Post Menu and Details.
- It Makes It Easy to Connect the Dots
- It Encourages Collaborative Solutions
- It Enables the Tweaking of Processes and Workflows
- It Allows the Setting of Team Goals
- Product Management’s Influence on Team Productivity
Words: 896
Reading time: ~4 minutes
Product management plays a significant role because it focuses on delivering items that cater to customers’ needs and wants. Product managers oversee a product’s life cycle from concept to launch, but they don’t do this alone. Managers need the skills of an entire team to make it happen.
In numerous industries, product management brings team members from different disciplines together. Product managers count on their contributions, whether they’re software developers, service provisioning specialists, or sales reps. As a result, a team’s efficiency and outcomes become essential to ensuring businesses and customers win. Below we’ll outline four ways product management can boost group productivity.
-
It Makes It Easy to Connect the Dots
Product managers create different documents with details about market research, competitive analysis, and product design and strategy. A developer or designer will be more interested in the item’s specifications and requirements. Meanwhile, a group member with marketing chops will gravitate toward details about the ideal buyer’s persona and journey.
However, the entire team needs a single vision and source of truth. When leaders use a product manager tool that centralizes documentation, everyone stays on the same page. Confusion about what direction the team should move in goes down, and no one wastes time searching for critical information.
There are also fewer chances that conflict over the basics will derail the group’s progress. Some of the most important decisions and directions are already outlined, reducing the need to waste more time with meetings. With the crucial details at their fingertips, team members can connect the dots and begin to roll up their sleeves.
-
It Encourages Collaborative Solutions
All roles involve some degree of problem-solving. But when product managers want to bring ideas to life, there will inevitably be some bumps along the way. A software engineer could discover flaws in the original prototype or design midway through the project. Or a new competitor that comes on the scene during development might throw a wrench in the original market analysis.
However, it’s not always mistakes or obstacles that lead to failed initiatives. Research shows that 86% of executives believe a lack of collaboration is a leading cause of business failures. Product management encourages teams with interdisciplinary knowledge to come together to find solutions to problems and roadblocks.
A software engineer might discover a design flaw, but it impacts each contributor’s work. And a new competitor that requires a revised market analysis will influence every team member’s contribution. With combined knowledge and expertise, the group can overcome its obstacles and avoid stalled or abandoned projects.
-
It Enables the Tweaking of Processes and Workflows
Product managers are good at monitoring their team’s progress and stepping in when it starts to go off course. They use their listening and empathy skills to find the root cause of the problem. Often, an inefficient workflow or process is to blame. In some cases, the team doesn’t have the right tools to make processes flow efficiently.
Product management makes these inefficiencies visible and gives a manager time to help correct them. Say there’s a lack of communication between group members who must all contribute to various pieces of the final product. It’s not because the team members don’t want to communicate. The root causes are a lack of clarity about who’s responsible for the next task and an unorganized handoff process.
A product manager will eliminate what appears to be a communication issue by working with the team to improve processes. Perhaps the group needs to discuss who will assume responsibility for each assignment. The problem could be that several people have the skills to do the job. Someone must agree to handle primary responsibility, and the team should use project management software to assign tasks. With defined workflows, projects can keep moving along.
-
It Allows the Setting of Team Goals
No one works well or produces good outcomes without direction. Even those who work independently set their own objectives to be productive. But when business results rely on teamwork, individual goals can’t take center stage. The group needs common ground to stand on. Shared objectives or purposes become the glue that holds the team together.
This is what product managers can provide. They define the group’s shared purpose, showing them why they’re collaborating and the benefits their efforts will bring. People are naturally more productive when they feel connected to an end goal at work. Research from McKinsey & Company reveals that 62% of employees want more opportunities for purpose in their daily tasks.
Working on product development and launch programs represents one possible opportunity. Doing so gives employees a chance to see the results of their contributions and connect to the organization’s purpose. As team members witness how their skills make a difference and impact those the business serves, they gain meaning. And with meaning and fulfillment, employees are more likely to find motivation and commit to producing quality work.
Product Management’s Influence on Team Productivity
Without products and services that satisfy customers’ needs, businesses can’t thrive. However, it takes teams with varied expertise to develop and launch successful offerings. Product managers take on an influential role that brings multiple stakeholders’ interests and skill sets together.
To be effective, individual contributors must sync their varied skills and expertise. Product management helps groups do this in several ways by revealing the importance of collaboration and shared purpose. Team productivity and performance get a boost when product managers highlight the role of interdependence in business success and customer satisfaction.
Thank you for reading!