The year 2020 has conditioned us that everything in this world including the technology industry can change overnight. As we have stepped into 2021, the role of a product manager has been clearly defined within organizations. They have now stepped up as leaders in executing product vision and strategy while driving revenue for the business.
To be honest, product managers are always on the lookout for signals and unique patterns that help them evaluate trends in the product space. Being passionate about product management and having a fair understanding of how the changing times have affected the goals, concerns, and plans of product managers here goes a list of top 5 trends in product management that we have observed would continue through 2021 and beyond.
Experimentation has become the core essence of the product management role
Experimentation has always been an aspiration for product managers but now it has become an activity, part of their daily schedule.
Product Managers have now begun to incorporate experimentation in their workflows having realized their respective domains being more customer-centric and data-driven.
Over time, customer interviews and direct user feedback have become important to generate new product ideas.
User Research, prototyping, and analytics are key aspects of an ideal day for a product manager.
2. Distribution in product teams to develop a holistic understanding
Organizations have started adopting a hybrid model of remote and office work.
This has paved the way for the industry to hire the best product enthusiasts all across different geographic locations and build a world-class product team.
Work from home culture has enabled product managers to be highly productive and creative at the same time, giving them a flexible work approach.
Product Leaders have become more effective and have even embraced this uncertainty with intelligence, patience, and compassion.
3. Mapping methodologies and the concept of system thinking
Systems thinking is the dynamics that hold both stakeholder management and organizational alignment.
As product managers, it is essential for us to understand the ecosystems of our customers, organizations, and products, and how they all affect each other.
It is the concept of system thinking that can be turned around in every possible way, showing how mapping methodologies can be used to evaluate countless different scenarios.
Mapping exercises are being used for journey maps, service blueprints, technical audits, or a combination, and trust us they are among the most difficult practices in Product.
4. Product Teams: Restructure and Strategic Updations
A product strategy that would have been effective in the past will most definitely fall short in the current scenario.
These updations come in handy as the product teams often cannot foresee how their strategic plans would turn out, tactics that might have worked earlier have to be modified to fit in with changing trends and market needs.
Product Teams all across the globe have become increasingly proactive.
Keeping in sync with new realities and updating the product roadmap will ensure they can continue to deliver outstanding products that solve real market problems.
5. The importance of design dominance and extension to product proliferation
The trend has shifted people now only want to continue to use products they actually enjoy using.
Spending more time at home has led to increased interactions with digital products.
This is one thing that we can relate to most: Instead of using tools like Zoom and Skype for occasional work conferences, we use them to catch up with friends and colleagues on a constant, daily basis.
Now, a user-friendly design is more critical than ever and the number of products that have inserted themselves into every aspect of our lives has increased drastically.
Having discussed the above trends the following areas will be of major consideration in the product space:
Simple and clear Task Management
Lean and Shareable Product Roadmaps
Lean Prioritization.
Does the question now arise of how to be conversant with these trends? You need the right set of product management tools to help you incorporate the latest developments and trends. Be on the lookout for them in our next article!