Should I Hire a Product Manager?

​Earlier in my career, after returning from one of my maternity leaves, I was told that my role had expanded to that of “Product Manager.”   
 
As a “Practice Leader,” I had strong customer voice and product development skills, but now my job was expanding to include product marketing, KPI management (including revenue targets), and long-term product strategy.  I loved the expanded scope; however, although I had an MBA, I never received any formal Product Management training.
 
I was given an article about Product Management to read and I had to figure the role out on the fly. I made it work, but it wasn’t easy. I took a very boot-strap approach: I tacked a copy of Ben Horowtiz's Good Product Manager/Bad Product Manager [1] to my bulletin board, and read it every morning. And I took a leap of faith. ​

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