What is the future of Product Management?

The rise of digital technologies and social networks has revolutionized the way companies interact with customers and manage products. Data analytics tools and online platforms have enabled businesses to better understand customer needs and preferences, and to further personalize products to meet their expectations. More and more goods and services are becoming connected, allowing companies to accelerate product development and reduce potential frictions.

Product Management is a constantly evolving discipline, continuously shaped by social, technological, and economic changes. Companies must quickly adapt to new market trends and customer expectations to remain competitive. While globalization creates some convergence, Product Management is still orchestrated differently depending on geography, culture, and the maturity of the organization. A Product Management model may emerge in one part of the world and take more than thirty years to appear elsewhere. Multiple forms of Product Management can even coexist within the same company.

At the same time, both product types and organizational models will continue to diversify. According to the work of François Noubel, society has shifted from exchanging raw materials to exchanging goods (so-called “products”), then from goods to services, from services to experiences, and finally from experiences to transformation (also referred to as the “engagement society”). What will the next stage be?

To remove any ambiguity, when we talk about Product, we are not referring to a ‘good’ in the sense mentioned earlier, but rather to anything designed to serve a purpose (a need, a desire, a problem, and so on).

It is easy to imagine that with the scarcity of resources, Product Management will once again be forced to evolve, emphasizing sustainability and sharing, particularly through subscription and synchronization mechanisms. It will also be challenged by the fact that in certain areas demand may once again exceed supply, potentially undermining the consideration of the specific needs of some populations. Monopolies will be called into question, global order as well, and innovative Product Management as we know it today will need to transform in order to survive.

What will remain at the heart of Product Management is its role as a tool for efficiency in the service of impact. By structuring choices and distinguishing between hypotheses, needs, and solutions, it allows energy to be focused where it creates the greatest value. The rise of artificial intelligence confirms this: when applied to Product Management, it accelerates opportunity discovery, optimizes prioritization, automates certain analyses, and thus reduces costs, while strengthening teams’ ability to deliver relevant, impactful products faster.