams – something that adversely affects the workflow and slows it down. And on the right is the diagram displaying an efficient communication flow that is not dependent, instantly eliminating unnecessary points of contact.   

Diagram 2: Waterfall vs agile

Though there are many resources out there on the internet participating in the debate of the Agile vs Waterfall approach, it may still seem like a vague concept in relation to product management. So let’s clear the fog of ambiguity.

It is generally known that the cost of mobile app development is calculated on the basis of hours it takes to develop that product. 

Now, if the product manager of that mobile app development company chooses to use the Waterfall approach (i.e., a large release of the product), this would mean that the product will be launched all in one go. 

Now, when a product is released, it is expected to become an instant hit – something which won’t be easy in this instance, since the product is launched all at once and is definitely a home to some issues. The value that they will get from this release won’t be equivalent to the investment (time) made by the developers.  It is because they would require to fix the issues from the start.

On the contrary, the agile approach supporting small releases and iterations would show instant value results, since you are simultaneously identifying errors and fixing them.  The diagram above clearly shows the difference in the end result of choosing these product management approaches.

Diagram 3: Representation of delivery size

When it comes to delivering a product on time, it is a very crucial part of the whole development process. It can literally make or break the future of any mobile app. If time-to-market is too long, some other app could capture the market and it would render the mobile app in question futile.

Here is a representation of the sizes of initiatives taken when developing an application –

The diagram on the left shows the throughput of the delivery size that only deals with working on big projects (large chunks of work at the same time). It is absolutely clear that working only on big projects of a product would create a blockage at one point of time in the future, since these projects would require more time, attention, resources, etc. And if anything goes wrong, the impact would be devastating on the whole process, inevitably increasing the time-to-market.

{Also read our article on “Project Managers vs Product Managers: Difference, roles & challenges”}

The diagram on the right is a classic “to do”. The advantages of adopting the Agile approach have rippled down to this stage in the product management process as well. This approach advocates the mixture of performing small tasks with large chunks of work (blue), something that we also follow at Appinventiv. 

As visible in the diagram, unlike the one on the left, here small chunks of work (Pink) can easily pass through the funnel (can be done easily). If these prove successful, the product managers can carry on with this idea (yellow circles) and invest completely. And if otherwise is the case, then they can iterate again and invest accordingly.

{Check out this extensively detailed article on “10 most important documents product managers must prepare”}

Diagram 4: Level of leadership involvement

The diagram below comprises two models for elaborating this product management concept. One on the left displaying the initiative size, number of tasks done at a time, and the risk factor in them, and the other concerned with the level of involvement of the product managers (leadership) correspondent to these tasks and initiatives. 

The one on the left is a pyramid of tasks/initiatives to be performed by the team. The bottom of the pyramid means many tasks being performed at once, and the diagram on the right shows the amount of involvement with respect to these menial tasks having low to none risk. 

As we move to the top of the pyramid, the number of tasks decreases while the risks associated with these tasks increase as well, this is where the product manager MUST be consulted, while in the formed he/she can be just informed. This diagram would help not just help mobile product managers but also the team members in knowing when to depend on the leadership.

Diagram 5: Analyzing segmentation value

There are a few practices that organizations are accustomed to following. One of them being the habit of optimizing for the average instead of a segment. Meaning, they tend to focus on the average instead of particular segments that need improving.

In the circumstances where the targets and hypotheses are fairly broad, it becomes challenging for the product managers and development teams to create an impact via product. It is because you are here trying to satisfy a variety of targets at the same time, which is not at all possible. 

Diagrams, such as given below are a way to analyze each segment for identifying which ones are impacting the performance of others. All this to resolve the prevailing issues.

The diagram above consists of three hypothetical experiments 1,2, and 3 with segments A, B, C, and D. Out of three experiments, in the first case, there was an uplift in the segment A, followed by a decrease in the second case, and third with no change. 

Taking an individual look, in experiment 1, segment A performed well with others, except segment B. Now, the diagram has highlighted the decline in this segment juxtaposed to the others. This could help product managers in finding the reasons for this happening which will eventually improve the average in the longer run. 

A similar situation occurs in experiment 3, where segments A, C, D underperform in opposition segment B which showed significant change. Again, a study would clear out the reasons for this happening. 

These useful diagrams for product managers can easily be customized to one’s needs, irrespective of which industry the product managers are operating in. As far as Appinventiv is concerned, I think these models really help our teams in simplifying the process and maintain open communication between inter/intra-teams.

Frequently Asked Questions

1.  What is a product management framework?

All the frameworks are essentially tools used in the product management lifecycle. They are used for various purposes such as to illustrate product management ideas and concepts and facilitate other tasks.

2. What is the product management process?

The process of product management consists of various stages. It includes – idea management, road-mapping, adding and determining specifications, prioritization, delivery, analytics, and user feedback.

The post Best 5 Diagrams Used To Explain Product Management Concepts appeared first on Appinventiv.

Right?

But seeing your idea materialize into a robust product requires strategizing, assembling the right team, and conducting a kick-off meeting.

But it is not over yet. The kick-off meeting implies that you are just getting started. 

Building a mobile app is a long process. While the Scoping session and discovery phase of app development have been emphasized enough, managing the project efficiently has a huge impact on the success of a product.

According to a PwC study, a whopping 97% of organizations believe that project management is critical to business performance and organizational success.

Regardless of how simple or complex your idea is, project management plays a fundamental role in app development. Effective project management ensures that deadlines are met on time and there is a timely flow of deliverables. 

So, if you want to stay on track with your app development project, whether it’s in terms of schedule or getting the app that you want, besides regular communication with the development agency, effective project management techniques is a must. 

And especially your Project Manager must take care of the project management triangle.  

What is Project Management Triangle?

Project Management Triangle also referred as the Iron Triangle or the Project Management Triple Constraint defines the basic constraints that a project operates within, namely, Scope, Time and Cost. 

