This Saturday, I’ll be at ProductCamp Chicago, an un-conference about product management.
What is product management? Don’t ask me. I just learned about the role!
But to get an idea, think about it like this:
Project managers focus on the day-to-day activities that will get a single project done on time and within budget. They concern themselves with how to best handle the resources they have to move a single project forward efficiently.
Product managers, on the other hand, concern themselves with the long-term activities of the company as a whole. They act as ambassadors for the customer and determine what products and services a company should create, both now and in the future, and how to inform customers about those products and services.
So product management is closely tied to development, marketing, and sales.
To learn more about it, I’d suggest checking out The Strategic Role of Product Management as well as PragmaticMarketing.com and The Accidental Product Manager.
Clearly if my business is going to be a success, I’m going to need to put on another hat: product manager.
And so I’m going to a conference to connect with others and learn more about it.
Are you going to the conference? How have you, as an indie, internalized the product management role?