Product Management: What Is It + 3 Best Practices

What is product management?

Product management is the entire process from the first idea for a product to its launch—and beyond. It includes everything across the product’s life cycle, including updates and, eventually, retirement.

It generally consists of two key processes:

• Creating the product
• Optimizing and phasing out the product

What does a product manager do?

A product manager’s role depends on the organization. In large commercial companies, product managers work closely with designers, developers, marketers, and customer support teams. They use customer feedback to fine-tune and improve the product.

In government or non-governmental organizations, the role might have a different title or scope, such as:

• Digital services policy advisor
• Public service product owner
• Digital innovation program lead
• Digital transformation project manager

These roles often involve similar responsibilities, but the focus is different. Instead of profit, it’s about creating social value. Feedback comes from citizens and public servants rather than customers or business stakeholders.

For example, a product manager at the tax authority might ensure that a mobile app is both user-friendly and legally compliant. At Doctors Without Borders, it could mean managing a logistics system that tracks medical supplies during emergencies.

How is the work of product managers changing with AI?

Product management is always subject to change, especially as AI and digital tools become more prevalent. Product managers are by no means redundant, but the type of work is changing from executive to more strategic and creative.

Digital tools simply make some of it (the boring part) easier, allowing you as a product manager to focus on other things.

3 Best practices in product management

1. Collect ideas from customers using a public roadmap

A public roadmap makes it easy to gather feedback from customers in an interactive and transparent way. With FlowQi’s digital tools, you can create a Kanban-style roadmap where customers can share their ideas.

Let them vote on ideas, too. This makes the process more engaging and shows that you’re open to feedback and actively listening. It builds trust. When people see what you’re working on—and why certain things are prioritized—they feel heard and taken seriously.

This approach strengthens not just your product, but also your customer relationships.

Plus, digital tools and AI can help you process large volumes of feedback, reviews, and behavioral data. Instead of reading through 1,000 user comments manually, let a tool summarize the top three user frustrations in under five minutes.

2. Don’t create user stories in isolation

A strong user story doesn’t just describe what you’re building—it highlights for whom and why. For example, let’s say you’re developing a CRM system for modern managers, including product managers (like we did).

A user story could be:

“As a product manager, I want to quickly find customer feedback in the CRM system so I can make more informed decisions for the product roadmap.”

In many teams, the product owner or product manager writes these stories alone. But involving your entire team can make a huge difference. Why?

• Everyone understands the problem you’re solving
• You create shared responsibility
• You gather valuable input from UI/UX, tech, and other specialists
• You avoid miscommunication and siloed work

3. More is not always better

It’s tempting—especially when looking at your competitors—to load your product with features. The more features you release, the more productive your team appears. Stakeholders are pleased, and customers see constant updates…

But is your product truly solving specific user problems?

Or are most features rarely used? Worse, do they make your product heavier, more expensive, harder to use, or confusing?

Building features just because your competitors do, or because a few customers request them, often leads to mediocrity. You risk ending up with a product that’s generic and fails to stand out.

So shift your focus from output to impact. Instead of asking, what else can we build? Ask, what do our users really need? Sometimes the answer is a new feature, sometimes, it’s less.

What digital tools can you use for product management?

FlowQi is designed to support professionals and enhance collaboration within organizations. Our tools help you visualize product roadmaps, gather customer feedback, automate workflows, and much more.

Here are some examples of digital tools that are especially useful for product management:

• Product management tool. Great for collecting ideas, prioritizing features, and creating roadmaps that align with your users’ needs.
• CRM system. Gives you insights into customer behavior and feedback, helping you make better-informed decisions.
• Task management tool. Keeps your team aligned by showing who’s doing what and when. Tasks are automatically assigned to the right people, reducing confusion and ensuring transparency.
• Project management tool. Brings structure to larger projects by helping you track deadlines, manage dependencies, and monitor team capacity. It keeps you in control—even during complex product launches.

And that’s just the beginning. We offer many more tools to simplify and streamline your work as a product manager.

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