The Iron Triangle, as the name suggests is the relationship between three crucial forces in a project. It is named so because you can’t change one aspect of the triangle without impacting other key dimensions. 

Introducing modifications to any of the three aspects of the Project Management Triangle is quite difficult. 

For instance, let’s suppose you are a Project Manager and your client insists on adding more functionalities to the product. Increasing the project scope implies that the time required to build the product will increase and that would eventually increase the cost of a project. 

So, to ensure that the project costs don’t exceed the budget and the product is delivered within the timeframe with the right functionality, it is essential to have an understanding of the mutual dependency of the three constraints. 

Being ignorant of the Project Management Triple Constraint might put you at risk of making the wrong decisions and it may adversely impact the success of your project.

Why Is It Important To Have Balance In a Project Management Triangle?

Keeping the triple constraints of Project Management Triangle in mind while you spearhead a project will help you adapt to the changing requirements while assuring that the project is delivered on time and doesn’t exceed the budget. 

The concept of the project management triangle finds its reference in Agile methodology, and agile allows us to welcome changes. We can’t really ignore changes in the development process, they are bound to come up. 

Therefore, project management time cost quality and smart management of the iron triangle is crucial. Being prepared ensures any changes whatsoever don’t impact or jeopardize the entire project. 

So, before you expand the scope or move the deadline you should know how it can impact your project. 

To give you a clear idea and understanding, let’s explore some scenarios and dive deep into the dimensions of the triangle and measure the consequences and project triple constraint analysis of moving the triangle towards one or two dimensions. 

Scope 

Scope refers to the extent, dimension and spectrum of the work that needs to be accomplished in a project. It entails all the work that needs to be done and all the services that need to be provided in regard to the product functionalities.

Increasing the project scope impacts the time and the budget. Adding more functionalities or expanding the existing ones require resources that might not have been taken into consideration while planning. 

When requests for additional resources arise, a Project Manager has to take a lot of factors into consideration which can increase the project costs or lengthen the development process. 

Also, having a tight budget and stringent deadlines gives you little or no flexibility in terms of expanding the project scope. 

However, there is an approach which will allow you to add functionalities without expanding the scope of a project. 

And that’s where the concept of an MVP comes into the picture. A Minimum Viable Product is the first version of a product with a basic set of features. It determines whether or not the product has the potential to succeed.

An MVP is launched in the market in the shortest time possible to ascertain whether it sparks user interest. After generating invaluable user feedback and validating with real users, new functionality is added gradually. 

It is a great way to test the waters. Products that are fully functional as MVPs can gradually add more functionalities. Your focus should essentially lay on finding a product-market fit. 

Product-market fit is the extent to which a product satisfies a strong market demand. Finding the right product-market fit is considered the first step to building a successful venture.

More often than not, many clients demand to extend the scope of work while the product is in the development pipeline. Adding new functionalities without making tradeoffs with regard to the time and budget sounds impossible. 

Except, in some cases, it’s really not. 

Adding new functionality by removing initially planned features doesn’t impact the triple constraints as much. When building a new product or application, it is advisable to keep the scope to a minimum- include only the ‘must-have’ features and leave the ‘nice to have’ features. An MVP should include only the core functionality and characterize the value proposition. This way you can avoid wasting the budget on something that users don’t even need. 

While handling complex projects that cater to highly competitive markets, sometimes adding new functionality becomes a necessity. In cases where changes can make a huge difference for the user and the business, they should be accommodated with open and honest communication between the Project Manager and the key stakeholders. 

Factors to look out for scope challenges, so that you don’t face any issue:

•         Uncertain requirements
•         Add-on feature requests
•         Changing specifications

Time 

The expected timeframe of a project is decided by a couple of factors such as the scope of work, the complexity of the project, availability of the resources and the team expertise. 

While time constraints in project management implies the amount of time you need to complete the tasks, the velocity factor measures how much work is getting accomplished in a given timeframe. 

Since people don’t really work with the same speed and efficiency every day, the velocity tends to vary across days and weeks 

Estimating the time frame becomes difficult due to the changes in the velocity. 

This is why in an agile environment, the scrum work methodology is considered an ideal approach to ensure the project is completed in the given timeframe. 

With efficient communication between team members, daily Stand-ups, Sprint Planning, and Retrospectives, it is easy to map out the team’s workload, work on obstacles and keep the velocity factor in check every step of the way. 

Ideally, after the completion of three sprints, it’s easy to map out if more resources are required in the project or if the deadline needs to be moved.

Time is very important asset, thus to avoid any delays you should be aware of time challenges like:

•         Internal and External delays:
•         Too much optimism
•         Team gaps
•         Too much work pressure

Cost 

The third key dimension, Cost, includes the project budget and the number of team members needed to deliver a product. 

To keep the cost factor in check, it is advisable to prioritize elements of project scope that need to be delivered and allocate resources accordingly at all phases of development. 

Estimating the cost and resources required in a project isn’t as easy, especially when it is a complex project. A good Project Manager either makes estimates based on data collected from similar projects done in the past or makes an appropriate guess based on the detailed interaction with the client. 

After making the initial estimate, the project planning for PMs includes controlling and managing the budget throughout the development cycle. 

Everything has a limitation, thus here are some factors that you can take care of which could cause project budget to fall apart:

•         Lack of accountability
•         Cost underestimation
•         Rising personnel costs
•         Delay in project

How To Balance The Iron Triangle? 

The Iron Triangle doesn’t exist to help us detail all the elements of a project management- scope, time and cost. Rather, it goes on to show how these constraints are intricately intertwined. 

Managing and Balancing the scope time cost triangle is quite similar to juggling and it certainly isn’t easy. 

Project Managers divide the entire project into milestones and tasks to balance the triangle effectively. The priorities for the team are defined and there is always open communication with the client in order to meet their unique requirements. 

