Taxonomy of Product Management

Introduction: Product Management has become one of the fastest growing and most critical software disciplines of the 21st century, accelerated by the rapid confluence of cloud, digitization, and virtualization, and propelled by the ubiquity of smart phones and social media [1].

The number of software products, applications, and gadgets that this revolution has unleashed on the world in recent years, in fields ranging from business productivity, finance, and operations, to entertainment, networking, and retail, is immense.

The management and oversight of such product endeavors requires cross-disciplinary knowledge of many aspects of a business enterprise, including market research, strategy planning, finance, human resources, legal, software engineering, data science, program management, customer support, marketing, and sales [2]. As such, it is crucial to understand the various actions involved in bringing a product to fruition.

Based on my 15+ years of multi-faceted experience as a Product Management leader in technology software, I have created a guide below for navigating the various steps in the Product Management lifecycle from its initiation to its commercial realization. [3]

I am calling this a "Taxonomy" , which is defined as a "classification scheme for indexing information." This allows us to construct a framework for describing the various stages and tasks in the Product Management paradigm.

The Taxonomy is divided into 3 sections - Product Conception, Product Implementation, and Product Proliferation, each with its own set of required skills, tasks and deliverables. Please note that not all tasks are applicable to all product endeavors, and are meant to represent a typical product management scenario.

The 50+ steps listed below for the realization of a successful product venture show the need for a systematic and methodical approach to Product Management, as well as the breadth of skills and experience required to be an effective Product Management leader.

Click to enlarge the image below.

[1] A number of recent books cover Product Management in great detail. Please refer to these book lists here:

Product Management books - bestsellers list: https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/2708

Product Management books in 2021: https://www.productboard.com/blog/15-best-books-for-product-managers/

Product Management books in 2022: https://productmanagerhq.com/product-management-books/

[2] Neel Mehta et. al., (2021); Product Management's Sacred Seven - The Skills Required to be a World Class PM. Paravane Ventures.

[3] The framework outlined here is my perspective on the product management lifecycle based on my experience. There are a number of different ways to approach this discipline, and while there is no single canonical technique governing all product endeavors, some basic principles and actions, like the ones described in the books above, are common to all such undertakings, and reflected in this taxonomy.