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Some product managers might turn your question around and ask, what isn't a product manager's responsibility? A product manager's life is a busy one, but the good kind of busy.I am a former product manager myself, and now the CEO and co-founder of Aha! (the world's #1 product roadmap and marketing planning software). I get to speak to PMs every day about their role, responsibilities and challenges.Product managers must have extensive knowledge of the product, while communicating with customers and the cross-functional teams who work together to launch the product: marketing, customer support, and engineering. Without a product manager orchestrating these many parts, many companies would struggle to succeed.A product manager's number one responsibility is to make sure the product serves the customer.That is why the product manager is referred to as the CEO of the product. He is in charge delivering customer value through the lifecycle of the product, from its inception until it is no longer available on the market. He focuses on the ‘why’, ‘what,’ and ‘when’ of the product, while the engineering team focuses on the "how."This may sound very simple, but in most cases, especially with software, the customer, market, and product is ever-changing. Earlier iterations will look nothing like the releases that come later on. The product manager must constantly manage all the moving parts of the product releases, look out for trouble ahead, and always make sure that they are building what matters most to the customer.Here are the core aspects of the product manager's responsibilities.Defines the strategyThe first task of the product manager is to define the strategic vision for what he wants the product to accomplish. He analyzes the customers, market landscape, and key competitors. He objectively look at their strengths and weaknesses. He sizes up the opportunity before the team and develops the go-to-market plan. Nailing down this strategy first helps product managers maintain the proper perspective.Sets goals and initiativesThe product manager comes up with the high-level goals that that the team will undertake. He makes sure these goals are in alignment with their overall strategy. He defines the key initiatives that will accomplish these goals.Prioritizes releases and featuresA product manager defines the actual work that will be accomplished and the features that will be built within each release. He plans the overall capacity for the release, objectively measuring each feature to ensure they are always delivering the most value to customers.Because he always advocates for the customer, that sometimes means saying no to features that do not add value or that are not aligned with the overall strategy for the product.Maintains the roadmapAs the product manager defines these key parts, the result is a product roadmap that will guide them through their releases. This roadmap communicates the overall strategy and plan to the team, and the PM shares it with other stakeholders, including the executives.Communicates across different functionsThe product manager's responsibility to the product continues throughout the development process. He relies on the roadmap to make sure all phases and milestones are accomplished on schedule. He helps manage the back-and-forth conversations as features are being developed.He also makes sure other teams have what they need to complete their phases of the work. For example, before a release is complete, he must train the customer support team on the new features while making sure the marketing team can clearly communicate the new release.Stays close to the customer (always)Product managers must remain close to the customer at all times, and this relationship is ongoing. The more time they spend time finding out what customers like and do not like about the product, the better the PM is able to identify problems and possible solutions. The relationship with customers is paramount, since customers often share great ideas for new features and improvements.The product manager must also have the strength to stand up for the customer and product in all circumstances, yet easily collaborate with others. The role is dynamic, and there is never a dull moment.

Product managers drive the development of products, and they are ultimately responsible for the success of those products.Product managers are information gatherers, defining the strategic direction of their products through the lens of knowledge they acquire about 1) their business’s strategic goals; 2) the market’s demands and opportunities; and 3) the technological and financial resources available to them to make the product a reality.Once they have analyzed all of this data, and determined a strategic direction, the product manager’s job is then to communicate this strategy to multiple stakeholders, earn buy-in from decision makers, and ensure the appropriate teams understand their roles and have the tools they need to execute the strategy.Which means the second part of a product manager’s job, after information gathering and analysis, is communication and coordination (and even persuasion).This wide-ranging set of responsibilities is one reason that a product manager’s job is often defined as the CEO of a product line. Like a CEO, a product manager must coordinate with, delegate to, and persuade a broad set of constituencies. Also like a CEO, the product manager owns ultimate responsibility for the product’s success or failure, as well as for any issue that comes up during development — from technological setbacks, to negative market feedback, to personnel issues, to financial problems.And just as a CEO must possess a broad range of skills to run a business, a product manager’s skillset must go far beyond simply understanding the product and the market. Successful product managers also need skills such as:The ability to say no — and to explain whyBeing a great delegatorA tight focus on strategy — and not on putting out firesThe ability to speak multiple constituents’ languagesBeing a great listener (in all constituent languages)Product managers share the strategic direction of their products in a product roadmap. A roadmap communicates the why and what behind what you’re building. It’s a guiding strategic document as well as a plan for executing the strategy. A roadmap is a high-level visual summary that maps out the vision and direction of your product offering over time.To read more about the key role of product managers as well as other great product management tips, you may want to download our free product roadmap book.

The right answer is determined largely by what you think a product manager does. For many, the product manager is a development manager—sits near the engineers, designs, assigns tasks. For some, a product manager is the uber-sales engineer. For others, she or he is the author of go-to-market materials that the marketing team can’t compose.The problem is ‘product manager’ is too generic a title. Consider these speciality titles.Product Growth. How can product professionals support all the sales people instead of helping them one-at-a-time? Consider the Product Growth Manager. This role takes a systematic approach to identifying and correcting problems that are hampering product growth. It involves profiling the sales funnel to identify areas to optimize the buyer’s journey. It includes analyzing customer wins and losses to identify areas for improvement in promotion and selling. It involves working with the marketing team to determine the best programs and campaigns to address problems discovered in the go-to-market process.Sometimes called a product marketing manager, a Product Growth Manager works primarily with the current product. To be effective, he or she must know the product’s strengths and weaknesses, the competitive landscape, and the target market personas.Product Planning. Based on customer feedback from myriad sources, the Product Planning Manager aligns new feature requests against the product strategy and prioritizes the work to be done.Most closely aligned with the agile product owner role, the Product Planning Manager is focused on the next set of deliverables—the next release, the next model. This role works closely with development and engineering to guide creation and revisions of the product.Furthermore, Product Planning Managers are experts in market problems; development and engineering are experts in solutions. As such, Product Planning Managers represent the customer to the development team and guide the team to viable solutions.Product Strategy. The Product Strategy Manager (sometimes called a Portfolio Strategy Manager) defines the portfolio roadmap, evaluates the overall success of products in his or her portfolio, and determines which products are failing to achieve their goals and should be retired.Product Strategy Managers are typically seasoned product professionals with experience in the business of product management. They will likely rely on others in the organization for domain expertise.The Product Strategy Manager is measured by completed business plans. That means identifying new product opportunities, validating those opportunities in the market place, and defining the necessary business documents to get commitment and funding to proceed with the idea.As for where to sit, product strategy needs to be at corporate near the business leaders—preferably around other product strategy managers—with a generous travel budget to see both customers and non-customers. The Product Planning Manager would be near the developers. The Product Growth Manager would be near sales and marketing.Who should all product managers be closest to? Customers of course.