Business-Driven Product Management Ateala Management Inc. September 2009 © Ateala Management Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.

Overview Business-Driven Product Management is about managing products to meet long-term business and revenue objectives. The challenge, as companies grow, is to balance … Market Expansion, Customer Satisfaction, and Technology Innovation … while meeting business objectives, with fixed resources. © Ateala Management Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.

Business-Driven Product Management is about managing products to meet long-term business and revenue objectives.

The challenge, as companies grow, is to balance …

Market Expansion,

Customer Satisfaction, and

Technology Innovation

… while meeting business objectives, with fixed resources.

The Balancing Act The need to balance Market Expansion, Customer Satisfaction and Technology Innovation is vital … Scales tipped too far along one axis will cause problems in any of the other axes Many companies are wed to their technology and focus on making it better They listen too much to their customers and end up missing where the market is going Each puts stress on the product - potentially resulting in the implementation of features that do not necessarily help in meeting overall corporate goals … Lower than expected new account acquisition Dropping customer satisfaction levels Technology deficit / inability to innovate © Ateala Management Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.

The need to balance Market Expansion, Customer Satisfaction and Technology Innovation is vital …

Scales tipped too far along one axis will cause problems in any of the other axes

Many companies are wed to their technology and focus on making it better

They listen too much to their customers and end up missing where the market is going

Each puts stress on the product - potentially resulting in the implementation of features that do not necessarily help in meeting overall corporate goals …

Lower than expected new account acquisition

Dropping customer satisfaction levels

Technology deficit / inability to innovate

Market Expansion Expanding further in current markets and/or moving into new markets is vital for Gaining additional revenue Adding new-name accounts Increasing market-share Momentum; securing more customers has a positive domino effect Potential product gaps may be exposed that need to be filled to meet market objectives Table-stakes requirements (i.e. those that must be their to enter) Competitive pressures Define/reinforce unique value proposition © Ateala Management Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.

Expanding further in current markets and/or moving into new markets is vital for

Gaining additional revenue

Adding new-name accounts

Increasing market-share

Momentum; securing more customers has a positive domino effect

Potential product gaps may be exposed that need to be filled to meet market objectives

Table-stakes requirements (i.e. those that must be their to enter)

Competitive pressures

Define/reinforce unique value proposition

Customer Satisfaction Vibrant, enthusiastic customers want to see the product improve and have many requests … to support their immediate needs Passionate, vocal, enthusiastic of the product – participate in every forum, user group … great reference! Demanding – consistently voicing their opinion over what they need and/or want Meeting these requests requires caution ... Product can become highly customized for a single, very vocal customer; leading to future upgrade issues Customer can direct you into a market or solve problems that may not necessarily be a good fit; leading to future support issues © Ateala Management Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.

Vibrant, enthusiastic customers want to see the product improve and have many requests … to support their immediate needs

Passionate, vocal, enthusiastic of the product – participate in every forum, user group … great reference!

Demanding – consistently voicing their opinion over what they need and/or want

Meeting these requests requires caution ...

Product can become highly customized for a single, very vocal customer; leading to future upgrade issues

Customer can direct you into a market or solve problems that may not necessarily be a good fit; leading to future support issues

Technology Innovation Infrastructure products and technology matures and changes over time Keeping current with third party infrastructure and tools reduces the support costs and maintains maintainability Leveraging newer technologies needs to align with customers infrastructure and meets their needs and is not a collection of buzzwords Innovating the product to maintain / enhance differentiation may require leveraging of new technology, e.g. … Client/Server -> Web technology On-Premise offering -> Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering Partnering with a platform/infrastructure © Ateala Management Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.

Infrastructure products and technology matures and changes over time

Keeping current with third party infrastructure and tools reduces the support costs and maintains maintainability

Leveraging newer technologies needs to align with customers infrastructure and meets their needs and is not a collection of buzzwords

Innovating the product to maintain / enhance differentiation may require leveraging of new technology, e.g. …

Client/Server -> Web technology

On-Premise offering -> Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering

Partnering with a platform/infrastructure

Opinion vs. Fact Many opinionated discussions take place instead of fact-based discussions to make product investment decisions Sales vs. Marketing vs. Customer Support vs. Development Without a proper methodology at an operational level it is a challenge to decide what requests need to be satisfied Predictability of meeting corporate goals will not be consistent Scarce development, test and documentation resources may not be consistently allocated to requests that support the corporate goals and objectives Opinionated discussions usually result in the most vocal as the “winner” – which may not be best for the business © Ateala Management Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.

