It’s a product manager’s job to take an idea and then turn it into a product that customers want to buy. What if you don’t have the funds or time for product development? You might think you need a product development manager, but is this really true? In this blog post, we’ll discuss whether product management managers are necessary in your business.
| Aspect | Key Takeaway |
|---|---|
| What is a Product Development Manager? | A product development manager is strategic and focuses on product research more than the actual building of products. |
| What Does a Product Development Manager Do? | Product development managers conduct market research, gather feedback, and develop strategies based on research. |
| Who can be a new Product Development Manager? | A product development manager can be anyone with product management knowledge and effective communication skills. |
| How Can Someone Be a Product Development Manager? | A product development manager typically adds additional duties to their current role and may come from various backgrounds with product management knowledge. |
| Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities | A product development manager needs product management knowledge, experience with product research, communication skills, and the ability to prioritize tasks based on product management timelines. |
| Education and Experience | To become a product development manager, one needs product management knowledge and experience, along with potentially a business degree or formal education. |
| Essential Duties and Responsibilities | A product development manager plans and coordinates product design, works with teams, has leadership skills, and collaborates with various departments. |
What is a Product Development Manager?
A product development manager is someone who has an in-depth knowledge of product management best practices, product lifecycle strategies, and more. Product managers are also product development managers. But product development managers are more strategic and have a bigger focus on product research than the actual building of products.
What Does a Product Development Manager Do?
A product development manager will typically do more market research than product managers. They are the ones who talk to customers, stakeholders, and other product development professionals. They will collect product feedback and come up with product development strategies based on this research.
Product development managers are typically more experienced, have a business background, and have product management knowledge.
Who can be a new product development manager?
Many product development managers are being asked to do more with less these days. As product developers, product managers, product engineers, and product marketers have taken on new roles in the product lifecycle, so too has the role of product development manager grown.
These professionals are now responsible for managing budgets, timelines, schedules, resources, and the success of products that they oversee.
So, a product development manager can be anyone with product management knowledge and the ability to communicate effectively.
How Can Someone Be a Product Development Manager?
A product development manager is a product management professional who’s added additional duties to their current role. He may also be someone who wants more responsibility within product management, but isn’t ready to be a product manager.
A product development management professional can also come from other industries or backgrounds who simply have product management knowledge and product development experience.
Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
In order to be a product development manager, you need product management knowledge. You also typically will have experience with product research and product design processes.
A product development management professional also needs to have strong communication skills. Also, he needs the ability to prioritize tasks based on product management timelines and product lifecycle strategies. One must have product management experience and product management knowledge. Also, he should have product development skills, product marketing skills, and much more.
Education and Experience
To become a product development manager, you’ll need product management knowledge and experience. You can get this from product management training, product marketing courses and product development courses. Also, you can get this from product management experience, product manager training and product marketing certification programs.
Most times, a product development management professional will have more than product management knowledge and product marketing experience. They may have a business degree or some other formal education as well, such as an MBA or product management courses.
Work Environment
A product development manager typically works in an office setting with product managers, product developers, product marketers, and other professionals. They may spend some time in product research or product management departments. But they will spend most of their time in the product development department.
A product development manager may also be in a home office, working from remote locations.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities of a Product Development Manager
A product development manager plans and coordinating product design. He works with team members to ensure that products are created within the parameters of the company’s product development strategy.
A product development manager must have a solid understanding of product design as strongly as the manufacturing process. Ha also has excellent leadership skills to help product development teams reach their goals.
Also, a product development manager may also be responsible for product packaging, product labeling and product testing.
A product development manager works closely with the design team to create a product development plan. This includes product design, product testing and product verification for products that are being developed from the concept stage to the production stages.
Some product development managers handle the product testing, product quality control and product verification process. They also work with cross-functional teams to ensure product designs meet product specifications.
A product development manager must have excellent communication skills to help coordinate product design teams and ensure that they meet all goals.
Product development managers often work with marketing team members. They do this to ensure that product designs match the needs of a specific target market. This is important for product lines that appeal to a specific demographic group.
Do you want to know more about the product development? Then, we recommend you read our article Product Development: Creating A Brilliant Product.
Are Product Development Managers Necessary For Your Business?
In some product development situations, product designers and inventors can fulfill these duties. In other cases, the company may require a product development manager to oversee product development efforts.
Product development managers help product design teams create a product development plan that includes product testing and product verification. They also work with other team members to ensure product designs meet product specifications.
Product development managers are a product of the product-driven organizations that exist today. They don’t need to be there at all, and you could just as easily have product developers. The product development manager is a more expensive alternative with some benefits that can sometimes outweigh their costs.
Most product development managers have a strong awareness of product design and the manufacturing process. They also have excellent leadership skills to support product development teams to accomplish their goals.
So, it might be clear a product development manager is not a necessary addition to your company, if someone else can fulfill his duties.
When to consider hiring one?
This is one of the most important and difficult decisions that a company has to make. It is hard to decide when to hire someone who can take product development management in house and when to outsource it.
If you cannot do product development management yourself, there is a good chance that you need a product development manager.
However, product development management is a very challenging task. So, doing it yourself might be unreasonable for a company that does not have product development management experience.
If you need product development management, there are the following questions that you should ask yourself:
- Do you need product development management?
- Do you have enough resources?
- Does product development management fit with your company culture?
- Do you have someone to do product design and product testing in house?
- Who will product development manager report to?
- Is product quality control needed?
- Can you outsource product development management?
- Are you aware of product development management’s best practices?
- Do you have another professional in your network who can help with the process?
Having all this information at hand, you will be able to answer these questions and make the best decision.
What makes a good product development manager?
A clear vision and the skills to guide your staff towards it are hallmarks of every successful product developer. They can align their short and long-term objectives with the goal.
Also, they must be able to communicate with the product development team. They listen and understand the needs of their teams while communicating product requirements to help them achieve those goals.
One must be able to gather and synthesize product requirements from the product development staff and stakeholders.
A product development manager must have a strong understanding of product design as well as the manufacturing process. Also, he should have outstanding leadership skills to help product development teams accomplish their goals.
He can expect product development problems before they arise and have a plan of action to resolve product issues.
He must possess the ability to oversee product performance from design through release.
A great product development manager has excellent product development problem-solving skills.
It’s important to find a product development manager with the perfect combination of vision and management capabilities for product development success.
Final Thoughts
Product management is a very challenging task. Thus, doing it yourself might be impossible for a company that does not have product development experience.
Having product development management experience is probably the most important factor that will affect product success. It’s essential to find a product development manager with the right combination of vision and management abilities for product development success.
If you don’t know if you need product development management, there are a few questions that you should ask yourself to figure this out.
