What is product management?

I recently left my job as a compliance officer at a financial services firm to join a compliance software company as a domain expert. The jump is larger than I expected. There is a lot about the software development process that eludes me. I am trying to understand what product management is or rather what its role is so I can produce better work product.

Product management covers the full spectrum of activities required to develop, promote, sell, produce and deliver a product (or service). Practically speaking, many product managers only have responsibility for sales, marketing and ongoing design/development of a particular product (without having responsibility for the production and delivery aspects or any responsibility for the development of brand new products). Because of the broad scope of responsibilities involved in product management, it is considered in many large organizations to be the primary training ground for becoming the head of a division/business unit or CEO.

One of the best organizations for thinking about product management is Pragmatic Marketing.