Product Management vs Product Leadership
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- 5 min read
Think back to the first time you were asked to be responsible for something at work. Maybe it was launching a new feature in an app or leading a small project. You had to make sure everything went smoothly—coordinating with different teams, making key decisions, and ensuring the work got done on time. That’s pretty much what being a product manager is like. You’re the person who makes sure a product is developed, improved, and delivered in a way that keeps customers happy and meets the company’s goals.
Now, let’s say you’re ready to take on a bigger role. You’ve mastered managing a product, but you want to start thinking about the future of several products, shaping strategies for the company as a whole. This is where product leadership comes in. As a product leader, you’re looking at the bigger picture, guiding the direction for multiple products, and helping other product managers succeed.
Both product management and product leadership are crucial for a company’s success. But they require different skills and perspectives. This blog will break down what each role involves, how they differ, and how you can move from managing one product to leading a whole portfolio. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to level up in your career, this guide will give you clear and simple advice to help you navigate your path forward.
Key Takeaways:
- Product managers focus on a single product to improve and get improved and to meet business aims in addition to the requirements of customers.
- This includes product leaders working on more than one product, making long-term strategies, and guiding product managers toward success.
- Moving from product management to product leadership requires strategic thinking, key leadership skills, and a relationship-building context with senior executives.
- Product leadership refers to the act of aligning specific product strategies with the overall business objectives for winning long-term growth.
- It takes a long period and effort to get to the position of a product leader. But it is achievable given the right plan, mindset, and attitude.
What Is Product Management?
At its core, product management is about being the glue that holds the entire process of product development together. As a product manager, you’re meant to transform an idea into something tangible that the customers can utilize and fall in love with. Therefore, as such, the product manager is involved at every stage of the development of the product; starting from the first spark of an idea through the developmental stages to the release and the continually made improvements.
Product management is best described by metaphor: think of it as the project leader for a product. You work with different teams to ensure that the product gets built right and solves a real problem for your customers. You’re also thinking about the business side of things and making sure that this product brings value to the company.
For example, Slack is a communication tool used by businesses all around the globe. The product managers realized, through customer feedback, that there was a better way of communicating with the teams involved. They kept focusing on customer feed; they built features such as channels and integrations that were improving the product constantly, based on the needs of the users. After launch, they did not stop but kept listening, improving, and iterating.
As the product manager, you’re kind of a coordinator of all these moving parts. You make sure the engineering team is building what’s needed, the design team is creating an awesome user experience, and the marketing team knows how to sell it. It’s a job that requires having customer empathy, attention to detail, and the ability to quickly and efficiently adapt to changes.
Product Manager Roles and Responsibilities
The role of a product manager can vary from company to company, but the key responsibilities generally remain the same. Here’s a deeper dive into what you’ll be doing if you’re a product manager:
- Understanding Customers: Your work begins with knowing your customers: who they are, what they need, and what problems they face. This might involve speaking to the customer, undertaking research, or studying data as a means to get an excellent understanding of what will make your product valuable for them.
- Creating a Plan (Roadmap): Next, having understood your customer, you are now ready to build a roadmap. It is that plan wherein you indicate all major features that you are going to build and how long it’s going to take you to build them. It is the blueprint for your product, which sets directions for a team.
- Working with Teams: Part of your work would be to facilitate the coordination with other teams, such as design, engineering, or marketing teams so that everything is built and delivered in time. You are a point person who ensures every person knows what they do and their role within this much bigger plan.
- Launching the Product: When the product has ripened to the launch time, it’s you who coordinates the product launch. This calls for ensuring that everything works as expected, customers know about the product, and the teams are ready to support the product.
- Improving the Product: Once the product is launched into the world, you will continue to collect additional feedback, monitor performance, and try to improve so that customers remain satisfied and the product remains competitive.
Imagine you are managing a food delivery app. You realize customers have problems while tracking their orders. You decide to come up with live tracking on the application. You get back to customers, seek insights, and work with your tech team to come up with the feature. Once you launch, you start tracking the way the product is being used by your users, understand the areas that need improvement, and continue optimizing to make the product better.
What Is Product Leadership?
Product leadership includes all that a product manager does on an infinitely larger scale. Where one product manager works on one product, a product leader is working on the development and strategy of more than one product, even a whole product line. Product leaders do not only manage products but set a vision for where the product or the company is headed in the long term.
Product leadership would compare best to the role of a sports team coach. The players of the team, who are the product managers, work to develop specific roles and goals, but the coach is focused on the macro view – how the entire team works together. Responsibilities will include developing strategy, mentoring the players, and ultimately ensuring that everybody wins towards the same goal.
Product leaders are not only focused on what is happening today but also think about what the company’s products should look like in the next few years. They set the general direction for the product team and ensure all of the products under their care are set up correctly to meet the company’s goals.
Take Google for example. When Sundar Pichai was leading Chrome and Android, he thought not of one product but rather both of them collectively to ensure they both contributed to the overall strategy of Google. He ensured that while both Chrome and Android succeeded on their own, but they also had to play well together to catapult Google into leadership positions in both areas.