The iron triangle is a compromise balance that the project manager needs to dominate by controlling variables and factors. Together, balancing the project management and these three requirements can help decide the quality of the whole project.
For instance, if a project should be finished by a particular time, the scope may require to be diminished, or costs to be increased to oblige extra resources or additional time. Or on the other hand if a project can’t surpass a budget, then the project manager may have to stretch time to reduce additional time utilized.

Here are some of our best practices for effectively managing the Triple Constraints: 

Discovery Workshops:

At the outset of every project, we conduct Product Discovery Workshops with our clients. These workshops are conducted to define the purpose of the project, establish the project scope, outline the core functionalities and streamline a roadmap to accomplish the work. It provides the client clarity on what needs to be done. 

Estimate: 

After having a comprehensive understanding of all aspects of the project, we provide a detailed estimate of the project timeline and the required budget to successfully develop the product. 

Plan: 

Our Project Managers strategically plan the team’s workloads as per the milestones. By practicing the Scrum framework, we keep velocity in check and there is a timely flow of deliverables. It helps us eliminate obstacles early on and accomplish work in the given deadline. 

Team:  

We allocate a cross-functional team to ensure we deliver the best possible solution on time and within budget. A Cross-functional team brings together people from different functional expertise. Through shared expertise and mutually exploring the prospects of a project, together we accomplish a common goal. 

Communication:

In the product development process, open communication between the team and the key stakeholders is crucial. Our Delivery system ensures proactive updates, which means our client is never in the dark. We discuss any possible changes in the key dimensions upfront and that makes the team adapt to changes quickly.

Balancing the iron triangle is a crucial part. According to an article by the Project Management Institute titled, ‘Beyond the Iron Triangle,’ the project managers should think and consider soft factors like social expectations (meetings and analytic space) and personal motivation. These internal factors are capable of influencing projects as much as the three main constraints.

Conclusion

While balancing the project management triangle is a lot like juggling, it is also a constant reminder of how changing one constraint will cast an impact on the entire project. 

It is a valuable tool that prepares the Project Manager to think strategically, make wiser decisions and effectively manage the project.

The post How to Successfully Balance the Project Management Triangle? appeared first on Appinventiv.

As appropriately summed up by Ben Horowitz, written communication is like a river that immerses everyone that comes in its contact. The same holds true in a business scenario as well.

Written communication is, indeed, a more unified way to exchange information about a software that every team member should be aware of. This is the reason why product managers invest their time in maintaining documentation of every task concerning the software.

It is understood that creating several documents for numerous processes helps keep the whole development process organized, avoiding unanticipated problems caused by misunderstandings.

To determine the importance of documentation for product managers, let’s look at some of the advantages of doing so.

Why Should Product Managers Focus on Documentation?

• To Develop a Precise Product Vision – Documentation helps product managers to identify the answers to all the “whys” in projects revolving around the main product. Writing everything helps the product managers make crucial decisions and get answers right at the beginning for questions such as “Who is the product for? ” and “why does the app needs to be developed?”. This eliminates any chance of confusion and mistakes.

• A Major Help in Planning – “You cannot assume that your product is the best solution — you need to plan for it to be.” Now, before anything, Planning is paramount. When managers document their vision in a clear and eloquent manner via creating stories, sprints, and goals, the whole development team is able to create a software aligned with users’ needs.

• Supports Timely Execution – Plans are futile if they are not implemented on time and in the right manner. To turn an app vision into a real and well-functioning application, a product manager uses documentation and establishes written communication with designers, engineers, etc. to nudge them in the right direction and execute the well-articulated plans.

• Keeps Team Members Accountable – By keeping documentation of all the tasks related to the product intact, a product manager can access a plethora of information about what team members are doing what and make them accountable for their share of tasks. Keeping a record of everything keep things simple and transparent.

• Customers’ Needs Are Fulfilled – By documenting everything from app idea to planning, product managers can easily access what features should be included in the application and what functions each must perform. Later, they can pass on this assessment to the team in a detailed and clear way so that the end product is exactly what users need.

Most Used Documents By Product Managers

1. Competitive Analysis Documents

“One way to know your actual advantage is to run a competitive analysis.”

Competitive analysis includes the study of the competitors’ products and services, market share, and their strengths and weaknesses. A competitive analysis document is prepared inclusive of all the above-mentioned parameters to share with the whole development. A product manager, only after extensively studying the competitors, finalizes what their app or software is going to be like.

A competitor’s table in the document may look a little like this:

• Name of the Competitor
• URL of the Competitor’s website
• Precise number of users it has  (to estimate the effectiveness of its products and services)
• Duration of the competitor’s presence in the market
• Specifics and specialty of competitors
• Cost of service/product
• Miscellaneous notes

The contents in the document can differ significantly since there are several types of analysis that product managers perform. Some of the prominent ones are capabilities analysis, Competitive landscape, Competitive differentiation analysis, Imitability Ladder, and Value Proposition analysis.

2. Product Strategy and Vision Documents

The product vision is something that paints a picture of the future of the product that we are striving to create. It can be in the form of a storyboard, a narrative or a prototype which aims to inspire teams, investors, and partners towards the product.

Product strategy is the sequence of products that are meant to be created until the final product is achieved.

One of the best skills of competent product managers is to create a product vision, but not just that. They need to develop a compelling product strategy as well in order to impart a clear perspective about the product. The product vision must be inspiring, and the product strategy must be very intentional. So, documents are created to record all of the data related to exploring what product may turn out to be and how to turn a vision into reality. Primarily, these documents are shared with the stakeholders for feedback.

3. Specs and Product Requirement Documents (PRDs)

Product Requirement Documents are an all-in-one-place documents to bring the distinct elements of an app in one place. Specs document are the most common types of documents that contain a description of the apps’ features, amongst other things.

Each PRD may differ from one another. These documents outline the research problem statements, success metrics, MVP features list, engineering implementation details and so on.

