It takes a village to create anything that matters or at least a highly skilled team of diverse and distinct skill sets.
Everyone in the chain is a product maker, from visionary leaders and eagle-eyed managers to the designers, engineers, sales, and marketers on the frontlines. But even though they’re unified in their goals, they have distinct personas, pain points, issues and concerns. Knowing what those are will help you speak to them in a language they understand, and more importantly, one that resonates with their real-world responsibilities.
Product managers (PMs)
The day-to-day users of Productboard. They most acutely suffer from the core problems Productboard helps solve: understanding what customers really need and prioritizing the right features for the team to work on next.
Example titles:
Associate / Senior / Group Product Manager
Product leaders
Most interested in ensuring that the work product teams are doing aligns with the overarching strategy. Focused on driving business outcomes and want a systematic approach that helps product managers be effective and efficient in their work. Ultimately responsible for aligning the entire organization around the product roadmap.
Example titles:
Director of Product, Chief Product Officer, Head of Product, VP product, General Manager
Product ops
Emerging role, typically in larger organizations, that drives planning and processes for PMs. Most interested in consistent processes, project management, and transparency. Plays a key role in selecting and configuring the tools that help product teams operate smoothly.
Example titles:
Product Operations Manager, Product Operations Specialist, Business & Product Operations
Product builders
Those who are directly responsible for executing on the product vision and strategy by bringing new products and features to life. These are the actual hands-on builders of the product. They value having clear objectives, stable priorities, and a manageable backlog. Product builders excel when their work is informed by business context that empowers them to be true problem solvers, rather than blindly delivering on requirements. A core part of the product manager’s role is to set product builders up for success by providing valuable customer insights and aligning everyone around the product roadmap.
Example titles:
Designer, developer, engineer
Contributors
Colleagues on customer-facing teams (sales, support, customer success, marketing) who frequently interact with the product’s users and are well-acquainted with their needs. They have valuable insights to share with the product team and may be strongly motivated to influence the direction of the product, as missing capabilities may hinder their ability to succeed in their roles (e.g. close deals, reduce churn, etc.) They are also important stakeholders when it comes to the successful rollout of new capabilities.
Example titles:
Field marketer, product marketing manager, support agent, account executive, customer success manager