Pct2010 intro toproductmanagement

www.productcamp.org/toronto

May 30, 2010 – Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University

Introduction to

Product Management

P R O D U C T M A N A G E M E N T :

A J O U R N E Y

C a l u m T s a n g

[email protected]

ProductCamp Toronto – MAY 30, 2010

People who are entering the field of product management for the first time

People who’ve been thrown into the role Product Manager and need definition

People who see a need for a product management role in their organization and want to know what it entails.

Who is this session for?


Do you feel like a firefighter?

Do you end up juggling some combination of

Angry “Hot site” calls

Sales demos

Design decisions

UI mockups/wireframes

Tradeshows

Bug review/triage calls

Marcom/copy reviews

Executive reporting/calming

Does this sound like you?


Product Management defines what we’re developing and selling by identifying who buys the product and their needs.

It supports the development, sales and marketing functions.

It leads the product strategy process.

Product Management is hard to define, but we’re going to try.

What is Product Management?


Product Managers often come from another area of the business Technology/Engineering

Documentation

Marketing

User Experience or Design

Sales Engineering/Account Management

What they bring in experience is their strength eg Developer has detailed product knowledge

What makes them stumble is holding on eg ex-Developer starts doing architecture and coding

Most Product Managers come from


A destination for product management

Development

Sales Marketing

ProductManagement

Product Management is inherently intertwined with key parts of the business:


The Interface to Development

Development

Sales Marketing

ProductManagement

Product Management Represents the market to the Technology team Defines product requirements, prioritizes their development

I get from Development Development scheduling, costs, budgets Product Deliverables Process metrics like defect level trending, dev velocity

I give to Development Market Requirement Documents Review product specifications Develops product roadmaps Agile product stories, backlog management Reviews bugs/triages Go/No Go for Release


The Interface to Sales

Development

Sales Marketing

ProductManagement

Product Management Represents the product to the Sales team Supports the sales process

I get from sales Customer requirements/pain points/desires Regular product advisory Time in front of customers to ask them questions

I give to sales Sales training Sales tools (qualification guides, configurators) Guides creation of Sales process Evangelism Product demonstrations

Not too much Customer support/troubleshooting Fruitless sales calls


The Interface to Marketing

Development

Sales Marketing

ProductManagement

Product Management Represents the product to the Marketing team

Positions the product in the market

I get from Product Marketing Marketing materials for content/copy

Campaign execution

I give to Product Marketing Go-to-market strategy

Customer profiles/demographics

Marketing briefs/positioning documents

Guidance for marketing campaign

Pricing analysis


Product Management or Marketing?

Product This one should be obvious

Pricing Strategic pricing

eg part of business case and profitability should be Product Management

Tactical pricing eg, offers/promotional, I’d say Product

Marketing

Promotion That’s Marketing

Placement That’s Marketing too

ProductMarketing

ProductManagement

ProductMarketing

ProductManagement

Marketing

Development Marketing


Product Management Ownership

While a lot of activities are interfaced with other parts of the business, there are many activities which are alone the responsibility of Product Management.

Ownership includes Business case analysis Metrics and reporting Profitability Market share

Customer analysis Competitive analysis/benchmarking Win/loss analysis results for improvement Product roadmap Executive reporting

Technology

Sales Marketing

ProductManagement


Project Management.

These are people focused with delivering the project on time and budget. This is the when.

Product Architecture.

These are development oriented people who are responsible for the overarching technology decisions. This is the how.

Product Marketing.

These are the people who will take your product to market, outbound to the rest of the world, including pricing, campaign and communications.

But you might do some or all of these things too.

Product Management is not


The product manager requires a great deal of trust from all parties involved and demands respect. Technology developers

must respect your decisions

Marketing leads must trust your market positioning and product experience

Salespeople must trust your interaction with their customers and respect your time

Respect is a two way street Eg Developer respects your decision—but you need to respect their

timelines

How do you earn respect? Build a rapport Take the time and effort to understand their side, explain your side State the (user/market) facts Don’t fake it

A matter of trust


But I took their course a few years ago and really liked it:

Practical Product Management

Requirements that Work

PragmaticMarketing.com

I don’t work for these guys


How do you formalize product management responsibilities?

How do you introduce a distinct product management capability into an organization?

How do you convince your boss to let you be a product manager?

How do you convince your boss that you don’t do everything?

How do you explain to your classmates at a reunion what exactly you do?

Discussion