The ABC of Product Management in My Ideal Organisation
The third article of many in "The ABC of Product Management" series
I hate summaries and oversimplifications, because they miss the juice. At the same time, I adore people who can deliver the message in the simplest possible way.
Product management is much about holding the widest context & distilling it into something tangible. Making hard things simple - that’s hard. But here I am, trying to do exactly that with the concept of product management.
What exactly is a "product"?
A product is a vehicle for value.
It doesn’t have to be pretty, new, or even software. It can be a clunky spreadsheet, a hacked-together script, or a polished app. If it helps someone get better, it’s a product.
Why do we need product management at all?
Because products can’t manage themselves.
Anarchy sounds romantic until you’ve lived through it. Left alone, every stakeholder will pull in their own direction: sales for revenue, engineering for reliability, marketing for attention. It’s chaos disguised as progress with no value to be seen.
What fundamental problem does product management solve?
Noise.
Every organization is full of competing opinions, demands, and distractions. Product management filters all that into clarity: here are the problems that matter and why, here’s what we’ll do about them, and here’s what we won’t.
Who is a product manager? (role definition in simplest terms)
A product manager is the compass.
Doesn’t row the boat or decide where to land, but points the direction and finds the best way to the destination. Over and over again, no matter how big the waves get.
What is the core essence of product management work?
Finding balance.
PMs translate customer problems into what the business needs to prioritize and business goals into what the team actually builds. They hold the widest context in the room, so everyone else can focus on execution without drifting off course.
How does a product manager create value?
By driving outcomes.
Features are trivial until they make a change. Shipping more is easy. Shipping what matters is the hard part, and that’s where the value lies.
What makes product management different from other business functions?
Breadth.
Every other function can afford to stay in its lane. Product can’t.
Product has to always hold the full picture and keep it in sync. Some days that means being the glue. Some days it’s duct tape. Some days it’s a hammer.
Why can't organisations succeed without product management?
It doesn’t scale.
You can ship without managing the product. You can expand the customer base without it. And you can even sell without product management.
But you can’t sustain it. Without product management, direction comes from luck or the loudest voice in the room. Both eventually run out.
What does success look like in product management?
Having clarity.
The team knows what they’re building and why it matters.
Customers’ problems are actually solved, the ones that matter.
The business sees meaningful progress, not just with OKRs.
Everyone can focus on what they do best, without debating priorities, questioning decisions, or drifting off course.
Final thoughts
This article is part of a series started by Toomas Koost & followed by Anna-Liisa Reinson, where all Tallinn Product Group members answer the same set of questions.
Why? Because we’ve come to realise that product management is different for all of us - and different from organisation to organisation. While we share many of the same values, it’s the tiny parts we see differently - that’s where the magic happens.