1. Surviving
Product Management
Let’s face it. Managing products is hard work. By Louis Columbus
Personally, I always marvel at the people who just
nail product management jobs and make it look
effortless. There is something alluring about product
management. It is the chance to take concepts from
the abstract to the concrete and see the impact in the
market. The opportunity to own a product and make
it successful is alluring, too.
For all the goodness of product management, there
are the challenges too. This article offers some of
the lessons I learned through a career that includes
product management roles at several high-tech
companies. Few jobs will keep you humble more
than product management, and I hope my
experiences both good and bad are useful
for surviving product management.
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2. Surviving Product Management
Essentials of Resolve to know your competitors strengths and weaknesses, develop
product management better than the industry analysts. alliances, and set expectations for
Become an expert in every the next year or two. It is critical
Passion for your products and aspect of their business. during this time to avoid being
their success matters more than isolated and getting buried in emails
organizational power. The role of a and distractions. The best product
product manager is full of opportunities • Get 10Qs and other filings from the managers are those who interact with
to find passion for the product today, its SEC for publicly available companies. the departments they will need to work
future roadmap, sales strategies, finding • Run a D&B report of all competitors with in the future, build alliances, start
and growing a sales champion, and every three months to see how to earn trust, and get to know the true
working with and supporting service. their business is going. role of Product Management and where
In short, the best product managers it is positioned within the company.
have a passion for their products’ success. • Take the hardest-hitting During interview cycles, you get the
They rarely coerce cooperation through competitive points and publish organizational chart view, but now
formal power by invoking a VP or them to your direct sales force, is the time to get the real view—by
C-level executives’ name or position, including inside Sales. reaching out to departments you will
but their passion and intensity earn work with includes Sales, Marketing,
them respect. Passion is the fuel of the • Distribute the trending data to Service, Engineering, Production,
best product managers; it propels them your indirect partners and keep Operations and the customer base.
beyond doing “just enough to get by” the best competitive analysis If you can, get out and see at least
to delivering exceptional work, projects for your direct sales force. three to five customers, coordinating
and results. • Publish how-to-sell-against papers on this with Sales, and also spend time
each competitor every six months to with your internal “customers,” going
capture the current knowledge for as far as to publish your project list
Aggressively manage expectations. for everyone who relies on you.
In some companies product managers both direct and indirect channels.
Work to deliver projects before their
are considered the final authority on Pricing competitive analysis deserves deadlines, and ask frequently for
future product enhancements, current its own effort. When managing high- feedback. The goal during this first
and future pricing, launch dates, PR and volume products, such as PCs, laptops 90 days is to become part of the
lead generation efforts to which even or accessories, it is easy to have a fabric of the company and to spend
analyst firms subscribe. With this much constant view of how your pricing as much time as possible learning the
authority, Sales, Channel Management, measures up relative to competitors by organization and its most pressing
Operations, and Production—in short simply checking competitors’ and their needs before going after huge projects.
every affected group in a company— channel partners’ websites. Tracking
looks to Product Management to make your competitor’s price relative to your
product commitments, to respond to own on a daily basis delivers the data Grow sales champions, even if it means
competitive pressure, and to capitalize necessary to fight for price moves and you do pre-sales support. Sales and
on market opportunities. If your lower per unit costs from Purchasing, Product Management often have a
company has an intranet, post the Procurement or Operations. Consider cordial yet distant relationship because
product roadmap and product hiring a few interns from a local Product Management needs Sales to
management plans, in detail by university to do the daily analysis raise the most critical metrics there are,
product, for everyone to view. and to establish trending graphs and and Sales needs Product Management
Deviating from the product roadmap presentations. I recommend the interns for market and product information.
for special orders needs to be work twenty hours a week, the first Many product management groups
aggressively communicated to Sales, half of each weekday. Pricing from avoid pre-sales support because it
Channel Managers, Operations, competitors is typically re-vamped becomes all-consuming. But structuring
Engineering, Finance, Services and nightly with website refreshes, so having pre-sales support in terms of escalation
many other organizations affected by interns capture this data during the first of the best opportunities coming to
the product introduction, as do pricing hours of the day gives you immediate Product Management for face-time
moves and product direction. visibility into pricing moves. with product experts is critical to
fostering a relationship with Sales and
to eventually grow a sales champion.
