What Does a Product Manager Do? Explained for Kids

Product Management is an exciting and important field that is all about creating and bringing products to market. It's the process of identifying customer needs, designing and developing products to meet those needs, and then bringing those products to market. In this blog post, we'll be teaching kids about the basics of Product Management, including what it is, why it's important, and how they can get started in this exciting field.

Overview of Simplifying Product Management Explanation to People

Product management in simple terms is the act of maintaining a company’s project and continuously ensuring that the purpose of creating that product matches the needs of the consumers (market).

Many times, when explaining product management to kids or other people, product managers should be conscious of the reality that the majority of layman do not even understand the concept of the product in itself. So, they must endeavor to break it down as much as possible from scratch. For instance, when faced with the big question, you can begin by explaining what a product is. A product is a thing that can be created and offered for people to use. It could range from simple to complex, consumable to non-consumable.

Just like doctors and lawyers make their professions sound so easy and relatable, product managers can also simplify it so every other person, including kids, can understand it.

All About Product Management

Product management is an art in itself. Product managers have the ability to multitask because their job spans several aspects. Product management means creating and monitoring a product from inception to launch. This process is called a product life cycle.

Product managers work with diverse careers, which gives them an edge and broadens their knowledge span. A project manager works with a software engineer marketer, UI/UX designer, communications specialist, data analyst, and many others, and this largely accounts for the reason why product managers are highly skilled and enlightened. Some of the responsibilities of product managers involve prioritizing the roadmap, planning, and discussing future requests and plans with customers, among others. Product managers ensure that customers' products are duly delivered and met with and that the company can effectively and consistently deliver those products.

The market changes, and sometimes, customers need changes. So, it is the responsibility of product managers to ensure that the company swiftly affects changes to customers' products and that they deliver quality products to customers at all times. The product manager balances and manages all the interests in getting a product delivered to a customer.

A product can either be physical or not. For instance, a person might hire a product manager to manage multiple customers’ websites. The websites in this instance refer to ‘products’. Product management also involves balancing the needs of the customers without altering the interests of the business. So, no matter the level of priority on customers' needs, product managers strive to ensure that it has no negative impact on the company’s growth. This balance is a necessity in product management, and it serves as the core of successful management.

Core Roles of a Product Manager

The roles of a product manager differ, depending on several factors, including the market size, product type, business factors, customer needs, and available resources. However, there are general responsibilities every product manager must perform. They include the below:

Problem Research and Studies
Market Understanding
Competitor Research
Product Knowledge
Customer Research

Key Skills of a Product Manager

Product management is an amazing field with multiple skills to acquire. Just as mentioned earlier, product managers work directly with other disciplines which helps them understand and acquire relevant skills. Below are the key skills of a product manager.

Research skills
Strategic thinking
Account management
Problem-solving skills
Customer service
Communication skills
Digital Marketing
Storytelling skills
Emotional intelligence.
Product design
Technical skills
Critical thinking

In other words, product management involves a strategic development and management of a product and business. Product managers work in specific roles which determine their responsibilities and capacities at the time. Also, product managers can either be for fast-paced consumer goods, or regular-paced consumer goods and software-based products.

Why Kids Ask About Product Management

Product management terminologies are quite complex and new, especially to younger kids. Kids are quite inquisitive, so it is expected for them to always ask about product management-related subjects to quell their curiosity and educate them.

There are various reasons why kids ask about product management, so before you go on to explain anything, do ensure that you understand the context of the question. This will help you provide better answers to your kids. Oftentimes, I have been faced with the question, “how do you explain product management to a 5-year-old?” The answer remains the same. Understand the context of the question, and explain to them using the simplest terms with relatable examples.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best way to explain product management to a 5 year old?

The most effective way to explain product management to younger kids is to use solid examples that they can relate to. For instance, kids love and understand toys, so as a product manager, you can explain to them that the toys they value so much are products, and the responsibility of a product manager is to build amazing toys and upgrade the toys to include more of the features they love the most.

What is the simple explanation of product management to kids?

Product management means planning and nurturing a product to build it in its best form for the users of that product. A product manager is a person who understands a customer’s needs, creates a product that meets that needs, get it delivered to the customer, and continuously adapts the product to satisfy the customer’s needs.

How to explain technical product management to children?

Product management is a technical role, and the common goal of product managers is to solve a problem. Product management involves creating or identifying a problem and building a product that offers a solution to that problem.

Final Thoughts

Product management is an amazing and important field for anyone to be in. This is why you must strive to help your kids fully understand the meaning and duties of a product manager, as this will get them interested in becoming just like you when they grow up!