The recruitment and selection trends at elite management institutes such as the IIMS put the job of product management in demand next to consulting. The Board of Directors some years back wanted a CA to be a member of the Board. These days, every Board expects a digital product manager to be in the Board to manage the digital transformation of companies.

India is known for its IT services companies, but an IT product such as Finacle from Infosys changed the very mature of the banking here and abroad.

Product management job offers are now second to consulting job offers. There is a greater demand for software product management (SPM) as software could either be a full-fledged product such as Finacle or gaming or could be embedded in other products such as cars, washing machines, aereoplanes and so on. It is to be seen whether it is desirable to incorporate software into the product. Next, it is to be seen how it could be feasible to do so. Is it technologically possible to build it? Finally it is to be seen whether it is viable — could it be done in cost parameters and could still leave profit for the company. Software Product Managers act like a director of the movie. They co-ordinate the efforts of all the members of the product development team — design, engineering, testing, sales, marketing.

The role requires business acumen, understanding of the process of software development, and getting things done without the line authority, as such product managers have the staff or advisory positions.

Product management jobs are lucrative high-paying jobs. These days, the sexiest jobs are those of the data scientists, but soon product management would replace it.

It must be remembered that a wrong decision of a doctor affects a few people, of a pilot, a few hundred people but of a product manger, a whole generation of people.