How a Product Manager will help in the Mobile App Development Process

In an enterprise situation, SDI works with product managers when designing solutions. For small businesses and entrepreneurs, this kind of clients isn’t going to have a product manager and the responsibilities are shared by a whole team. But still, one person has the key role of approving and shaping the future of the product. Who is the product manager? Well, it’s you.

No matter who we work with, SDI’s clients become de facto product managers, as we work with them to design and create an excellent product. Let’s break down the responsibilities of the role, so you can see where you would fit in, and where SDI is able to fill in the gaps.

What Does Product Manager Do?

Product managers are generally responsible for ideating and nailing down the details of the product itself. What does it do, and how does it do it? This applies down to a fairly low-level perspective, where technical expertise is needed to decide between different features or solutions (though the nitty-gritty of the coding is done by programmers). The product manager is essentially responsible for designing and conceptualizing the product so that everyone else knows exactly what to build.

Product management must take into account several different goals and reconcile them all within a single product. What kind of goals:

• Business goals: These basically involve measuring monetization potential, evaluating project pricing, and other aspects which tie the product to a business plan.
• User goals: Design and functionality must combine in a way that is useful to the end-user.
• Tech goals: Ensuring the product is actually technically feasible, otherwise the project falls apart.
• Overall goals: These are the “big ideas” which the product must be built around—the “Dream,” if you will.

Balancing all of that is a tall order. But no product manager does it alone. You can be a fantastic product manager without a great deal of expertise—you just need to have the right team behind you to advise you. Hire a dedicated programmer with sound technical background to manage your project at an affordable price.

Where Does SDI Help?

SDI takes a collaborative approach to product development. We consider all clients to be product managers, and all product decisions must be approved by them first—but we also recognize that we’re not just about iPhone app development or an Android app development; those are important tools, but we also bring a lot of knowledge and experience to the table and it is part of our job to use those build the best product possible. When it comes to the various goals a product manager deals with, we offer a lot of expertise:

Business: Depending on the product in question, the business side of things is generally out of SDI’s expertise. You know your business inside and out, so we can only offer our insights as they pertain to mobile/web, where we can provide information regarding standards and common strategies for monetization. If you have a product idea, speak to our CEO to validate it and get a free a quote absolutely free.

Users: There are two sides to the user experience. SDI has expertise in general design practices to ensure the product looks great and conforms to industry standards. Overall, elements of a user interface need to be cohesive and familiar to all users which are where our knowledge of apps and websites is most applicable; our design team is an invaluable asset in that regard. On the other side, the product may be highly targeted, and knowledge of the specific end-users might be needed to hammer down the nitty-gritty of the UX, and often we work closely with clients to benefit from their greater understanding of the end-user.

Tech: This will SDI’s strongest contribution to most projects. We know the technology inside and out, and we can recommend and evaluate solutions for the product with keen expertise that few others can bring to the table. Our only goal with technology is to take the needs of the project and find a way to make them a reality.

Overall “Big Ideas”: This comes %100 from you. Your ambition + our vision for the product is what drives the project. The rest of the product is built-in support of this core purpose. Our job is to understand your business idea and to get on board about making it come true.

You can read more about how we support our clients worldwide and get a few insights from our case studies on our website, or simply contact us online or by phone at 408.805.0495.

If you are located in Silicon Valley, come over to our office in Saratoga and let’s discuss your project idea. SDI offers attractive #Easter deals this month for startups and small businesses. Get free UI design for your app or free homepage design for your website. We look forward to hearing from you!