The Indian economy has grown significantly over the last decade. Until recently, the growth was coming from primarily the Indian service sector. But recently, with the emphasis on made-in-India products, India’s industrial sector has started to gain some traction. In both industries, product management plays a crucial role in developing and distributing products and services. This is the reason for the increased demand for capable product managers. But to be a competent product manager, one must be familiar and well versed in product management processes. One must opt for a product management course to learn product management and acquire the required skill set. This article will shed light on product management and related courses.
What is product management?
Every product or service goes through a development process. This includes the inception of ideas, market research, idea validation, prototype development, and distribution. Product management is managing the product’s life cycle from start to finish. The product manager is responsible for presiding over the whole process.
Product management process
The product management process revolves around the product’s life cycle. The goal of product management is to efficiently execute the entire life cycle. Let’s discuss the life cycles and the job of the product management team.
- Idea development and market research
Every product starts from an Idea. Product managers will brainstorm ideas with their product teams and develop potential ideas. Proper market research helps in understating customers’ requirements, spotting vacuums in the market and problems that could be solved, and gaining knowledge about their competitors. Successful ideas have their roots in market research. A capable product manager can use market research’s gathered insights to identify value ideas.
- Idea validation
With potential ideas in hand, the product management team will move on to the next step in the process. Validating the ideas by taking reactions from different people helps measure the concept’s actual value. Being involved in the idea development process brings bias into the team. Therefore gaining insight from people outside of the group is of utmost importance. It helps weed out crappy ideas that might look good at first glance.
- Prototype building
If product managers feel the idea is worth moving forward, they will move on to the prototype building stage. In this stage, the goal is to design packaging, develop the product and develop the name and other related aspects. When completed, the prototype will be sent for acquiring all the necessary certifications. It will also be sent to be used by a limited number of consumers to gain much-needed insights about the product and what can be improved in them. When all of these things are done, and suggested improvements are taken care of, the team will move on to the final stage of the product life cycle.
- Distribution
In the distribution stage, the product management team will work closely with the marketing team. An effective marketing strategy has the capability of singlehandedly making a product successful. The launch event will also be planned by the team. Finding out the areas where consumer density is high and reaching out to distributors is included in this stage.
Skills needed to become a product manager
To become a product manager, one must develop all the skills required for managing a product.
- Product lifecycle management
The product manager should be capable of executing the entire product lifecycle efficiently. Failing to do so could be disastrous for a company, and the manager must take responsibility for the failure.
- Time management
A product manager needs to meet all the deadlines. Only with proper time management skills can one constantly meet deadlines.
- Leadership skills
The product manager is the head of the product management team. They have to lead and motivate their team. Good leaders can bring out the best from everyone around them.
- Communication skills
Another skill that is often overlooked is communication skills. Having excellent communication not only helps in getting ideas through but also helps with leading a team.
To learn product management skills, one should look towards product management courses.
Product management online courses
Online product management courses have become very popular amongst working professionals. It allows them to take classes and upskill themselves while keeping their current job without completely screwing their work-life balance.
Online courses sometimes have offline classes that are held on weekends. These are good for those who can afford to attend weekend classes. Sometimes even that is not possible. For those who can not participate in classes even on weekends, online-only courses are the best option. And they are also cheaper when compared with regular classes.
A product management course will teach the basics of product management, go over the required software and tools and also teach leadership and communication skills.
Conclusion
Product management courses have become immensely popular amongst working professionals. It allows them to learn product management and also teaches some other essential skills like communication and leadership. Having a product management certification opens up vast opportunities for students.