The first 90 days in a product Just manage your time to ensure this
management role is critical. This is does not become an all-consuming job.
the time the best product managers
get their reputations established, start
delivering on projects, show their
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3. Surviving Product Management
Look for as many ways to connect with feel they must be the instant expert a wide geographic region, use
the outside world as possible. There for their products, when building meetings and conference calls
is a tendency in Product Management credibility is much better accomplished for exceptions and have the
just to live inside the company’s by admitting what you do not know workflows on the intranet site
four walls and only occasionally go and asking for help. Humility and handle the routine tasks.
outside for channel partners, resellers, honesty gain respect, as does asking
salespeople, and customers. A big part for help and being reciprocal about
of what makes a great product manager sharing thanks for getting it. Be sure Create a buzz around new product
is the reverse; They know the world to serve up plenty of recognition to introductions by creating Champion
of their salespeople, channel partners those that help you too, copying their Awards. In one PC company that had
and customers better than anyone managers on thank-you e-mails when to rely on engineering resources from
else because they work very hard to members of other departments go another project to get its product line
break down the barriers that separate out of their way to help you reach built, tested and ready for launch,
them from what is really happening. your goals. Start laying the foundation Product Management created Champion
Consider doing a blog to bounce for positive relationships where you Awards signed by the Directors of
ideas around and learn about what get the reputation for sharing credit Engineering, Marketing, General
is going on outside your company. and thank you early and often. Manager for the Division and CEO.
These were personalized and framed
by product managers, then presented
Making Replace the frequency of the same week a member of Engineering
cross-functional cross-functional meetings with completed a task that was above and
an intranet site. Respect the time beyond their primary job in support
teams work of cross-functional team members of the product launch. These
Credibility is the capital you trade by distributing marketing, sales were presented at cross-functional
with, start with humility. Passion and and business plans, specifications, meetings by Directors of Engineering
credibility go hand-in-hand. Building and documents via an Intranet site. and Marketing.
credibility starts with a focus on Distribute links and ask for feedback,
earning respect from Engineering, and only have cross-functional meetings
Product Marketing, Sales and other when there is enough to discuss and it Under-commit on launch dates and
departments you regularly interact warrants everyone’s time. You can also over-deliver on them. Product
with. Building credibility starts by use an intranet site for managing the introductions are when companies
building trust. Trust comes from being approval cycles for documents as well, signal to the outside world just how
transparent. Building credibility takes and if you have an organization that coordinated they are—or not. There
time, and so often product managers is comprised of team members across is major pressure to move launch
dates up from Sales, Channel
Management, Marketing, and
at times from Operations and
There are literally hundreds of blogs written by product managers, Production as well. With as
much pressure as there is
but these few stand out as both entertaining and insightful:
to move up a launch date,
AlwaysOn™ build at least 20% of extra
time into schedules because
http://www.alwayson-network.com/
delays inevitably occur.
Creating Passionate Users
http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/
Guy Kawasaki’s Let the Good Times Roll
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/
Seth Godin’s blog is full of great marketing ideas
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/
Geoffrey Moore’s blog on innovation
http://geoffmoore.blogs.com/my_weblog/
Of course, www.productmarketing.com is also a great resource
devoted specifically for product managers.
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4. Surviving Product Management
Lessons learned Lessons learned
Managing
from working with from working with
new product
Engineering Product Marketing
development and
There is the roadmap, and then there is the Get on top of lead generation performance introductions
schedule. If there is one painful lesson I for your products. Marketing may not have
learned when I was a product manager, it this data, but actively get this information Managing new product
is that there is a major difference between from the sales department for all product introductions is the most
a product roadmap and a launch schedule managers so you can start building your strategically important task product
for new products. Price adjustments are products’ sales funnel and how many managers undertake. According
made based on existing products’ current leads are needed at the wide end of the to research completed by the
pricing levels, margins and discounts funnel to result in closed sales. Then Corporate Executive Board*,
in addition to product cancel dates, or work with Marketing to understand the 20-25% of companies rely on
discontinue dates. In short, even the best sales funnel for your products. See if new product introductions for the
companies have trouble meeting launch you can create the sales funnel for your majority of their revenue during
dates, holding to commitment dates products using their data, and see why every 36 months of operations.
for product enhancements, and even some leads drop out of the pipeline. Corporate Executive Board also
product discontinuance dates. This is not reported that in a recent survey,
a criticism of Engineering because delays 43% of executives said that new
in product introduction, pricing, and product Create a Google™ AdWords strategy for product introductions are the
retirements happen for a multitude of your products. This is very economical single most important strategic
reasons. Staying as connected as possible as a lead generation strategy, so push to tool with the highest impact
to Manufacturing, Engineering, and pricing get AdWords created for your products. on total company performance.
managers can make your product launch Define the specific keywords to include Product managers are often called
more effective by orders of magnitude. competitors and their products, as on to be the project leads for their
well. The cost per click can be well product’s introductions. This
under $1 and the leads finely tuned. role takes the most amount of
Share product ownership with your coordination, effort and time
products’ engineers. Partner and team with investment.
