The Role of Product manager in smaller companies

In essence, the role is still about capturing and assessing ideas/opportunities and clarifying what products actually get built. (Note: it is not about marketing. That's product marketing, not product management!)

Whether you are in a small company or a big company, this same story should always be true.

There are though, some specific challenges facing the product manager in a small company:

- You need to continually shape product ideas. Everyone within a small company by nature tends to be closer to customer/business feedback and therefore wants to be more engaged with generating ideas and opportunities for the business. (Usually, small companies have to continually focus on opportunities to stay afloat!)

This obviously isn't a bad thing, you just need to use it to the advantage of the product. Your job is to take ideas from anywhere, recognise the good ones and shape them in to a genuine product idea. Obviously, many of these ideas will come at you from Director level. Try not to freak out at these, however 'faddy' they may first seem to you. Generally, Directors aren't great in defining what they want, they may just be stating a problem the business needs to solve. It's your job to identify the problem and provide the best solution (not necessarily the solution the enthusiastic Director has suggested!)

- You need to be solid at project management. Fact: You are going to do more of this than you would in a larger company. Product managers need to ensure their product ships on time and true to spec, getting involved is probably the only option open to you. Doing the role of both project manager and product manager means fending off scope creep and last minute requirements becomes even trickier. (So, you need to get bullet proof, fast! Hold your ground, 9 times out of 10 you are probably right when it comes to your product.)

- You need to be highly motivated, you really do need to drive things through and define the product in the right way. There may be an abundance of ideas in a small business but in terms of getting the job done, you may actually find yourself on your own most of the time.

- You need to get in to rapid release cycles. There will be less treacle to wade through than in a larger company, you need to take advantage of this. If actual delivery and execution isn't easy, you have a major issue. There is no excuse.

- Finally, it's all about quality. A few quality products that create new revenue areas will be enough to pursue other projects and features on the product road map. You can cement your position much quicker in a smaller company if you do this. In larger companies there are far more political scenarios at play which means this isn't always the only deciding factor in whether more of your stuff gets done! 

For more info on this I reccomend two books, Marty Cagan's "Inspired" and 37Signal's "Getting Real"