Wrike Product Management Guide

Explore project management tools tailored to your needs — try Wrike free for two weeks.

Product management describes the research, development, positioning, and support of a product over the course of its life cycle. Product management is a critical business function that enables organizations to identify opportunities for growth and build customer-centric solutions and platforms. 

Software product management, in particular, involves delivering products that bring value to or solve a particular problem or pain point for an end-user. In this way, product management marries the technical aspects of development with an understanding of the market, its trends, and how the product fulfills business needs. For product managers, valuable research and insights are often essential to understanding customer needs and requirements. 

In this guide, we’ll cover some product management basics, including the ins and outs of key roles like product manager and product owner. We’ll also touch on the ways artifacts like product roadmaps, backlogs, and requirements documentation help set short and long-term priorities for successful product teams. 

In our FAQ section, you’ll learn about product management strategy, the top product management skills to have, and the difference between roles like product manager vs. technical product manager

Read our full guide for an introduction to product management and discover terms and vocabulary definitions in our glossary that will further build your understanding.

What's in the Product Management Guide?

01
What Is Product Management?

Discover the basics of product management

02
What Is a Software Product?

The software development process

03
Software Product Manager

Software product manager role and responsibilities

04
Product Owner

What is a product owner? Roles and skills explained

05
Product Life Cycle

The ultimate guide to the product life cycle

06
Product Roadmap

Create a high-level product plan

07
Product Management Software and Tools

Discover the best product management software

08
Product Backlog

How to groom your backlog for product success

09
Product Management OKRs

Set effective product management OKRs

10
Product Requirements Documents

Everything you need to know about PRDs

11
Product Management Metrics and KPIs

How to understand product success

12
Product Analytics

Track, interpret, and analyze customer behaviour

13
Lean Product Management

Doing more with less

14
Product Management Resources

Learn more about product management

15
Product Management Templates

Streamline your product management

16
FAQ

Find answers to your product management questions

17
Product Management Glossary

Learn more about product management terminology