McDowell

A PM’s role in defining product strategy differs between companies. At some companies, the strategy is “bottom up,” where key decisions often come from developers and PMs. At other companies, the strategy is more “top down,” where the direction is generally decided by executives and PMs, and developers are left to implement it.

Microsoft originated the PM role in the 1980s when they realized that they needed someone between the marketing and engineering teams who focused on making the product usable for customers.

Uche from Microsoft says, “We wants people with inquisitive minds. People who look at things from multiple perspectives. As a PM, you’ll wear many hats, so how you think is more important than any particular technical skill.”