The Forgotten Products: Product Management for Non-Software Products

Much of product management is the same regardless of the type of product we are building. Understanding customers, collaborating with stakeholders, making good business decisions are important whether we are building a software tool or an industrial gearbox. But there are distinctions between building physical products and software-only, digital-first products. Product managers for physical items must often understand supply chain, manufacturing, capacity planning, and other functions that aren’t relevant for software product managers. Markets and customers may move at different paces. Decades may go by between product changes! These types of products are often forgotten in the product management world. This discussion will focus on how to be a great product manager of physical products.