[tamireiss]

"A good product manager could be away for 6 months and no one would notice" (or something like that is often said).

PRODUCT Managers have one primary responsibility - figure out what to do next.

In order to accomplish that, they need to do research, gather feedback, involve stakeholders, identify risks, and understand from development what's actually possible (among other many other things).

I hypothesize that too often people think they "know what the users want" and don't need a PM. In reality, they have an opinion on what to do. Good Product folks know that their individual opinion is often wrong and that only through research, testing, and a little bit of luck can they establish what's next.

The more PMs can fine tune this expertise and emphasize this as their core value to an organization, the more companies of all sizes will begin to make sure their is a PRODUCT manager on their team.