Have you ever wondered how your favorite products come to life? From smartphones to sneakers, every item you use has been carefully crafted by a team of experts. Among them there is a crucial player – the Product Development Manager.

Who is a Product Development Manager?

Think of them as the mastermind behind the scenes. A Product Development Manager (PDM) is like a conductor in an orchestra, ensuring that all the elements come together harmoniously to create a masterpiece. They are responsible for turning ideas into reality, guiding the product from conception to launch.

What Does a PDM’s Day Look Like?

A PDM wears many hats. Their day might start with brainstorming sessions, where they gather ideas and concepts. They work closely with designers, engineers, marketers and other teams to shape these ideas into tangible products. They analyze market trends, conduct consumer research and keep a close eye on competitors to stay ahead of the game.

Once they have a solid concept, the PDM oversees the development process. They set timelines, allocate resources and ensure everything stays on track. They collaborate with design teams to create prototypes, constantly refining and improving until they reach perfection.

… It is not always a smooth sailing. Challenges inevitably arise – from technical glitches to supply chain issues and here is where the PDM shines: he or she is like a detective, solving problems and finding solutions to keep the project moving forward.

As the product nears completion, the PDM shifts the focus to the launch. One works with marketing teams to develop strategies, create buzz and ensure a successful rollout. From packaging design to pricing strategies, every detail is carefully curated under their guidance. As of this point, a PDM job is done and the marketing team takes over the market launch tasks.

What Are the Requirements for a PDM to Do Outstanding Performance?

To excel in the role of a Product Development Manager, several key qualities are essential – also referred to in our job descriptions on www.vonconsulting.ro:

Strong leadership: PDMs must inspire and motivate their teams, leading by example and fostering a collaborative environment.

Strategic thinking: They need to see the bigger picture, understanding market dynamics, consumer behavior and long-term goals to make informed decisions.

Communication skills: effective communication is vital – whether it means conveying ideas to team members or negotiating with stakeholders.

Problem-solving abilities: PDMs must always be alert for identifying issues and finding creative solutions to overcome obstacles along the way. This will happen often and the problem-solving abilities are a sine-qua-noncondition for an outstanding job as PDM.

Attention to detail: They must have a keen eye for detail, ensuring that every aspect of the product meets quality standards and aligns with the brand’s image.

Adaptability: The ability to adapt to changing circumstances and embrace innovation is crucial in the fast-paced world of product development.

Technical knowledge: While not always mandatory, a solid understanding of technical aspects related to the product can be immensely beneficial in guiding the development process effectively.

…Does it look like an unachievable job?

Well, it might, but it is not.

Experience plays a big role; a PDM is not born as such, but constructed with lots of effort and determination.

See our Product Development Manager job openings on www.vonconsulting.ro/jobs/ or follow us on our LinkedIn page, where we constanly post job openings.

Imagine a team of the smartest people you could find – software engineers. They work on various project sprints – say, a new product development – and you are sure the results will be amazing, as you have selected the best ones there were.

Yet how do you make sure that the operations are developed within the best time frame (e.g. could they work faster?… ) and how do you integrate their work with the deployment team?
… here is where the magic brain and hands of a DevOps engineer come in the game. An interface between development and operations, as the name gets self-explanatory: making sure that everything is geared towards releasing updates as efficiently as possible.
Basically, DevOps is the project manager’s, the facilitator’s or the event manager’s counterpart within the software division.
Ultimately, his or her work is about collaboration and removing barriers to it.

On the technical side and more concretely, DevOps engineers build, test and maintain the infrastructure and tools to allow for the speedy development and release of software.
In a nutshell, DevOps practices aim to simplify the development process of software.

When you invest in a strong DevOps engineer – or DevOps teams depending on the size of your organization and the scope of your project – you will find that:

Even if organizations do not deploy frequently new products, a DevOps is still needed to create and release regular updates to the existing products much quicker than using the more traditional ‘waterfall’ development model.

How do you know that the DevOps engineer is doing his/ her work perfectly? It is when you do not notice that anything has changed . In today’s fast-paced environment, this type of function (read: ‘development’) is quickly becoming a necessity rather than a luxury.

Should a DevOps engineer know how to code? Or better, should he/ she have good communication skills?

… well, a DevOps practitioner needs not necessarily know how to code and needs not be an engineer in the traditional sense. Ideally, however, a DevOps engineer is an IT professional who works with software developers, system operators and admins, IT operations staff and others to oversee and/or facilitate code releases or deployments.

So he/ she needs to understand the IT infrastructure, as they have to improve it (sometimes, even to design it) and they also have to do performance testing and benchmarking – that is, evaluating how well and reliably systems run. These can be considered day-to-day responsibilities of a DevOps practitioner. Engineer, that is.

What else does a DevOps do? While optimizing release cycles, they also monitor and report further, aiming to reduce ‘time to detect’ (TTD) errors and ‘time to minimize’ (TTM) them. Last but not least, they do automation of key processes and keep a sharp eye on security issues.

… kind of cool, right?

Think further when selecting your DevOps engineer: he/ she will be running meetings, setting the schedule for releases and leading the review process, as well as getting hands-on with automation, complex software tools and infrastructure design. All these tasks indicate that one should look for impeccable organizer with strong communication and interpersonal skills. They should be approachable and empathetic. Sometimes, this trait might weight more than their technical skills.

So, find your ideal DevOps engineer and keep him/her close to your company. They are rare and they are precious, especially if they have about 12-15-year experience in the field and are uber-disciplined and charming.

As we said, they are worth their weight in gold.

… one last point: they should understand what an ‘agile’ business means these days.