Figure 1.
Evolution of Product Management
(Source: Author’s own elaboration)
Table 1.
Research Questions and Motivation (Source: Author’s own research)
| Research questions | Motivation |
|---|---|
| 1. What are the evolving responsibilities of a software PM? | Software product management is a continuously evolving field, and more and more organizations are adopting the discipline. Keeping track of how a PM’s role is evolving is imperative |
| 2. How do organizational and product factors—such as B2B versus B2C, large enterprises (LEs) versus small– medium enterprises (SMEs), Waterfall versus Agile methodologies, and AI— impact PM's role? | Understanding how different organizational structures, product segments, development methodologies, and technological advancements shape the product manager’s role is essential for both practitioners and researchers. These factors influence day-to-day responsibilities, decision-making processes, and strategic focus, providing insights into how product managers can adapt their approaches to fit specific business environments and emerging trends. This question seeks to clarify these influences, offering a comprehensive view of how the PM role is evolving across diverse contexts |
Table 2.
Database Sources and Search Strings (Source: Author’s own research)
| No. | Source | Search string | Number of results |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Google Scholar | allintitle: (Role OR Roles OR Responsibility OR Responsibilities) AND ("Product Manager" OR "Product Managers" OR "Product Management") | 50 |
| 2 | ACM Digital Library1 | (role* OR responsibilit*) AND Product AND manage* | 5 |
| 3 | EBSCOhost2 | TI (role* OR responsibilit*) AND TI ("product manage*") | 30 |
| 4 | IEEE Xplore | ("Document Title":product manage*) AND ("Document Title":role* OR "Document Title":responsibil*) | 10 |
| 5 | ProQuest Central3 | ti(role*) AND ti("product manage*") | 91 |
| 6 | Springer Link | (role* OR responsibilit*) NEAR/1 "product manage*" | 147 |
| 7 | ResearchGate | (role* OR responsibilit*) AND "product manager" | 19 |
| 8 | Books | - | 4 |
| Total | 356 | ||
1 Note. All the data sources returned results based on the search strings. However, there were additional steps taken for the data sources:
11 For the ACM Digital Library, the advance search option was selected, and the search string “role* AND product AND manage*” (without quotes) was used in the title search.
12 For EBSCOhost, the following databases were used: Academic Search Premier, Business Source Premier, eBook Collection, Education Resource Information Center (ERIC), and Applied Science and Technology Source. The search showed 26 results initially; when the page option was selected to 20 results per page to export citations, the website removed duplicates and showed 13 results.
Figure 2.
Study selection procedure
(Source: Author’s own study)
Table 3.
Database Sources and Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria (Source: Author’s own research)
| No. | Source | Search criteria (inclusion/exclusion) | Number of results after applying the criteria |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Google Scholar | Inclusion: any time (default selection); any type (default selection) Exclusion: include citations (custom selection) | 27 |
| 2 | ACM Digital Library | Inclusion: ACM full-text collection (default); all dates (default) | 5 |
| 3 | EBSCOhost | Inclusion: full text (custom); all time (default) Exclusion: magazines, trade publications | 13 |
| 4 | IEEE Xplore | Inclusion: all years (default) | 10 |
| 5 | ProQuest Central | Inclusion: full text (custom) Exclusion: source type: blogs, podcasts, and websites; trade journals; wire feeds; newspapers (custom); magazines | 9 |
| 6 | Springer Link | Inclusion: discipline: computer science Exclusion: preview-only content | 16 |
| 7 | ResearchGate | Inclusion. full-texts only Exclusion: data, preprints, presentations, posters | 5 |
| 8 | Books | Selection by credible authors | 4 |
| Total | 89 | ||
Figure 3.
Snowballing Procedure
(Source: Author’s own study)
Table 4.