PRDs combine every step in the complete picture of the product, along with the choice of whether to include or exclude certain features and identify any potential problems. Product managers visualize the time required for project development processes, understand the budget needed for the development processes, and evolve a mutual comprehensive understanding between clients and the development team using this document.

4. OKRs, KPIs, success metrics

OKR, acronymous of Objective & Key Result is a method used by product managers to establish the objectives and then access the results of the ongoing product development process. The objective guides the team towards the goals and results show whether the goals are achieved or not. It includes two questions that are answered in the process – “Where do you want to go?” and “Have you reached there or not?”

Whereas, KPI (Key Performance Indicator) is a type of performance measurement of the ongoing development process’s success. A few examples of KPIs are Customer Lifetime Value and Trial-to-Customer Conversion Rate in sales, Web traffic and Conversion Rate in Marketing, etc. The respective documents contain all these goals and their results achieved during the process.

5. Roadmaps Documents

Image Source: Product Plan

RoadMaps are one of the primary and crucial documents that product managers are expected to keep. A roadmap is a way to let the team know the importance of the product.

A product manager develops a product life cycle explaining what needs to be done when and how the whole process will take place. A roadmap is a compiled document of all the projects developed in order to successfully create a software or an application. It is a path created by product managers that the whole team follows. These can be created as Word docs and decks.

6. Designs and Prototypes Documents

It’s hard to nail something for the first time. And it is also true with product design. The initial idea may not be the final one for there are thousands of variations that take place during the process. So, product managers need to keep a document containing all of the changes and alterations made in the product’s design.

Product prototyping is severely different for product managers as compared to engineers or designers. In prototyping, product managers set the expectations right and pave a path for the team to tread on.

If you wonder why do product manager needs to create an app prototype document then look at a few advantages of doing so –

• Elimination of the risk of misinterpretation
• Expeditious iterations
• Justification of the concepts early in the process
• Increased quality of technical feedback

7. User Journey and Stories Documents

User stories and customer journey maps are two important tools contributing to the smooth development of any application or software. Product managers create and manage documents for these two roles in order to record every little detail.

In the user story documents, the possibilities of the reasons why a user would use a particular feature are explored. Product managers create the documentation of every possible catalyst that would lead up to the user using a feature of the application. We could consider it a user journey on a microscopic level.

Whereas in the user journey, the whole of the user experience, from buying/downloading the product to using its features is mapped in a document. This helps product managers further explain it to their team and interested parties (stakeholders, etc) and establish their trust in the product.

8. Release Notes and Scope

Image Source: Product Plan

As the name suggests, Release Notes are the documents that are released with the release of improvised applications. Product managers assemble this document in order to inform users about new specifications, what bugs have been fixed, and advertise the application after the upgrade. No two documents are the same, for the applications vary greatly from each other.

Scope notes are also known as Scope of work document. In this, managers map out the scope of the features that an application or a software possesses. What those features will facilitate and so on.

9. Internal Guides and FAQs

These private internal FAQs are prepared for the stakeholders to keep them updated with the whole product development process. The format these FAQs are written in is very simplified. This may possess wireframes of a product having a strong UX component or a link to divide wireframe documents.

These internal guides contain all the data on how things work in the development process. It plays two functions that are important for product managers – ensuring that data is recorded in a manner as to facilitate easy hand-off among members and poses as a reference for external-facing roles to assist customers like Sales, Marketing, customer support, and whatnot.

10. Customer-Facing Guide

Customer-Facing guide is a user manual document in simple words. It falls upon product managers’ shoulders to create this document containing instructions on how to use that developed application.

Without this, users may find themselves in mayhem as to how to operate the product, in the initial stages at least, till they figure the flow out on their own. So, it is pretty clear why this document is so important that it is one of the most used or created documents by product managers.

Final Thoughts

To sum up, these were the top 10 documents that are most used by competent product managers in order to enjoy an effective product management process.

{Check out the best 5 diagrams Product Managers use to explain management concepts}

By segregating the tasks’ information into different documents, they eliminate any chances of misunderstandings and discrepancies. It renders a highly organized and smooth development process which has been recorded at every little step.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What Documents Should a Project Manager Keep?

It is well known that keeping documents is a necessity for any proficient product managers. The question is which documents fare to be the important ones. So, here is the list of important documents that every product manager keeps.

• Competitive Analysis Documents
• Product strategy and Vision Documents
• Specs and Product Requirement Documents (PRDs)
• OKRs, KPIs, success metrics
• RoadMaps Documents
• Designs and Prototypes Documents
• User Journey and Stories Documents
• Release Notes and Scope
• Internal Guides and FAQs
• Customer-Facing Guide

Q. What Percentage of Time Should be Spent Planning?

The average percentage of time spent on planning is 10%

Q. What is the Difference between MRD and PRD?

While sometimes these two terms might get interchanged, they are essentially different in nature and serve different purposes.

MRD is known as Market Requirements Document and is used to articulate a focused definition of target market, users and buyers profile. It is a document discussing the needs and wants of the users.

Whereas, PRDs are are an all-in-one-place documents that bring all the different elements of a product in one place. This document defines the breadth as well as the scope of the product so that the whole development team knows how to develop a product.

Q. What Makes PRD Good?

PRD is an important document because it helps in painting the whole picture of what and how to develop a product.

The post 10 Most Important Documents Product Managers Must Prepare appeared first on Appinventiv.

Upon reading this quote, you might question― “If management is all those things, what does it make managers?”

Well, managers are the ones who establish themselves as the backbone of the organizations. They have loads of responsibilities on their shoulders and are accountable for executing and supervising every process, development activity, planning, assigning responsibilities and more.

In the same respect, Product Managers and Project Managers have their own set of responsibilities to fulfill. They are accountable for the management of their respective teams and also their performance.

To delve into it further, let’s get on with discussing what is Product and Project management to clearly understand the brief difference between product managers vs project managers.

