Im my mind, the "product gal" or guy brings the voice of the customer into the product team by:
* Writing user stories
* Prioritizing features for development effort
* Weighing in on design decisions that impact user experience
* Interfacing with current and potential customers to collect feedback
Meanwhile, this frees the devs up to, you know, develop.
In an early-stage start-up, one of the founders usually plays this role, in addition to a million other things. As the company grows, you need folks who can work full-time on product management.
A great product manager knows enough about implementation to earn the respect of the rest of the team, but is not afraid to ask the developers to tackle really difficult problems, if it's the right thing to do for the customer.
In my experience, a team without a good product guy runs the risk of delivering a product that nobody wants.
* Writing user stories
* Prioritizing features for development effort
* Weighing in on design decisions that impact user experience
* Interfacing with current and potential customers to collect feedback
Meanwhile, this frees the devs up to, you know, develop.
In an early-stage start-up, one of the founders usually plays this role, in addition to a million other things. As the company grows, you need folks who can work full-time on product management.
A great product manager knows enough about implementation to earn the respect of the rest of the team, but is not afraid to ask the developers to tackle really difficult problems, if it's the right thing to do for the customer.
In my experience, a team without a good product guy runs the risk of delivering a product that nobody wants.