My notes from this article on the expansion of the PM role:
- 1931: Neil H. McElroy of Procter & Gamble: “Brand Man” (PDF)
- Not involved in product development
- Studied the needs of customers and tailored products to their needs
- Research, positioning, packaging, pricing, promotion, brand building
- 1940s: HP
- More comprehensive role than the role at P&G
- Leverage newer tools to study user needs and influence their experience
- More quantitative research methods
- Evolution beyond traditional hardware and software to fully-integrated products
- Netflix started by aggregating access to movies and shows. Now it produces original content
- Tech companies used to sell software to hotel chains. Airbnb acts like a hotel chain but has no involvement in real estate
- Tech has penetrated traditional industries like banking (Revolut), insurance (Lemonade), and cars (Tesla)