Defining Product and Project Management

Product Management

Product management definition goes something like this― It is a function performed in all organizations that contain the planning process, forecasting, production and marketing of products. It is a crucial aspect needed at all stages of the product life cycle. This process ensures that a product is developed with the best resources available, on time, possesses unparalleled features and is irreplaceable in terms of quality. Marketing also falls under this category.

Project Management

Project Management definition can be summed up as―  tools and processes that help in organizing and prioritizing numerous tasks and activities that need to be completed. It enables the team to work within tight deadlines and tackle limitations related to cost and quality. It is a process of applying project management methodologies, processes, tactics, skills, experience, etc in order to achieve project management goals.

Meaning of the terms “Product Manager” vs “Project Manager”?

In the very basic sense, “Product managers deal with the What? and Why?, project managers with the How? and When?”

Product Manager

Product managers are often denoted as the CEOs of the products under their supervision. Their role as a product manager is to establish and examine the overall product direction and the whole product lifecycle. Analyzing users’ demands, decoding them into a design or well-developed MVP, and directing the team on the path of goal-oriented actions: all these functions fall under their expertise.

Project Manager

A project manager’s role is a little, but significantly different than that of the product manager. The role is tactical while majorly focusing on the execution process of a project.

Firstly, they obtain the product vision and then develop a project timeline around it. They connect with the product manager in order to acquire insight into the product, for developing efficient plans, which show a roadmap to attaining goals. They create deadlines for project completion for the team. They handle one-project-at-a-time within a set time-frame, budget, and quality.

Difference Between Product Manager vs Project Manager

To put it simply― “A Project Manager is like a midwife – he/she delivers the baby, hands it over to the mother and moves on. The baby is the product and the mother being the Product Manager.”

Now that the basics are out of the way, let’s move towards the intricate differences between product manager vs project manager. To give you a clear understanding, we have segregated the differences into certain elements on the basis of which we will differentiate.

Experience

Product Manager

1. Creates Roadmap

Without a roadmap, it will be a lot more challenging for the team to accomplish goals and deliver the product on time. This is why experienced product managers create a vision of the product life cycle and set a strategy for other members of the team to follow.

Having the experience of building a well-articulated roadmap makes the management of the whole production process far easier. It allows product managers to establish their priorities, create new ideas and innovations, take initiatives, plan the terms of implementation, and systematize the whole process in general.

2. Analyzing and Prioritizing

Product Managers are a pandora’s box in terms of ideas. However, not every idea is worth entertaining. In this case, product managers have the experience to examine and analyze the ideas brought forth and it is only after extensive study on the proposed ideas that they are able to choose the most ideal ones.

3. Determine and align features

Product managers are experts in closely studying the features a product is said to possess and then align them with the strategic goals and initiatives of the business.

Well, this is not a piece of cake as it requires complex trade-offs for the effectiveness of the product is prominent for both the customers and the organization. It is in this respect that the involvement of the development team and product manager’s technical qualities is crucial.

4. Launch the product

The market is a highly dynamic and unpredictable place, except for product managers. Under such circumstances, it is expected that the product’s popularity and growth are entirely circumstantial.

It falls upon the experienced product manager’s shoulders to plan the team’s functions and actions like barrier-removal, fixing of bugs, etc. while keeping them all in pre-set time-limit. It is decided irrespective of what methodology for product development is used.

Project Manager

1. Planning of resources and budget

Project and Planning go hand in hand. Planning is one element for all project managers which enables them to ensure the completion of a project in real-time. Due to this, every competent project manager holds expertise in this.

The exemplary project managers are capable of realistically establishing timelines, evaluating the team’s capabilities, and are efficient in determining a project’s scope and available resources due to their years of experience.

After this, a concise plan is made to execute the project along with monitoring its progress. Some projects can turn out to be unpredictable, so project managers always ready with a backup plan and solutions. Moreover, they also keep the budget of the project in check.

2. Time management

If anything is priceless, it is time. A project’s success entirely depends on its completion time. Experience gained by a project manager allows him/her to understand the grave implications of the delay in project completion and prepares realistic deadlines while resolving unanticipated issues along the way.

3. Keep project team in check

Sidelining or micro-managing the team is not a healthy sign and an experienced project manager is aware of this. So, one of the prominent tasks of a project manager is to inspire and motivate the team members. This gives them a sense of importance and they eventually strive for delivering great results.

4. Monitor progress

Observation is key. Project managers are required to be experts to monitor the progress of the project on every stage. This helps avoid any blunders that may lead to time and resource wastage. They can also implement pre-designed contingency plans immediately in case of any discrepancies.

5. Manage documents

Reports and documents are important elements that should be properly managed for future use. Project managers take it under their responsibility to manage necessary documents related to past and on-going projects. With years of experience under their belt, efficient project managers present comprehensive reports documenting project requirements that were fulfilled, project history comprising of what was done, when was it done, persons involved, and more.

Tools Used in Product & Project Management

Tools for Product Managers

1.   Aha! 

This tool is utilized by the product managers to build a visual product roadmap that helps in outlining the strategy, features, functions, and ideas. It helps in prioritizing features and user stories that ultimately assist in highlighting business value.

2. Amplitude

Amplitude is a tool used for data analytics. It helps to set product strategy, improve user engagement, understand and analyze what users want, etc. With the help of this tool, product managers are able to grow the business across mobile and web.

3. Google Forms

Customer feedback plays a crucial role in the development and improvement of the product. For this task, product managers use Google forms that allow them to create feedback forms and promote them across the web for customers to share their opinions.

They can create forms from Google Drive or existing spreadsheets, which makes things easier as it records responses automatically for analyzing.

If you are looking for a more complex solution than Google forms, there are many Google Form alternatives available in the market that might fit your business needs better.

4. Appsee

Among other tasks, product managers are also responsible for user experience testing. For this purpose, they utilize a mobile app analytics tool― Appsee. This provides them a chance to analyze and optimize the user experience in your app.

