Manufacturing & ProductionISCO 1330

ICT product manager

An ICT product manager is a person who analyses and defines the current status of a target in relation to information and communication technology products, services or solutions. The manager estimates the profitability, the risk points, the opportunities and the strengths and weaknesses of those products or services, creates structured plans, and establishes the time frames and the milestones that keep the activities and the resources optimised.

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Check yourself in a minute: ICT product manager

Rate 5 of the 22 essential skills of this occupation (European ESCO data). No account needed.

assess ICT knowledge

manage schedule of tasks

conduct impact evaluation of ICT processes on business

perform risk analysis

manage budgets

About ICT product manager

Deciding what to build is the substance of the role. The manager works from product knowledge, from a knowledge of the ICT market and of the ICT system user requirements, and observes the technology trends.

Each decision also has to be justified: the manager reports on cost-benefit analyses, performs risk analysis, and applies cost management. Technology trends are surveyed to anticipate how the market and the products in it will develop.

Turning it into a plan is what makes any of it happen. The manager creates the project specifications, sets the time frames and the milestones, and holds the plan against what the teams can actually deliver. The aim is for the dates to reflect the actual scope of the work.

European Skills Framework

Skills and knowledge areas required for this occupation based on European classification.

Essential (22)

systems development life-cyclesystems development life-cycleThe sequence of steps, such as planning, creating, testing and deploying and the models for the development and life-cycle management of a system.ICT hardware specificationsICT hardware specificationsThe characteristics, uses and operations of various hardware products such as printers, screens, and laptops.cost managementcost managementThe process of planning, monitoring and adjusting the expenses and revenues of a business in order to achieve cost efficiency and capability.advertising techniquesadvertising techniquesThe communication strategies intended to persuade or encourage an audience, and the different media which are used to achieve this goal.ICT system user requirementsICT system user requirementsThe process intended to match user and organisation's needs with system components and services, by taking into consideration the available technologies and the techniques required to elicit and speci...ICT infrastructureICT infrastructureThe system, network, hardware and software applications and components, as well as devices and processes that are used in order to develop, test, deliver, monitor, control or support ICT services.product comprehensionproduct comprehensionThe offered products, their functionalities, properties and legal and regulatory requirements.ICT marketICT marketThe processes, stakeholders and the dynamics of the chain of goods and services in the ICT market sector.assess ICT knowledgeassess ICT knowledgeEvaluate the implicit mastery of skilled experts in an ICT system to make it explicit for further analysis and usage.manage schedule of tasksmanage schedule of tasksMaintain an overview of all the incoming tasks in order to prioritise the tasks, plan their execution, and integrate new tasks as they present themselves.conduct impact evaluation of ICT processes on businessconduct impact evaluation of ICT processes on businessEvaluate the tangible consequences of the implementation of new ICT systems and functions on the current business structure and organisational procedures.perform risk analysisperform risk analysisIdentify and assess factors that may jeopardise the success of a project or threaten the organisation's functioning. Implement procedures to avoid or minimise their impact.manage budgetsmanage budgetsPlan, monitor, report on the budget and prepare set production budgets.create project specificationscreate project specificationsDefine the workplan, duration, deliverables, resources and procedures a project has to follow to achieve its goals. Describe project goals, outcomes, results and implementation scenarios.define technology strategydefine technology strategyCreate an overall plan of objectives, practices, principles and tactics related to the use of technologies within an organisation and describe the means to reach the objectives, taking into account an...plan product managementplan product managementManage the scheduling of procedures which aim to maximise sales objectives, such as forecasting market trends, product placement, and sales planning.provide cost benefit analysis reportsprovide cost benefit analysis reportsPrepare, compile and communicate reports with broken down cost analysis on the proposal and budget plans of the company. Analyse the financial or social costs and benefits of a project or investment i...monitor technology trendsmonitor technology trendsSurvey and investigate recent trends and developments in technology. Observe and anticipate their evolution, according to current or future market and business conditions.manage contractsmanage contractsNegotiate the terms, conditions, costs and other specifications of a contract while making sure they comply with legal requirements and are legally enforceable. Oversee the execution of the contract, ...perform product planningperform product planningIdentify and articulate market requirements that define a product’s feature set. Product planning serves as the basis for decisions about price, distribution and promotion.define technical requirementsdefine technical requirementsSpecify technical properties of goods, materials, methods, processes, services, systems, software and functionalities by identifying and responding to the particular needs that are to be satisfied acc...perform market researchperform market researchGather, assess and represent data about target market and customers in order to facilitate strategic development and feasibility studies. Identify market trends.