Many opinionated discussions take place instead of fact-based discussions to make product investment decisions

Sales vs. Marketing vs. Customer Support vs. Development

Without a proper methodology at an operational level it is a challenge to decide what requests need to be satisfied

Predictability of meeting corporate goals will not be consistent

Scarce development, test and documentation resources may not be consistently allocated to requests that support the corporate goals and objectives

Opinionated discussions usually result in the most vocal as the “winner” – which may not be best for the business

Business Objectives Central to Business-Driven Product Management is the methodical evaluation of requests against business objectives Business objectives need to be … Aligned with the corporate goals and objectives Well-defined traceability from corporate level to operational level is vital to ensure corporate-level objectives are met Defined at an operational level Review process must be able to answer the question “how well does this request satisfy/meet this objective?” Few in number and well-articulated More than 5 objectives and/or fuzzily stated objectives will not yield meaningful results © Ateala Management Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.

Central to Business-Driven Product Management is the methodical evaluation of requests against business objectives

Business objectives need to be …

Aligned with the corporate goals and objectives

Well-defined traceability from corporate level to operational level is vital to ensure corporate-level objectives are met

Defined at an operational level

Review process must be able to answer the question “how well does this request satisfy/meet this objective?”

Few in number and well-articulated

More than 5 objectives and/or fuzzily stated objectives will not yield meaningful results

Methodology Define business objectives Derived from corporate goals and objectives No more than 5 well articulated objectives Must each be at the operational level Weight each objective to reflect their relative importance in meeting corporate goals and objectives Assess each request against each objective Assign a numerical value to how well the request meets the objective Use a scale where 0 means that the request does not meet the objective and an upper value (e.g. 5) that fully meets the objective Use resulting list to drive product development plans Top-most request meets the business objectives the best © Ateala Management Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.

Define business objectives

Derived from corporate goals and objectives

No more than 5 well articulated objectives

Must each be at the operational level

Weight each objective to reflect their relative importance in meeting corporate goals and objectives

Assess each request against each objective

Assign a numerical value to how well the request meets the objective

Use a scale where 0 means that the request does not meet the objective and an upper value (e.g. 5) that fully meets the objective

Use resulting list to drive product development plans

Top-most request meets the business objectives the best

Benefits Companies become focused on doing what the business needs to do to succeed Most customers cannot articulate this and therefore do not express their wishes in these terms Products and product releases will contain features and capabilities that are aligned with corporate goals and objectives, as well as company initiatives Sales barriers will be reduced Marketing / lead generation activities will be supported Critical development resources will be focused on building what matters to the company Extra-curricular development activates will be significantly reduced No project ending surprises Teams will be more harmoniously aligned Collaboration amongst stakeholders will improve Teams will be more productive © Ateala Management Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.

Companies become focused on doing what the business needs to do to succeed

Most customers cannot articulate this and therefore do not express their wishes in these terms

Products and product releases will contain features and capabilities that are aligned with corporate goals and objectives, as well as company initiatives

Sales barriers will be reduced

Marketing / lead generation activities will be supported

Critical development resources will be focused on building what matters to the company

Extra-curricular development activates will be significantly reduced

No project ending surprises

Teams will be more harmoniously aligned

Collaboration amongst stakeholders will improve

Teams will be more productive

Ateala Management Inc. Ateala Management is a provider of product management and product marketing consulting, training and coaching services to start-up, small, medium and large hi-technology companies. Our focus is on helping companies implement a business-driven product management methodology to improve their top-line revenue, improve productivity, increase customer satisfaction and increase their market-share For more information on Ateala Management … Web: www.ateala.com Tel: 613.836.6750 Cell: 613.797.8579 Email: [email_address] © Ateala Management Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.

Ateala Management is a provider of product management and product marketing consulting, training and coaching services to start-up, small, medium and large hi-technology companies.

Our focus is on helping companies implement a business-driven product management methodology to improve their top-line revenue, improve productivity, increase customer satisfaction and increase their market-share

For more information on Ateala Management …

Web: www.ateala.com

Tel: 613.836.6750

Cell: 613.797.8579

Email: [email_address]