5. Axure

For Design and Wireframing functions, product managers trust Axure― a tool to create flowcharts, wireframes, mockups, user journeys, personas, idea boards, and so on. They also create diagrams with drag and drop elements from built-in and custom libraries.

{Read more: Best 5 Diagrams Used To Explain Product Management Concepts}

Tools for Project Managers

1. Scoro

Scoro is an effective solution that is loaded with features like real-time KPI dashboard, contact management, detailed reports on on-going projects, sharing meeting schedules and team calendars, etc. It is an all-in-one tool for project managers which speeds up the whole project process.

2. Workzone

Workzone is an effective tool used by project managers for creating personalized to-do lists and make subtasks and task dependencies. It enables setting permissions for certain users to view projects, tasks, and files. Managers can also see statuses and Gantt charts, thanks to this tool.

3. Basecamp

Project managers use this tool for team collaboration features. They also review the reporting on project performance, can check email and desktop notifications, and a lot more.

4. EventCollab

Being a cloud-based tool, it assists product managers in collaborating and sharing project schedules. It is also used to track time, chats and assign tasks.

Challenges Faced By Product & Project Managers

Product Managers’ Challenges

1. Unstable Market Dynamics

If anything is considered unstable, it’s the market. Now, one of the most dreaded circumstances for a product manager is when this change is not in their favor. A dynamic market can immensely impact the success of the product.

So, product managers are the ones which develop contingency plans in advance, shall they ever face any unanticipated obstacles. They are also required to study market trends to predict possible outcomes.

2. Confusion regarding current and long term work

An efficient development process is a mixture of hard work done on features, marketing done for product promotion, and improvisations made in the design. All these tasks need the supervision of the project manager.

With so much going on at once, it becomes challenging for the product managers to focus on the long-term benefits or the strategies which will prove fruitful in the future. So, product managers are constantly torn between the decision of what to prioritize―now or in the future.

3. Unintentional shift towards Reactive Instead of Proactive

Being proactive is one of the commendable skills which denote an exemplary product manager. However, temptations are always on the move. Even though after determining to take the proactive approach, product managers often succumb to the habit of putting one fire after another. It is also because they get so occupied with the current problems that they do not get enough time to actually practice what they preach.

4. Tackling varied opinions

With diverse people in the team holding different opinions about products and other matters, it becomes the responsibility of the product manager to keenly analyze each opinion based on solid facts. Sometimes, things backfire and can also slip out of hands. Product managers are often put in awkward positions, where they have to hustle hard to reach just conclusions.

5. Uphold empathy for customers and team simultaneously

Empathy towards the customer is something product managers are bound to feel, for they are the only representatives for the customers in any organization. Now, the dilemma arises when the product managers are placed in situations where they have to take sides. So, should they empathize with customers or their team? Well, making such a decision is not as easy as a piece of cake.

Project Managers’ Challenges

1. Under-defined Goals

Goals are that element that keeps everyone and every process in check. Everyone works towards it to benefit the organization. Now, most of the time issues emerge and the reason for that happening can be poorly defined project management goals and objectives by the company. This is why project managers may face issues in their process, with no fault of their own.

2. Inadequate team

Project managers are required to work harmoniously with their team. However, sometimes due to the incompetence of team members, they can face real issues that are a waste of time, money and resources.

The members of the project team are usually selected based on their suitability for a particular obligation, but sometimes they may not turn out to be experts in the fields or competent enough to deal with the given task, which certainly hampers the whole process.

3. Risk Prediction

Risks are the problems that come unannounced and create havoc. To deal with such scenarios, project managers are assigned the role of assessing and evaluating risks that may hamper the project workflow. The challenge is that it is not as easy as it sounds.

4. Expectations management

Management of expectations works both ways from managers to team members. Project managers should carefully choose what to expect from the team members, and not expect something unachievable. Similarly, team members should be made known what to expect from their project managers.

Moreover, discussions should be held on the adequateness of resources for the project completion and also while establishing deadlines. Managing all this definitely seems like a challenging by the looks of it.

Where do Product and Project Managers overlap?

Problems Faced by Overlapping of Roles

1. Focus Diversion

Say, if a product manager also takes upon the tasks of managing a project, their focus is divided between the product and the project, or vice versa. This can prove a blunder as none of the tasks will be completed with proper focus. So, organizations prefer to hire two individuals for these two distinct tasks.

2. Incompatible Skill set

It is impossible for anyone to be perfect at everything. In both cases, neither of them have the skill set to perform two distinct tasks simultaneously. Though there are certain characteristics that are common between both product and project managers, there are still some qualifications that are needed to perform each task efficiently.

3. Conflict of Objectives

It is pretty clear that the objectives of product and project management are different and hence of the product and project managers. If one performs both the jobs, it creates confusion in their mind regarding what objectives to prioritize and what comes secondary. Moreover, in the quest to achieve objectives for these two distinct tasks, they may end up not fulfilling any.

Product Managers vs Project Managers – Whom to hire when?

It is not difficult after this discussion to surmise that both product and project managers are a crucial part of the functioning of an organization. They are assigned different responsibilities and their objectives also vary based on the tasks that they take over.

Now, if you have an understanding of the market, UI/UX Design, and a clear vision of the product, then you should go with a product manager. However, if you are a startup and have no experience or understanding of what goes into making a product, then you should opt for project managers.

They are a great option to start from scratch as they have the knowledge and experience that comes from working with numerous organizations. They can also fill in the shoes of product managers for you do not require to hire one seperatelỵ.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Why Product Management is NOT Project Management?

Product and project management differ significantly from each other. The former deals with the process of successfully developing a product, while the latter is concerned with devising projects which add to the product development process.

2. Is There Any Overlap Between Product and Project Managers?

In the past, a product manager was also given the responsibilities of a project manager. In fact, small companies and startups do that to date. It is because there are certain features and functions which are similar in both the manager categories. Those features are:

• Technical skills
• Leadership
• Decision Making and prioritization
• Strong Communication

The post Project Managers vs Product Managers: Difference, Roles & Challenges appeared first on Appinventiv.