Final Study Selection (Source: Author’s own research)
| Source type | Author and year | Research Approach | Major focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Journal article | Maglyas, et al. (2013) | Empirical research | Roles of software product managers |
| Conference paper | Springer and Miler (2018) | Interviews | Role of a software product manager in various business environments |
| Conference paper | Tkalich, et al. (2022) | Interviews | Agile product manager activities |
| Conference paper | Jansen, et al. (2011) | Interviews and Case studies | Ending the life of a software product |
| Journal article | Maglyas, et al. (2017) | Empirical studies | Core software product management activities |
| Conference paper | Bekkers, et al. (2010) | Action research/literature review/case studies/expert review | SPM competency model and maturity matrix |
| Book | Geracie and Eppinger (2013) | Product Management Community Collaboration | Body of knowledge (ProdBOK®) |
| Book | Kittlaus and Fricker (2017) | Research based | SPM body of knowledge (ISPMA BoK) |
| SAFe Website | SAFe (2023) | Industry-accepted SAFe practice | Agile Product Management |
| Journal article | Lysonski (1985) | Primary research based | Product Manager’s boundary theory |
| Book chapter | Kittlaus (2012) | Primary research based | SPM and Agile software development |
| Journal article | McDaniel and Gray (1980) | Literature review | Product Manager |
| Journal article | Finch, et al. (2023) | Primary research based | What makes a product manager? A dynamic capabilities view of product management |
| Journal article | Lysonski and Woodside (1989) | Empirical study | Boundary role spanning behavior, conflicts, and performance of industrial product managers |
1 Note. Please note that books are excluded from the literature review for the synthesis of product manager (PM) activities (refer to Appendix B).
Table 5.
Activity Mapping to Common Naming (Source: Author’s own research)
| No. | ISPMA naming | Different naming used by various sources | Explanation | Changed name |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Market analysis |
| ISPMA synthesizes well on all these concepts and comprises under the Market Analysis category | No change |
| 2 | - |
| ISPMA consolidates solutioning with the Product Definition category. Geracie and Eppinger (2013) describes well to identify solution candidate via prototype validation, then create product definition. Hence, identify solution is separated out as an important activity to highlight | Identify solution |
| 3 | Customer insight |
| ISPMA naming fits well | No Change |
| 4 | Positioning and product definition |
| ISPMA naming fits well However, Maglyas et al. (2017) proposed this category to change as vision creation. Here, both the terms are used for a better clarity and product vision is used instead of only vision to separate out from the company vision | No change |
| 5 | Ecosystem management |
| PMs collaborate with them cross-functional teams, instead of managing them. Hence, rename the activity to cross-functional collaboration | Cross-functional collaboration |
| 6 | Sourcing |
| ISPMA naming and definition consolidates well on the resource planning and make versus buy decision regards to software components | No change |
| 7 | Financial management |
| For simplicity, pricing is consolidated into the financial management category, and it is named as financial analysis | Financial analysis |
| 8 | Legal and intellectual property rights (IPR) management |
| The legal, IPR, and compliance-related activities are consolidated into a single category as they are related | Legal and compliance management |
| 9 | Performance and risk management |
| Performance might be confusing with system performance; so, to be specific, product performance is used. Risk management applies to the entire product life cycle, so it is removed from the naming | Product performance management |
| 10 | Roadmapping |
| Universally accepted naming for a PM | No change |
| 11 | Release planning |
| Universally accepted naming for a PM | No change |
| 12 | Product requirements engineering |
| ISPMA naming is generally accepted, but more traditional. Geracie and Eppinger (2013) defines well with respect to Agile method (i.e., prioritized product backlog) | Product requirements engineering or prioritized product backlog (in Agile) |
| 13 | Development execution |
| Many sources have confused the generic product development versus what PM is responsible for. The development execution is a stage of product life cycle and not the Product Manager responsibility | Supporting the product engineering team |
| 14 | Detailed requirements engineering |
| ISPMA naming looks universal, comprising all these activities. However, missing Agile-specific naming in or clause | Detailed requirements engineering or define user stories, acceptance criteria, and prioritized backlog (in Agile) |
| 15 | Quality management |
| Geracie and Eppinger (2013) naming looks more specific as PM’s responsibility. ISPMA naming is a broader category | Product verification |
| 16 | Product launch |
| PMs are not responsible for product launch itself. However, they are responsible for orchestrating the launch | Orchestrate product launch |
| 17 | Channel preparation value communication service planning and preparation |
| There were various activities related to the operations and support readiness, which are consolidated into a single category instead of having many | Operations readiness |
| 18 | - |
| ISPMA framework did not define any category for end-of-life, so the new category is created | End-of-life plan |