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The title of Product Manager refers to a collective term often used to describe a combination of roles that form the Product Management Team Model.

The product management team is a task group, comprised of four distinct roles that organizationally resides in the Product Management department. The four roles in the product management team model are the product planner, product marketer, sales engineer, and marketing communications (MarCom) manager. These four roles are the basic providers of the planning, deliverables, and actions that guide the inbound oriented product definition and the outbound marketing efforts.

The most common combination of roles to which the Product Manager title is attributed, are the product planner and product marketer.

Diverse interpretations regarding the role of the product manager are the norm. The product manager title is often used in many ways to describe drastically different duties and responsibilities. Even within the high-tech industry where product management is better defined, the product manager's job description varies widely among companies. This is due to tradition and intuitive interpretations by different individuals.

In some companies, the product manager also acts as:

• Product Marketing Manager - may perform all outbound marketing activities
• Project Manager - may perform all activities related to schedule and resource management
• Program Manager - may perform activities related to schedule, resource, and cross-functional execution

• Collaborative Product Development
• New product development
• Product management