It goes without saying how precise this quote is. The role of a mobile project manager goes beyond the role of a manager.

It requires a honing of technical, managerial, organizing, and creative skills―all clubbed in a single person. Being a product manager is a hard nut to crack, but worth every single effort put into the process when the results are exemplary.

Before jumping to the qualities of an ideal mobile app product manager, why don’t we first clear the air about the term “Product Manager” itself?

Who is a Product Manager?

Well, Product managers are the ones who abet at interdisciplinary thinking by collaborating with the other branches such as engineering, design, and strategy personnel, in order to ideate, iterate, and then launch the final product.

In standard terms, product management is a convergence of technology, business, and user experience. So, a proficient Product manager ought to be an expert in at least one of the three while being zealous and conversant about all.

Their work and tasks, in general, are in alignment with the organization’s goals. Nevertheless, they also prioritize the interests of the team under their wings.

Key Responsibility Areas

Defining the responsibilities Product Managers fulfill on a daily basis can incur a tediously long list that has balancing project management triangle as a crucial element. So for you, we have segregated the responsibilities into four prominent areas:

1. Strategize via Roadmap

A team can only submit the best after knowing the importance of that particular product in terms of business value. It falls upon the product manager’s shoulders to articulate and justify the release of a new product to the team to drive an exemplary performance.

A product manager needs to develop a vision of the product life cycle and establish a global strategy for others to follow.

A well-thought of and carefully-designed roadmap can work wonders in the whole process. It helps PMs to determine their priorities, systematize, compose ideas and initiatives, and plan the terms of implementation.

2. Analyze and Prioritize ideas

To Product Managers, ideas come in bulk. However, not every idea that pops up is a gem that one must possess. With that said, it is the job of product managers to study the ideas that are brought forth, and choose the most innovative and useful ones from the sea of them. Once it is done, it is time to prioritize them and discard the rest.

3. Features Inspection

One of the prominent jobs performed by mobile product managers is to scrutinize the features of a product and align them with the strategic goals and initiatives of the organization. This task requires the acquisition of complex trade-offs, as the efficiency of the product is a must for both customers and the company. Hence, the involvement of the development team and PM’s technical background is paramount.

4. Launching Final Product

It is evident that without proper mobile product launch strategy,  the product is bound to face the ups and downs upon entering the market. This problem is taken care of by the competent product managers, who plan the team’s actions and timings, irrespective of what kind of development methodology is used. The said actions can include the removal of barriers, bugs-fixing, reconciliation between marketing, support, and sales teams.

{Check out the best 5 diagrams Product Managers use to explain management concepts}

Product and Project Managers- what’s the difference? 

The first thing to keep in mind is not to confuse one for the other. Now, in the most superficial sense, both can be attributed as―

“Product managers deal with the What? and Why?, project managers with the How? and When?”

With that said, let’s dig a little further into the definition of both.

Product Manager is the one given the responsibility to set and own the overall product direction while managing and supervising the whole product lifecycle. It falls under their expertise to analyze user demands, decode them into a design or an MVP and then direct the development team towards its fulfillment.

Whereas the role of a project manager is a little more tactical with full focus on the execution of the project. They acquire the product vision from the project manager and build a project timeline around it.  They mainly create plans containing goals and deadlines for the team for project completion. Moreover, it is their cup of tea to finalize one-project-at-time within the agreed time-frame, quality, and budget.

Before you start wondering whether a person can be both, the answer is Yes. However, it is not a situation an organization looks forward to.

With the basics out of the way, we have come so far that it’s unlikely of us not to mention the absolute mobile product manager skills, a person should seek while hiring a project manager. Or, if you are one, these qualities may help you do your job more proficiently.

So, let’s cut to the chase and dive into what goes into a person to make an efficacious, proficient and exemplary product manager.

1. Profound Leadership skills

It is a basic yet prominent quality that every team leader or manager should possess, irrespective of their profile. As easy as it is to say, to be a “great leader”, there are numerous components working together to denote  its true meaning. So, here are a few product manager leadership skills to perfect in 2020 that certainly denote a potent leader:

• Proactive instead of Reactive- Anyone can put out fires once lit; however, an exemplary product manager not only does that but also prepares ahead for unanticipated problems. He/she also prepares the team for the same with effective measures and training.
• Trust- Having faith is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Trusting your team members plays a pivotal role in the smooth functioning of the team. By trusting them, you do not give up the impression of pulling the strings yourself and the concept of micro-managing is completely avoided.
• Team spirit- As much convenient as flying solo might be, a great product manager also understands the importance of team spirit. Promoting this feeling within your team will evoke the feeling of importance among the members, and they will strive to deliver incredible results.
• Ability to inspire- Imagine what a team it will be who gets inspired by the manager every day―learns new tactics and qualities to manage and handle everyday scenarios. A charismatic product manager who motivates others to follow his/her path is way more successful in increasing the team’s productivity, then those who don’t.
• Visionary- It is crucial for product managers to not get sucked into a Vacuum of repetitiveness. An ideal product manager is the one not just working towards another release but is passionate about bringing new vision into existence. They have to be farsighted in conjecturing probable problems and devise solutions and ways that profit the end product.

2. Relevant experience in Product

It is sort of a given that  no person can be good at something when he has a layman experience in hand. Nothing can beat experience; so for a product manager to be a remarkable one, he/she must have prior experience with the product type they are given responsibility for now.

This way, he/she has a first-hand account experience of probable obstacles, tactics to use in certain situations, and also to find real-time solutions. Managing things with the on-going process is not a piece of cake but with the power of experience, seasoned product managers can do it single-handedly.

3. Employ agile methodology

Being a product manager, the most important thing for you is to manage your product, bearing the concept of launch in mind. For this purpose, devising a product roadmap is inevitable, through which you can manage iterations of your product. This can be achieved by adhering to the agile product management process.

