6 Product Management Trends to Watch in the Rest of 2022 and Beyond
As the pandemic has tapered down, people are experiencing an altered version of life as it was before. Society is also finding that the norms have changed in many regards. For example, the rise of working from home, e-commerce, useful tools such as Salesforce and Zendesk, and regular Zoom meetings have replaced the old ways of doing business.
Forbes says: “For the first quarter of 2021, U.S. e-commerce sales grew 39% year-over-year, to $199 billion.” This is just one piece of evidence of the impressive, significant trend that has been happening at the crossroads between technology and business.
Trends aren’t something that stays around forever: that’s their nature. However, some are powerful enough to make a large impact over a longer period of time. Although no one can predict the future, I present these six trends of product management in 2022 and into the coming years. This will attempt to explain the pivotal turn point in history, business, and product management that we find ourselves at.
While the pandemic has been harsh on many, it’s also a great opportunity for product organizations. Now, we find ourselves in a digital world, where some companies have achieved by evolving and adapting their products to become a staple in customers’ changing lifestyles. A growing number of diverse consumers combined with the quick rise of accessible e-commerce, tools, microtools for remote businesses, and other factors leave many opportunities to be taken advantage of. Those who heed the following trends in product management, today and in the next few quarters, will certainly be prepared for long-term success.
1. Demand for Data
Nowadays, it’s all about the data. Computing power has undergone unprecedented, exponential growth, and the majority of the world now enjoys connectivity like never before. A vast and endless source of information about customers, their interests, and behavior is now accessible by product management teams; information that companies weren’t blessed with in the past. Yet, it’s a blessing and a curse, and as the tidal wave of digitally-sourced data continues to grow and swell, it’s important that teams be equipped to take it on. Those who fail to smoothly incorporate all the information won’t last long in today’s climate.
Many multi-functional tools already exist to give product management teams feedback directly and succinctly: Salesforce, Slack, Zendesk, Microsoft Teams, and Intercom, to name a few. However, there is also a scarcity of talent in the network. Not many people are qualified to product manage successfully, so companies are competing to find enough of the right people to handle this ever-expanding information surge. Executives are beginning to require the data that impacts and drives decisions. Already, teams are being forced to rely more on automation tools to plan, prioritize, roadmap, and analyze more data, quickly. This allows product leaders the time to put more resources into the most significant user needs.
2. Remote/virtual Stakeholder Management
On the other side of the pandemic, it’s apparent that many organizations are embracing remote work for good. People now see the value of virtual meetings, work, and interactions. Moreover, it’s a safe bet that the product management trend of remote stakeholder management is here to stay.
In classic office scenarios, product managers used to use strategic, informal moments to feel out what their boss would think of a certain topic, or have a chance to build relationships. Now, communication most likely must happen in a largely virtual environment. Although this comradery now requires more effort, in the long run, the model of distributed product teams isn’t going anywhere. New, remote opportunities and spaces must be created to foster the important personal interactions that were previously carried out in the office.
3. Cloud-based Product Roadmaps
Speaking of remote communication, we must mention that static product roadmaps are going out of style fast; simply for their lack of efficiency, tools of this caliber are becoming null. Digital solutions such as ProductPlan are so helpful for remote product roadmaps. In today’s day and age, there’s no need to waste everyone’s energy and time sending a new product roadmap every time something changes. Just share a virtual, live, easily-accessible product roadmap with your stakeholders so they can always check it in real-time.
Another aspect of this recent change in roadmaps is that roadmapping by big-picture “themes” is becoming more widespread. This type simply shifts the focus onto the product’s why (overall strategy and goal), instead of its what. More executives and stakeholders are becoming accustomed to the relative ambiguity of the themes. It’s strategic to concentrate efforts on one part of the product at a time. If all parties feel involved and therefore invested in the end result, the whole team can benefit from ideas and observations that were excluded in the past. This is one positive factor that working remotely can foster.
4. More Visibility and Flexibility
With this transition into an increasingly virtual business world, there is likely to be growing interest across the board in how the product is progressing. If they can be invested in the product, strategy, and roadmaps, team members (from marketing and customer service staff, to sales members and the manufacturers) will be more excited about the overall success. They also might bring fresh ideas to the table. Product managers should absolutely try to cultivate this; it makes the goal for the product clear and more achievable.
Plus, since a myriad of product management tools now exists to aid us in our work lives, product leaders should encourage the wider business to take advantage of the latest technology. This is the key that many companies need for the future. Be flexible enough to try out a few tools that could improve communication, organization, or the company’s vision. It’s efficient for many reasons; tools such as extensions, plug-ins, and apps can do anything from giving your team more visibility to saving you tons of time on updates, just to name a few. The most triumphant teams of this generation will have a healthy mix of managers, operators, and creatives. Everyone will feel empowered to participate.
5. Tools for a Remote World
Cloud-based product roadmaps, remote, work-from-home, distributed teams, e-commerce, and more: the need for tools that improve these realities is exponentially growing. Let’s pay attention to the similarities between the most successful microtools and companies in the current merging of technology and business. For example, the writing assistant Grammarly is a service that boasts 30 million accounts registered, including 30,000 team accounts. However, it’s not often that users download the app on their phone or computer. Instead, they use the Grammarly extension for essentially every computer system.
We are seeing a trend of micro tools; their appeal is that they perfectly connect different tools that society is increasingly beginning to use. As we move into the age of web3, a more open-sourced, collaborative, connected global workforce is forming. Versatile tools like Grammarly allow these collaborations to happen, and therefore, might just make themselves essential products.
In the rest of 2022, and into 2023, product managers and their teams must be willing and able to integrate numerous necessary plugins, extensions, and useful apps. One very important advantage of microtools is that they allow organizations to communicate with clients, customers, and associates in a remote setting. This trend is here to stay and has changed the face of what we can consider a work environment or overall lifestyle. Add-ons for Firefox, Safari, Chrome, or MS Word, plugins for Slack, Gmail, Zendesk, Salesforce, Shopify, etc., are having wild success right now. Any team which isn’t utilizing a few of these gems is missing out on potential!
6. More Specialized Roles
In general, product managers are essentially multitaskers who can fit into many shoes and complete various roles. Yet, 2022 has seen the number of specialized product management roles increasing. Specialist jobs require a more in-depth ability and understanding in terms of the person’s subject of expertise. Moving forward, specialized roles will continue to become more commonplace. Intelligent organizations are realizing the value of specialization in product management, and beginning to implement people who will make a huge difference on their teams.
Delicate aspects of product management cannot be skipped over; they require time, style, and panache. Having specialists in each area eliminates the danger that comes with a general product manager who might not know everything about one aspect or another. Specialists can be more efficient. Some possible roles include product ops, onboarding specialists, product line managers (for big companies), technical product managers, etc. At the moment, we are seeing an increased demand for specialized skills like these. Those in charge of hiring should keep an eye out for chances to include diverse growth and analytics-focused product managers on their teams.
