Tom Grant's presentation on the forces that are pushing PM into an increasingly strategic role. Agile, social media, tech savvy buyers--these and other trends in the tech industry are pointing PM in the same direction.

1. PM Becomes More Strategic And What It Means For You Tom Grant Senior Analyst Forrester Research March 2010

8. New challenges, common responses Smart investments Clearly articulated value Go-to-market excellence Market mastery CHALLENGES RESPONSES Social media Customers expect a two-way conversation SaaS/cloud Customers see, try, maybe buy, maybe leave Tech adoption We’re dealing with more stakeholders Recession We need to re-think our business, perhaps taking new risks Innovation Someone needs to shepherd the process from ideation to adoption Agile We can develop faster, but can we deliver?

9. Who can meet the challenge? Smart investments Clearly articulated value Go-to-market excellence Social media SaaS/cloud Business technology (BT) Recession Innovation Agile CHALLENGES Company perspective Business & technology acumen Company ubiquity Market mastery RESPONSES Customer & market intelligence PM STRENGTHS

10. Agile Customers Partners Sales, marketing, and other externally- facing groups Development Agile is more than just faster iterations, and it changes more than just development. Given their position and expertise, PMs need to be leaders of this transition.

11. Social media INBOUND VENDOR CUSTOMERS These people expect a two-way conversation, and for us to follow up! And they’re talking to each other! Should we just let them vote on the product roadmap? If not, how do we make product decisions that work for both us and the customers? PM is the obvious candidate to figure out how social media factor into the product development process. But where does this fit into the to-do list? How do you use this information effectively? OUTBOUND

12. A methodology for inbound social media PERSONA LOCATION OPTIONS Who is the target user or stakeholder? What problems do they face? What tasks do they perform? How do people in this demographic use social media? Where can I find them? What is the question that we want to pose? What are the options among which we’re choosing? TEST How do we get a credible, actionable answer?

13. SaaS/cloud BEFORE: ON PREMISE AFTER: ON DEMAND What’s the same? What’s different?

14. Business technology Product marketing is the fine art of understanding the stakeholders and figuring out what’s interesting to them. Not all stakeholders are the same. Frequency of use, discussion forums/communities as sources of ERP advice, by stage Source: B2B North American and European B2B Social Technographics Online Survey, Q4 2008

15. Innovation Ideas can and should come from everywhere, both inside and outside the company. However, PM is best positioned to see the idea through, or pull the plug if needed. Is this a good idea? Is there a real market for us? Are we ready? What should we build? IDEATION EXPLORATION DEVELOPMENT GO TO MARKET

17. Present this picture to your management Smart investments Clearly articulated value Go-to-market excellence Social media SaaS/cloud Business technology (BT) Recession Innovation Agile CHALLENGES Company perspective Business & technology acumen Company ubiquity Identify the strategic challenges in your company Determine what’s necessary to resolve them Propose how strategic PM will make this strategy successful Market mastery SOLUTION Customer & market intelligence PM STRENGTHS

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