Fell through a rabbit hole and discovered what ‘product managers’ actually do. First had to google what they are … had heard the title bandied about by various acquaintances.

This definition from the Atlassian website: “A product manager is the person who identifies the customer need and the larger business objectives that a product or feature will fulfill, articulates what success looks like for a product, and rallies a team to turn that vision into a reality.”

So is this a fancy name for a sales person? Maybe, maybe not. The rabbit hole took a turn.

‘Selling’ is apparently a slippery concept. Some of the people answering the question in Quora.com say product managers don’t do selling, that there are sales managers for that. Other people say product managers sell all the time, such as selling their ideas to their team (internal) and selling the product externally.

What I’m taking away from it is that product management is a process that marketers go through to identify prospective customers and set them up with the products that that marketer provides.

One example I came across is a company requiring a fleet of EVs. They applied to a product management company to help them get a deal.

Another example is the way I bought my unit in a retirement village. Although it was case of me reaching out to them through their website, in hindsight I recognize the procedures involved in getting me to the signing-up event. Interesting article I just read about it all https://assaph.substack.com/p/user-journeys-the-real-heros-journey