Product Leader Roles and Responsibilities
As a product leader, your job is to ensure that the company’s products not only succeed in the short term but thrive in the long term. Here’s what that typically involves:
- Setting a Vision: The product leader sets the vision of the company’s products. This includes thinking about where the products need to be in the next 2, 5, or even 10 years and making sure that the product team is working toward that future.
- Mentoring and Supporting Teams: A big part of product leadership is helping the product managers grow. You guide, support, and mentor them to help develop the skills they need in order to be successful.
- Aligning with Business Goals: Product leaders work closely with senior executives to make sure the product strategy aligns with the company’s overall business goals. This means understanding where the company wants to go and ensuring the products are a key part of getting there.
- Making Strategic Decisions: The product leaders are responsible for making decisions over areas that would give value for investment. As an example, this could mean deciding which products to continue with and which would be better to curtail. Furthermore, it also shows where time and money should be allocated to reap maximum success for the company.
- Monitoring Market Trends: Product leaders track market trends, competitors, and new technologies themselves to ensure that the company stays ahead of competitors. Adjustments are made by them based on what’s happening in the market to keep products ahead of the curve.
A great example: is Steve Jobs of Apple. Well, the thing with Jobs is that he didn’t think about only one product; he thought through an iPhone, iPad, and a Mac that would all work together to provide an excellent user experience. He made decisions over the entire product line of Apple in making sure that each of the products would complement the rest and working towards a greater product vision.
Common Job Titles for Product Leaders
When you move into product leadership, your job title often reflects your broader responsibilities. Here are some common titles you might see for product leaders:
- VP of Product: Responsible for overseeing the entire product strategy for the company.
- Chief Product Officer (CPO): Focused on aligning the product strategy with the company’s overall business goals.
- Head of Product: Manages the entire product team, ensuring that all products are aligned with company objectives.
- Director of Product Management: Leads multiple product managers and oversees the product development process across various teams.
Product Management vs. Product Leadership
Here’s a simple comparison to help you see the key differences between product management and product leadership:
Aspect | Product Management | Product Leadership |
|---|---|---|
Scope | Focuses on developing one product | Oversees multiple products or a product line |
Key Responsibilities | Day-to-day management, customer feedback, product development | Setting long-term strategy, mentoring product managers, aligning with business goals |
Team Interaction | Collaborates with cross-functional teams | Mentors product managers and ensures team alignment with business objectives |
Time Horizon | Short to medium-term (weeks to months) | Long-term (years) |
Decision-Making | Makes decisions about product features and improvements | Makes high-level strategic decisions for a portfolio of products |
How to Transition from Product Manager to Product Leader
If you’re a product manager looking to move into product leadership, it can seem like a big leap. But with the right approach, you can make the transition successfully. Here’s how to start:
- Start Thinking Bigger: When you’re just starting out as a product manager, you’re largely focused on how to make your product succeed. However, if you want to be a product leader, you need to begin thinking about the bigger picture: how does your product fit into the longer-term strategy of the company? How do multiple products actually work together to achieve business goals?
- Develop Leadership Skills: Product leadership is not product management but a style of managing people. You can develop your leadership skills by mentoring junior product managers or even leading larger cross-functional teams.
- Build Relationships with Executives: As product leaders, you spend most of your time working together with senior leadership, and the best time to start building up those relationships is now. You should share your ideas as well as show how this product is helping the company achieve its goals.
- Keep Learning: Leadership requires continuous learning. Take courses on strategy, business development, and leadership. Read books and seek out mentors who can help guide you as you grow.
- Be Patient: Transitioning into product leadership takes time. It’s not something that happens overnight, but with persistence and the right mindset, you’ll get there.
Now, at the detail level, product management and product leadership are two completely different concepts in the production of successful products. One should have different mindsets and different skills for each role. As a product manager, focus on detailed observation to ensure that your product hits the right needs of customers and drives value for your business. As a product leader, you look at a higher scope: you oversee multiple products, set long-term strategies, and help your team make its success turn out.
It takes time to shift from a product manager to product leadership because it requires a commitment to learning. However, with the right approach, one can shift into this role of leadership and help shape the products of the future for your company.
Becoming a Product Manager is a rewarding career path with many growth opportunities in product management. If you’re looking to start your journey, consider the courses offered by Institute of Product Leadership (IPL). IPL provides an on-campus UGC-accredited Executive MBA in product management degree program and live online product management courses to help you build the necessary skills and network to succeed in this field. With the right skills and mentoring you can successfully navigate your journey to becoming a product manager in 2024.
Frequently Asked Questions
A product manager focuses on the success of a single product, ensuring it meets customer needs. A product leader oversees multiple products, sets long-term strategies, and mentors product managers.
Start by thinking about the bigger picture—how your product fits into the company’s overall goals. Develop leadership skills by mentoring others leading larger projects, and building relationships with senior leaders.
Common titles include VP of Product, Chief Product Officer (CPO), Head of Product, and Director of Product Management.
You’ll need strong leadership skills, strategic thinking, and the ability to manage people and align product strategies with business goals.
It usually takes several years of experience as a product manager, combined with leadership development, to transition into a product leadership role.
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