Engineering, and specifically spend much Have a constant stream of white papers
time understanding their perspective on and knowledge going to prospects. This
your products. Share ownership for the is doubly true in emerging markets where The steps required for launching
product and its future, and work to create a prospects are looking for guidance and a new product vary significantly
cooperative environment with Engineering. insight into which new technologies by company and industry. The
are reliably working. Prospects want to Corporate Executive Board defined
understand what new technologies mean a generic product development
Relentlessly pursue product expertise. to them; they do not want messages and launch process, which includes
Becoming a product expert starts by slammed at them. Educate and be the following steps. Keep in mind
realizing that there is no such thing the trusted advisor in new markets, many companies tailor these steps
as an “instant expert.” Working with and you will sell more. for their specific needs, yet the
Engineering to appreciate which decisions progression is a good indication of
they made on your product and why what needs to be done to develop
goes a long way towards giving you Use industry analysts often. In certain
and launch products:
a solid foundation to manage your software segments, industry analysts are
products as effectively as possible. relied on for guidance by IT buyers, and
as a result they have insights into what
is being purchased and why. Get industry
* Corporate Executive a Marketing Checklist for New
Board, Marketing Leadership
Be a de facto leader of development via analysts to visit your company and present Council. Developing
Product Launches. August 2003. Washington, D.C.
customer and competitive intelligence. competitive updates once every three to
This takes much effort, and it is worth six months. Also get their insights into
it for any product manager to establish your product roadmap and direction.
their role as delivering in-depth customer Ensure an non-disclosure
and competitive intelligence. Often agreement is in place
when the next generation of a product as part of your
is being developed, Engineering needs company’s overall
input on what customers are looking relationship
for. By committing to be the leader with them.
in terms of customer and competitive
intelligence, you can that much more
effectively guide product development.
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5. Surviving Product Management
I. Idea Creation II. esign and Development
I D VI. Product Launch
a. Teamwork with RD, Marketing, a. Physical design of product a. Development and implementation
Product Management and or definition of service of marketing launch plan
Engineering (product positioning, advertising/
b. Prototyping (physical or computer promotional strategy, final pricing)
b. Voice of the Customer Programs representation of the product)
are also included in this step, b. Sales force training
which focuses on bringing c. Alpha testing (batch testing to
in insights from customers confirm product requirements, c. Development of sales and
that potentially re-define the trial production to confirm product support materials
direction of the product and assembly and manufacturing
suitability) d. For a great drill-down on this
service strategies. step, consider these following
c. New product ideas are d. Detailed marketing and books. Catherine Kitcho’s book
prioritized during this phase and operations plans High Tech Product Launch has
a decision is made about which good insights into launching
e. Updated financial analysis software applications and
products to monetize.
f. Key deliverables from this high-tech products in general.
phase include extensive testing The book New Product Launch:
II. Concept Definition
of the product concept against 10 Proven Strategies by Joan
a. Feasibility analysis completed market, financial, technical, Schneider and Jeanne Yocum
(technical requirements; detailed and physical criteria. is also a must-read for any
financial analysis; materials, product manager having to
human resources and production IV. roduct Service
P do a product launch.
requirements; post-company
Validation
support)
a. Beta/gamma testing with existing The above is meant only as a high-
b. Detailed market study and potential customers level overview of the steps involved
(market definition, assessment in new product development and
of competition) b. Trial production run product introductions—clearly each of
c. Identification of legal/patent/ c. Resolution and negotiation of these steps could be drilled into with
copyright issues legal/patent/copyright issues much greater granularity and depth.
d. Key deliverables from this d. The key deliverables from
phase include the initial business this step include validated, One of the most popular approaches to
case, technical specifications pre-production products managing new product development and
of the product, and a project available for the market introductions is the stage gate process.
management plan that includes Dr. Robert G. Cooper’s book, Winning
roles and responsibilities. V. roduction and
P
at New Products: Accelerating the Process
Distribution from Idea to Launch, is a must-read for
a. Final assembly line tooling and any product manager who works in
in the case of software products, an organization that has standardized
feature freeze and gold master on stage gate steps for launching
CD created new products. Even if your company
b. Securing distribution channels is not using the stage gate process,
including value-added reseller this book has some great pointers on
recruitment and selection. developing and launching products.
Summary and wrap-up
Louis Columbus is Senior Business Development
Product managers, through their efforts, have great Manager, Cincom Solutions. Formerly a
potential to make a lasting impact on companies and entire
Senior Analyst at AMR Research, his career
industries. Exceptional product managers are marked by
has included senior management positions
a passion to make their products, engineering staffs, and
sales persons the stars of their companies. They are content where he served as Vice President, Marketing and Business
to be the enablers of accomplishment and the “backstops” Development. Louis has published fifteen books on a
of products, so to speak. A great product manager is like variety of technology areas including Microsoft operating
a terrific coach; they orchestrate people, resources, and systems, peripherals and the application service provider
strategies to make their teams successful first and always. arena. You can reach Louis at lcolumbus@cincom.com
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