Optional (26) — show

incremental developmentincremental developmentThe incremental development model is a methodology to design software systems and applications.innovation processesinnovation processesThe techniques, models, methods and strategies which contribute to the promotion of steps towards innovation.iterative developmentiterative developmentThe iterative development model is a methodology to design software systems and applications.digital systemsdigital systemsSystems to store, process and spread information in digital form. They are hardware, software and networks, as well as the ways in which these can be employed.ICT quality policyICT quality policyThe quality policy of the organisation and its objectives, the acceptable level of quality and the techniques to measure it, its legal aspects and the duties of specific departments to ensure quality.Spiral developmentSpiral developmentThe spiral development model is a methodology to design software systems and applications.ICT sales methodologiesICT sales methodologiesThe practices used in the ICT sector to promote and sell products, services or applications such as SPIN Selling, Conceptual Selling and SNAP Selling.Outsourcing modelOutsourcing modelThe outsourcing model consists of principles and fundamentals of service-oriented modelling for business and software systems that allow the design and specification of service-oriented business syste...hybrid modelhybrid modelThe hybrid model consists of principles and fundamentals of service-oriented modelling for business and software systems that allow the design and specification of service-oriented business systems wi...Waterfall developmentWaterfall developmentThe waterfall development model is a methodology to design software systems and applications.ICT security legislationICT security legislationThe set of legislative rules that safeguards information technology, ICT networks and computer systems and legal consequences which result from their misuse. Regulated measures include firewalls, intr...service-oriented modellingservice-oriented modellingThe principles and fundamentals of service-oriented modelling for business and software systems that allow the design and specification of service-oriented business systems within a variety of archite...quality standardsquality standardsThe national and international requirements, specifications and guidelines to ensure that products, services and processes are of good quality and fit for purpose.software design methodologiessoftware design methodologiesThe methodologies such as Scrum, V-model and Waterfall to design software systems and applications.ICT project managementICT project managementThe methodologies for the planning, implementation, review and follow-up of ICT projects, such as the development, integration, modification and sales of ICT products and services, as well as projects...Rapid application developmentRapid application developmentThe rapid application development model is a methodology to design software systems and applications.business process modellingbusiness process modellingThe tools, methods and notations such as Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) and Business Process Execution Language (BPEL), used to describe and analyse the characteristics of a business proce...Open source modelOpen source modelThe open source model consists of principles and fundamentals of service-oriented modelling for business and software systems that allow the design and specification of service-oriented business syste...trading softwaretrading softwareThe finance and trading integrated software solutions.Agile developmentAgile developmentThe agile development model is a methodology to design software systems and applications.Prototyping developmentPrototyping developmentThe prototyping development model is a methodology to design software systems and applications.DevOpsDevOpsThe DevOps development approach is a methodology to design software systems and applications focused on the collaboration and between software programmers and other ICT professionals and automation.ICT process quality modelsICT process quality modelsThe quality models for ICT services which address the maturity of the processes, the adoption of recommended practices and their definition and institutionalisation that allow the organisation to reli...perform online data analysisperform online data analysisAnalyse online experiences and online data for purposes of understanding user behaviour, triggers of online attention, and other factors that could optimise webpage development and exposure.interact with users to gather requirementsinteract with users to gather requirementsCommunicate with users to identify their requirements and collect them. Define all relevant user requirements and document them in an understandable and logical way for further analysis and specificat...manage localisationmanage localisationModify content or a product for the transference from one locale to another through the use of content translation or localisation service providers.

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Frequently asked questions

What does an ICT product manager do?

ICT product managers analyse and define current and target status for ICT products, services or solutions. They estimate the cost effectiveness, points of risk, opportunities, strengths and weaknesses of products or services provided. ICT product managers create structured plans and establish time scales and milestones, ensuring optimisation of activities and resources.

What skills does an ICT product manager need?

An ICT product manager needs 22 essential skills, including systems development life-cycle, ICT hardware specifications, cost management, advertising techniques, ICT system user requirements.

Will AI replace ICT product manager jobs?

The AI disruption score for ICT product manager is 80/100 (very high risk). Skills most exposed to automation: provide cost benefit analysis reports, manage schedule of tasks, quality standards. Most resilient: define technology strategy, innovation processes, hybrid model.

AI Replacement Risk

80/ 100

Very High Risk

Low riskHigh risk

Skills most at risk from AI

provide cost benefit analysis reports manage schedule of tasks quality standards

Skills resilient to automation

define technology strategy innovation processes hybrid model

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Quick Facts

SectorManufacturing & Production

ISCO GroupProduction and specialised services managers

Essential Skills22

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