Title: Measure Your Product Management Effectiveness and Success Presenter: Greg Geracie Description: In this webinar, ‘Measure Your Product Management Effectiveness and Success’, Greg Geracie, a recognized thought leader in the field of product management and the President of Actuation Consulting shares his insights on the importance of Product Management and the key factors to statistically optimize product team performance. Key Takeaways: • What product teams say about their performance and efforts or lack thereof to improve (trend one) • Product methodology adoption trends and profitability • Factors that positively impact product team performance

1. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.
The Study of Product Team Performance, 2014

2. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.
2
The material contained in this presentation is protected under the
copyright laws of the United States. This material may not be reproduced
in any form or by any means without the express written permission of
Actuation Consulting. Any infringement of these copyrights or trademarks
will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
The survey data in this presentation is available for use by qualified
educational institutions and may be licensed by all other parties. Please
contact us directly to learn more.
© 2014 - 2015 Actuation Consulting. All rights reserved.

3. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.About Regalix
 An award-winning Global Co - Innovation company that
leverages technology and marketing to help companies grow.
 Forefront of Innovation
o Digital Marketing Services
o Technology Enabled Services
o Regalix Labs
 Multi-disciplinary Leadership Team & Strong Advisory Board,
175+ Team
 Fortune 500 and Venture Backed Customers (B2B and B2C)
 Global Operations: HQ in Silicon Valley, 2 Offices
 Industry Recognition
3

4. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.
Greg Geracie
President Actuation Consulting, Adjunct Professor
and Author of Two Books on Product Management
4

5. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.Contents
Product Team Insights
Development Methodologies and ROI
Key Findings
About the Respondents
How Do Teams Reach High Performance?
5

6. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.
Survey Method
• The sponsor and promotional partners emailed
invitations to take a web-based survey
• Respondents were anonymous (optional disclosure)
• Interested in hearing from the following roles:
– Business analyst
– Development managers
– Engineer
– Product manager
– Program manager
– Project manager
– Product owner
– User experience professionals
6

7. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.
Demographics
Who Responded to the Survey?
7

8. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.Demographics
98%
of respondents
play an active role
in creating or
enhancing
products or
services.
8

9. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.
Type of Product Enhancement or New?
Demographics
9

10. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.
Which of the following titles do you directly
report to?
Demographics
71%
of respondents
report to a
company officer,
VP or a director.
10

11. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.
Which of the following best describes your
organization’s primary business focus?
Demographics
48%
work in the
technology
industry 21%
work in the
service industry
12%
work in
consumer
products
11

12. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.
Company Size (Annual Revenue)
Demographics
40%
less than $50
million
36%
$50 million to $2
billion
24%
over $2 billion
12

13. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.Product Team Dynamics
What Did Survey Respondents Tell Us About
Their Product Teams?
13

14. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.Product Team Dynamics
Which of the following best describes the
effectiveness of your product team?
Blank space.
67%
Of product teams acknowledge
inconsistent or sub standard effectiveness.
14

15. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.Product Team Dynamics
Blank space.
How would you rate your product team’s cross-
functional collaboration, trust and communication?
The Good News
10%
of product teams function as
a seamless team.
The Bad News
90%
of product teams don’t.
15

16. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.In Their Own Words
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Challenges
• “People at all levels of the team have
trouble communicating, effectively
dealing with problems…and needs.”
• “There is a feeling that we’re working
like a relay race instead of working like
a team…things get lost.”
16

17. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.Product Team Dynamics
78%
of product teams are
not actively seeking
ways to continuously
improve.
Blank Space.
How effective is your product team in identifying
and incorporating industry best practices?
17

18. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.Development Methodologies
What methodologies are in use and what is
their perceived impact on profitability?
18

19. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.
Which of the following methodologies best describes
the way your organization develops products?
Product Development
Methods
19

20. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.
Product Development
Methods
Adoption Rate Trend
20

21. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.
Which methodology do you associate with increasing
the profitability of your product?
Product Development
Methods
While 33% of
product teams actually
use Agile
43% view Agile as
the best way to
increase product
profitability.
21

22. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.And What About ROI?
Less than 17% of respondents indicate the ROI is
central to everything they do.
83% indicate they are not held accountable to ROI,
use it on a limited basis or don’t use it at all!
Blank Space.
Is ROI a metric your company uses to determine
the relative success of your product’s profitability?
22

23. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.
23
2014’s Key Findings

24. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.Five In Focus
A Critical Hand-Off
Awareness of the Sales Cycle
Enhancing the Marketing Relationship
Product Team Culture
What Factors Contribute to High Performance?
Optimizing the Relationship with Sales
24

25. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.
Components of a Strong
Product Team Culture
Common goal
unites the team
Effective line
management
Inclusion of
talented UX
professionals
Strong
engineers and
recognition of
their importance
Infusion of a
project manager
or scrum master
helps other
members of the
team succeed
25

26. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.
The Critical Role of Project
Management
A resounding 42% of survey respondents view the role
as essential and another 18% important!
26

27. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.
Optimizing the Sales
Relationship
Product team
provides sales
with timely
information and
the tools to
succeed.
The sales team
makes
reasonable
requests.
27

28. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.Sales Cycle Knowledge
67% of
product teams
appear to be too
internally
focused.
High performing teams
understand and
integrate sales cycle
knowledge.
28

29. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.
Enhancing the Relationship
with Marketing
Only 34% of
product teams
have a strong
working
relationship with
marketing.
Role clarity is
essential to realize
the full benefits of
this relationship
through the lifecycle.
29

30. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.Landmines
In 2013 we asked about the causes of breakdowns:
30

31. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.2014 Drill Down
Where within the team does effectiveness break down?
Food for thought:
56% of the
self-reported
breakdowns involve
product managers.
31

32. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.The Bottom Line
Our regression analysis clearly indicates that product teams
have a 67% chance of attaining high performance by
effectively implementing our 2012 findings. Conversely
there is only a 2% chance without these factors in
place.
High Performance is Attainable
2013 and 2014’s finding add to our growing
knowledge of what differentiates high
performance product teams from the pack.
32

33. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.Past Findings
2012
• Unwavering Executive Team
Support
• Strong Product Team
Alignment with Company
Strategy
• Post-Product Development
Focus and Accountability
• Bringing Product Team
Members on Board
• Assigning Product Team
Members Based upon the Skills
Needed
2013
• The Importance of an Aligned
Strategy
• Business Unit Leader
Engagement
• Product Manager Role
Definition
• The Importance of Product
Launch
• Onboarding Product Team
Members
These white papers are available
on our website.
33

34. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.2014 White Paper
Download your free copy at
www.ActuationConsulting.com
34

35. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.The Co-Authors
Matt Jackson
President,
Jackson Consulting
Ron Lichty
Principal, Ron Lichty
Consulting
David Heidt
Principal, Enterprise
Agility
35

36. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.Lead Author
Greg Geracie
President, Actuation
Consulting
36

37. © 2012-2014 Actuation Consulting, LLC
Propel forward.Questions? Contact Us.
Greg Geracie
President
Actuation Consulting
Greg@ActuationConsulting.com
@GregGeracie 312. 775. 2373
www.ActuationConsulting.comGreg Geracie
Download the Study – free – at
www.ActuationConsulting.com
37