The following categories broadly define the key responsibilities of those who implement and manage data products. The scope of these responsibilities can vary—from minimal to very complex—depending on the product you are developing. Keep in mind that a data product does not have to be complex to positively impact revenues. Some of the simplest products have had a greater business impact than even the most complex ones.
To borrow an example from the physical world, the fidget spinner market was estimated to be worth around $500 million in 2017. Beanie Babies were an even bigger success. TheSkimm is a prime example of how a simple digital publication can generate significant revenue. Its success lies in its ability to deliver valuable content in a straightforward, engaging manner, while effectively monetizing through advertising, partnerships, and premium subscriptions.
The key responsibilities are:
Data Strategy and Governance: Data product managers develop and implement data strategies aligned with product goals. They establish governance rules to ensure data quality, consistency, and compliance with relevant regulations and policies. Their role is to ensure that data practices meet the needs of various information stakeholders while maintaining high ethical and consumer trust standards. Whether you are collecting data in Excel, a database or a CMS, you still need to ensure its integrity and value.
Data Collection and Management: Efficient data collection and management are central to a data PM’s role. They design and oversee processes and systems that gather data from multiple sources, ensuring it is organized and stored in a way that makes it easily accessible and useful for analysis, content creation and publishing.
Stakeholder Collaboration: According to the educational organization Udacity, “the primary function of a data product manager is to balance the strategy, governance, and implementation of anything data-related, and facilitate the conversations between all impacted stakeholders—executives, engineers, analysts, other product teams, and external customers—who consume the data.” This collaboration is crucial for aligning the data product with business or consumer needs and ensuring that data products are designed to deliver real value.
Product Development: Data product managers play an integral role in the development of new products and features. The product development process may or may not require technical infrastructure, depending on your publication and distribution strategy. A data product could be as simple as a regularly emailed publication, a regularly updated database, or dynamically displayed content on websites. While the variations are many, the development and management approach remains the same regardless of the product’s complexity. Developing data products frequently involves close collaboration with engineers, designers, marketers, and other professionals to ensure the product delivers high value.
Product Distribution: Data products have a unique distribution model. Their digital nature makes them more readily available than physical products. Data product managers (DPMs) must consider the right channels and formats for their products. Should they be emailed, published behind or outside of a firewall, or accessed through a dedicated mobile app? The answers to these questions depend on the target audience, their preferences, travel patterns, and more. Some users need access to the products both online and offline, while others dislike logging in. Although managers prefer to implement guardrails for monetization, these can sometimes hinder adoption. To address such issues, techniques like free access, free trials, and free versions have been developed.Data Product Monetization: This is ultimately the feature that distinguishes great product managers from the rest. The success of a data product is determined by its impact on the bottom line. The monetization scale of every product depends on its features, business model, and repeated usage. We have developed a unique methodology to evaluate data product ideas along these dimensions. Email us at info@storieddata.com if you want more information on the topic.