Adopting the agile methodology while preparing a pliable roadmap is key to fruitful outcomes. A stiff roadmap, incapable of providing flexible timelines and updates is the catalyst for the failure of adjusting dynamic market conditions or users’ demands.

So, an insightful product manager uses this method to develop a roadmap that helps in catering to the needs and demands of users along with keeping up with dynamic trends.

4. Practice strong work ethics

A product manager has to have strong work ethics like commitment, effort, hard work, and integrity while fulfilling their responsibility as a backbone of the whole operational process.

To pass as an exemplary new-age product manager, managers are required to work harmoniously with senior management and executives. By following the said work ethics, they inspire teammates to follow their example and emit a positive attitude into the organizations’ ecosystem.

5. Split testing to promote team ownership

“A good product manager doesn’t ruin their credibility by over-stating their knowledge.” – Ben Horowitz

As a product manager, it is not solidified that only you should give ideas; letting other teams under your wing to speak up their minds may provide you with innovative and different ideas. It may sound confusing at first, but employing the renowned A/B testing methodology (split testing) can fetch amazing results for the team.

Here is how a proficient product manager uses the A/B testing method for encouraging others to suggest ideas.

• They organize discussions where ideas are brought forth.
• Selecting ideas from different teams to A/B test.
• Exploring the ideas in relation to their relevance and effectiveness for the product vision.
• Employing the ideas with more ability to benefit the product vision.

By doing this, the product manager promotes team ownership and increases the ability of team collaboration, while showing each idea matters, irrespective of where it comes from.

6. Thorough knowledge of “street statistics”

Data is an important tool for any product manager for it guides their product decisions. However, an effective product manager has to know how to decode this gem of information.

When a product manager has a profound knowledge of how to read the data which tells us about the features popular among users, what they do within the product, and how well they like it, they can take measures to optimize this data.  They can even check how the revenue flow of the company is.

Say, for example, to run a behavioral analysis, a product manager needs to create behavioral cohorts, and for this, they just have to understand what the data is representing.

7. Basic understanding of code

Generally, coding is not a product manager’s cup of tea, but wouldn’t it be great if they take a sip?

Coding is a crucial part of the product development process and in order to resolve issues that come in the way, a product manager should possess reasonable knowledge of the same.

One way to start is to start asking questions about what you do not know and understand. Even a brief understanding of coding will enable you to understand the problems your team is facing, devise viable solutions and establish relevant deadlines with developers.

8. Master UX Design and Analytics Tools

A product manager is not only required to be obsessed with the number but also the attributes their product possesses. Understanding UI/UX Design helps the product manager to maintain relations with UI/UX Design teams. They are the ones to convert your product vision into reality and having a profound idea about the whole concept gives you the benefit of collaborating with the team to deliver exactly what the customers’ needs and are attracted to.

Analytics Tools are the best friends of product managers if they use them well. They are two prominent areas a product manager should be familiar with regarding analytics tools:

1.  Study and analyze how each tool assists you in finding product-related queries.
2. Examine which analytics tools are best for your purpose and how they can be optimized.

9. Preach Empathy

Empathy is the key element in the growth of a product manager, which allows them to understand the emotions expressed by their team and also the omnipresent customer, who isn’t physically present there.

An organization can only be successful when their primary focus is on the customers they are targeting. It is also essential in feature negotiation. After having an understanding and empathy for developer teams, stakeholders, and customers, product managers stand a strong chance at arriving at mutually beneficial decisions.

10. Expert in marketing and the latest tech-stack

As the watcher of your whole product development team―from developers to designers to digital marketers, product managers are the ones holding everything together.

In this respect, being a jack-of-all-trades is an essential quality for them.  For effective development of the product vision, they have to be updated with all the latest technology and trends.

Technical -know-hows comes under mobile product management best practices in 2020 and poses as pivotal for bringing everything together into a neat bow at the time of product completion.

Moreover, they are also responsible for the promotion of the product they have so ardently created and have a deep knowledge of the current market they are targeting. So, they need to be exceptional in product manager marketing skills.

Here are a few factors of marketing, an exemplary product manager is proficient in:

• Target Customers and Market- As discussed above, empathizing with the targeted customers by examining their needs, demands, preferences, priorities, etc. is something which proves to be fruitful in the long run. A good product manager with incredible marketing skills will not neglect this important aspect.

• Product – Being thorough with the product developed, in respect of its promising qualities and also the weaknesses, a product manager will devise such mobile product marketing strategies that are tried and tested, and if not, capable enough to complement their mobile product development and guarantees its popularity.

• Analyze Competitors-  Surveilling one’s top competitors fall under the key roles of an efficient product manager. By doing so, a PM can extract information on current demand, what strategies they use, how they attract customers, etc., and then he/she can take appropriate measures to beat the competitors at their own game.

Conclusion

We are certain that with amazing and essential qualities such as the ones mentioned above, anyone is capable of enhancing their mobile product manager skills and join the list of brilliant new-age product managers.

Speaking of the importance of mobile product managers, they are a pivotal cog in the machinery of organization and essential for uninterrupted and smooth mobile app development.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q. What Makes a Great Mobile App Product Manager?

There is a sea of mobile product manager skills to master in 2020, but the most prominent that stand out are the ones that enable them to achieve goal-oriented results. Some qualities like using agile and A/B Testing methods, practicing business ethics and empathy are the best traits of a competent product manager. Being proficient in marketing and having a thorough knowledge of other operations of product development just add to the list.

Q. Why do product managers need to know UX?

One of the many product manager leadership skills is to be involved and indulged with other operations that go into the product development process. So, for this reason, it is important to develop mobile product manager technical skills and know briefly about the functions of UI/UX Design, so if any obstacle arises, it can be easily resolved.

The post Top 10 Mobile Product Managers Skills to Master in 2020 appeared first on Appinventiv.