Product Management and Lean Startup
Question: "Do concepts like Lean Startup and Agile product development have any relevance or impact on product management roles today?"
Many startups do not have product managers, to begin with. That comes later in the life of the company.
So, under what circumstances is product management necessary to further the organization's success?
Product management is the most strategic and critical function relative to a company's product operations.
An official and recognized product management function and executive management are an elementary part of the company's initial structure.
Executive management is responsible for leading the company's business operations, and product management is responsible for leading the company's product operations.
Most startups are formed by technical people with a background in development or manufacturing.
For technical people, technical knowledge and technology are highly valued and considered the company's core competency.
Consequently, many startups incorrectly view product management as a tactical or managerial activity.
In fact, product management is not a tactical or managerial activity but a very strategic, critical, and preliminary component of delivering a product to market.
The reality is that startups always perform product management, even if it is done unofficially.
In many startups, product management duties are performed by the startup's founders or development team.
So in practice, whether officially or unofficially, product management is introduced and applied in a company from its outset.
Startups that fully recognize the importance of product management often formally apply professional product management to their product operations from the beginning rather than initially performing product management haphazardly and later officially recognizing it.