What is a Product Manager?

During a project, we get asked a lot of questions, but one of the questions we’ve been asked a few times recently is: ‘What’s a product manager?’ so I sat down with Lauren to find out what being a product manager at Hiyield means.

A quick overview of product management

A product manager is often described as the ‘CEO of the product’ as they sit at the centre of user experience (UX), tech and business for each project.

Throughout every project, a product manager consistently prioritises the end user, ensuring that every decision aligns with their needs and preferences. One of the main tasks in the role is prioritising features for the product based on the goal of the project.

A day in the life of a Project Manager at Hiyield

A product manager plays a key role in an agency setting, ensuring the delivery of digital products or services to all clients.

Understanding client needs

A product manager will work closely with a client to understand the business objectives and get to know the target audience. They will also work to understand the scope of the requirements for the digital product or service.

Defining product strategy

A product manager will define the product strategy based on a client’s needs and objectives by:

• Identifying key features
• Writing user stories
• Setting priorities
• Outlining a roadmap for development and delivery

Collaborating with design and development

Being a product manager means you collaborate with all teams within the agency, design, development, delivery and more. Ensuring there is always clear communication between teams so that the product is developed to the clients needs is important.

Managing the development process

Overseeing the entire development process from concept to delivery and that each sprint runs smoothly is crucial in a product management role to ensure that both the client and end user are happy. Working closely with the project managers so that the project plan keeps on track makes this easier.

Feedback

Gathering feedback throughout the development process from clients, stakeholders and end users that you can use to iterate on a product, make improvements and adjustments to ensure the digital product or service meets client expectations and creates value for the end user.

QA

Finally, a product manager will work with the quality assurance (QA) team to ensure that the final digital product or service meets the criteria.

A product manager does a lot in an agency setting to ensure that all projects get delivered on time and to a high standard. Hopefully, this answers some of your questions about product management and the role that they play in making sure a project runs smoothly. If you want to find out more about how a product manager could support the smooth running of your project, get in touch with us today.