I often get approached by people who want to learn more
about product management and product manager roles, as it seems a bit
mysterious and a potentially exciting career path. I typically share a handful of resources to
help others decide whether or not it is worth pursuing. I’d like to share my personal favorites below
to assist anyone else considering the product management path.
Pragmatic
Marketing. Let’s begin with the
value product management brings as a discipline to an organization. As Pragmatic Marketing states, “..a market-driven focus leads companies to
build products people want to buy.” [DownloadPDF here: “The Strategic Role of ProductManagement.] Organizations need to create and deliver value to a specific
target market and the target market must be willing to pay for that value. PragmaticMarketing.com is a great place to
start the discovery process, review resources, take courses, get certified, and
more. Understanding the fundamentals and
the product management framework is critical for success.
Solving the right
problem. Can your organization say
with certainty they are creating the right value --solving the right problems for
the right customers -- and the potential customers are willing to pay for
it? If so, then revenues should be
coming in at or above your sales quotas.
They are, right? If not, keep reading.
Customer Empathy to Create
Value. Empathy is a requirement
during the discovery process in order to
understand potential customer pain points.
Start with the basics and talk to them about the problem. Probe deeply.
Keep asking “Why?” Sometimes half
the battle is to verify you are working on the right problem.
A perfect example is EmbraceGlobal.org. This product came out of the realization infant
mortality in developing countries isn’t on the rise due to failing incubators
in a hospital or clinic. The team was
tasked to build a better incubator, requiring low maintenance. After speaking with women in villages
surrounding the clinics, the team quickly realized the incubator wasn’t the
problem at all. The real problem was how to keep babies warm from the moment they are
born. Often times, babies are born
in villages miles away from a hospital or clinic and may not survive the
journey there. By keeping newborns
warmer from the moment they are born (day 1), infant mortality rates could
potentially decrease. If the team hadn’t
gone out to the villages and probed to better understand the issues, they may
not have uncovered the true problem to solve.
The Embrace innovation may never have happened. Fortunately, Embrace was created and
delivered to the market – and infant mortality rates have been declining.
Test the concept. Gather
feedback and metrics as evidence to support the proposed solution will actually
solve the problem, and is differentiated (better/faster/cheaper) from other
products or substitute products. Ultimately,
the potential customers are willing to pay for the solution because of the
benefits derived from solving the problem and the value outweighs their cost.
The bonus is when they grow to love your product.
Well Designed. One of my favorite books that addresses
this process is “Well Designed: How touse empathy to create products people love” by Jon Kolko (Harvard Business
Review Press, 2014). Jon addresses design thinking but emphasizes it’s the
‘design doing’ that matters. By continuously iterating your idea to ensure you
are solving the correct problem and there is a market willing to pay for
it, you have the key elements for sustainability. I had the pleasure of having Jon guest
lecture in my Spring 2014 class. My
students learned first-hand the importance of creating value and building
products people love.
Day in the Life of a
Product Mgr. Product Managers don’t
just sit at their desks writing user stories based on what sales, marketing or
members of the executive team say the market needs and therefore the company should
build. Their inputs are valuable. However, these are very different
perspectives than a product manager would have.
The inputs need to be vetted and ensure they enhance the overall product
portfolio and are in alignment with corporate objectives. Working on pet projects and shiny objects can
be distracting and take away resource allocation for the real strategic
initiatives.
The Product Manager represents the voice of the customer and
is point person to monitor the industry and competitive landscapes to listen
for signals. Product Managers spot emerging trends, patterns, new market
opportunities (problems to be solved) and drive the process from ideation to
proof of concept to prototype and ultimately the launched product in the
marketplace. In essence, the product manager is the true SME (subject matter
expert) for what the market needs and the types of solutions that the
organization should build and deliver.
IDEO. I’m a big
fan of IDEO, a design and innovation consulting company.
In particular their Blog “Design Thinking” and the book “ChangeBy Design” both written by Tim Brown, CEO. Founder David Kelly has many TEDTalks worth watching. (I secretly
imagine how cool it would be to work for IDEO.)
Courses. I had
the privilege of experiencing a hands-on application of design thinking
principles in the “Empathize and Prototype” course within the Innovation andEntrepreneurship Program at Stanford. Jeremy
Utley and Perry Kleban taught the course and are professors at the Hasso Plattner Institute ofDesign at Stanford (also known as the d.school). I highly recommend the I&E Program, a
collaboration between Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and The School of
Engineering. It’s a brilliant way to bring
innovation, design thinking, and basic business management principles into one
unique program.
Go-to-Market. Once you have a solid understanding of the
problem and you have articulated the requirements to build the solution in a
differentiated manner, you have a winner.
“Winner” products lead to sustainability and profitability. The marketing strategy to deliver your value
proposition into the marketplace becomes a piece of cake if the product
management team has done their job properly.
If the value proposition is designed right, sales and marketing efforts
just got a whole lot easier. If you fail
on the value creation and delivery, even a top-notch sales and marketing effort
can’t bring in the leads, which ultimately convert to revenues. These basic fundamentals apply to building a
sustainable and profitable business with loyal customers. (Pointing
out I didn’t say “satisfied customers” as “satisfaction” is fleeting but
loyalty is not. Learn more at
NetPromoterScore.com.)
Tools. If you are looking for a product
management tool to manage your product roadmaps, check out MindTheProduct.com. I use their ProdPad service, which allows you
to show a roadmap for one or more products.
View what’s in progress now, what’s coming up and what’s slated for
future work. You can collect and store
customer feedback, user personas, collaborate as a team, share ideas, and
easily reprioritize initiatives. It’s
easy to use with its intuitive UI. Their
customer support is on top of it. They love user feedback and are quick to
respond to questions and suggestions.
I’m a huge fan of their co-founder, Janna Bastow. One of these days I
hope to meet her at a MindTheProduct event.
What’s your take on product management? Share your ideas with me!
