Ask Dave #001: What Does a Product Manager Actually Do? 🤔

Welcome to Ask Dave #001, where every week I answer your biggest questions about breaking into Product Management! Got a question?

>> Drop it here, and I’ll tackle the top ones each week. 📥

Without further ado, here’s this week’s question:

“Hey Dave, can you tell me what a Product Manager actually does? There’s just too much information everywhere…”

If you ask 10 experts, you’ll get 10 different answers.

• Marty Cagan says PMs discover products that are valuable, usable, and feasible.
• Melissa Perri says PMs work with design and engineering to find the right solution.
• Brian De Haaff believes PMs build products that change lives.

And don’t even try to Google Product Manager competency models… it’ll just freak you out!

At the end of the day, they’re all right.

Yet, every company defines its role differently. It’s like looking at an elephant from multiple angles; no one is wrong, and yet no one is right.

Often, people debate against the types of characteristics rather than the role itself.

Different companies need different types of Product Managers.

If we zoom out at a higher level, here is my take on the role of a Product Manager:

Role of a Product Manager

→ Business And Technology Conduit

→ Expert On The Customer, Technology And The Market

→ Your Job Is To Discover Product Opportunities And Prioritise The Use Of The Company’s Resources

→ To Deliver A Positive Business Outcome

→ Across The Product Lifecycle

A Product Manager connects business and technology to make sure the right things get built.

And this applies beyond tech. If you work in finance, you’re bridging business and finance. In healthcare, it’s business and patient care. In mining, it’s business and operations.

Just replace the word “Technology” with whatever your solution is.

To do this effectively, a PM needs to master three key areas:

✅ The Customer – Who are you building for, and what do they actually need?

✅ The Technology – You don’t need to code, but you must understand how things fit together.

✅ The Market – What are the trends, competitors, and business realities shaping your product?

But product management isn’t just about managing features—it’s about making decisions.

Because every decision to build something is also a decision not to build something else.

PMs Work Across the Entire Product Lifecycle

The best PMs don’t just launch products—they own the entire lifecycle:

🔹 Discovery – Managing ideas, validating what’s worth building

🔹 Delivery – Designing, developing, launching

🔹 Growth – Finding product-market fit, driving adoption, sustaining impact

It’s easy to build something. The hard part? Keeping it successful in the market.

Why PM Is a Transition Role (Not an Entry-Level Job)

PM isn’t a job most people get straight out of university. It’s a transition role.

Most PMs start in engineering, design, business analysis, project management, or product ownership before moving into product. You need real-world experience to make trade-offs and balance competing priorities.

And here’s the truth: Every company needs a different kind of PM.

Some focus on growth, others on technical depth, and others on business strategy. The key is knowing what your company needs—and adapting.

So what you need is to learn from multiple perspectives and construct different characteristics to create your own craft.

• Don’t blindly follow other perceptions of others
• But focus on how to create a Profitable Product for your company
• Learn from multiple skills and crafts along the way
• Create your own style of Kung-Fu, this what makes you unique and valuable. 💎

Want to Break Into Product? Here’s Where to Start.

If you’re trying to land a PM role, don’t just memorize frameworks.

Master the three pillars—customer, tech, and market.

That’s what separates great PMs from the rest.

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