The document highlights key insights and principles of effective product management, emphasizing the importance of understanding customer needs, innovation, and strategic alignment in developing market-leading solutions. It outlines essential practices such as utilizing minimum viable products (MVPs) for testing, fostering customer intimacy, and creating a collaborative team environment focused on delivery and growth. Additionally, it presents a roadmap for successful product management, covering aspects from defining market fit to measuring success and leadership in fostering a high-performing team.

1. BY KRISTA FULLER, Product Management Leader

2. WHAT I’VE LEARNED ABOUT
GREAT PRODUCT MANAGEMENT SO FAR…
Transform your product and
company into the champion
for your market
Differentiate
Lead the market as a thought
leader of a complete offering
and ecosystem
Change the Conversation
Equip the team to respond
creatively to both market and
business changes
Manage Change
Invent an organization that is
prepared to deliver the
solution that revolutionizes
the channel market
Design for Growth
Innovate solutions that
address the buyers’ needs
and shape the market
Accelerate Growth
Meaningfully connect
technology for buyers and
users, eliminating cobbled
solutions
Simplify & Execute
2

3. Product
Management is the
Innovation Engine
for revenue
acceleration and
customer growth
Innovation is rooted in understanding the stated as
well as the un-articulated market problems faced
by target buyers
MARKET INSIGHT
1
Customer intimacy shapes insights and informs
strategic solution design
VOICE OF CUSTOMER
2
Strategy drives business, product and market
acceleration plans that demonstrate how
solutions solve the most pervasive problems
STRATEGY
3
Knowledge – of customers, market, strategy – is
powerful insight that must be shared and
connected to every stakeholder in the
organization
ENGAGEMENT & EVANGELISM
4
MY VISION
BUILDING THE INNOVATION ENGINE
3

4. INNOVATION BUILDS NEW MARKETS
04
03
02
01
Successful businesses are
simply the best at creating
solutions that solve
customers’ pervasive
problems
MARKET INSIGHT
Business offerings,
including targeted
services, training or
consulting build
customer-centric
relationships
BUSINESS INNOVATION
Market insights into
problems and customer
use-cases drive successful
product strategy and
solution roadmap
PRODUCT INNOVATION
Delivering market-valued
solutions creates market
disruption to keep
competitive threats away
MARKET DISRUPTION
Market Intimacy will Accelerate a Company’s Disruptive Growth
4

5. SUCCESS FACTORS FOR STRATEGIC PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
DEFINE PROBLEM
& SOLUTION FIT
 Discover customer
problems
 Build the solution as an
MVP
 Pivot solution based on
build-measure-learn
 Discover unique value
proposition
 Assess if problem
worth solving
Define problems customers
will pay to solve
ACHIEVE
MARKET FIT
 Use MVP to develop
customers to build a
viable business model
 Optimize business
model based on build-
measure-learn
 Validate with
customers
 Expand and iterate
Evolve the solution into a
business model
EXECUTE WITH
PRECISION
 Evaluate team for
business & technical
talent
 Align with
Development to break
down internal &
external barriers
 Prioritize effort based
on value & outcomes
Organize and align teams
to create desired outcomes
MEASURE TO
GROW
 Require problem-
centric business cases
 Tie teams to growth
and customer
retention
 Teach SaaS metrics:
LTV, MRR/ARR, Churn,
Bookings, Revenue
Apply business & product
management metrics
01 02 03 04
Product Management Focuses on the WHY
5

6. HOW I SOLVE FOR SOLUTION & MARKET FIT
BUSINESS FIT
Identify which problems are most
pervasive to buyers. Assess the market
opportunity associated with solving
those problems.
MARKET FIT
Evaluate and assess the market
readiness for larger scale adoption.
What innovations or GTM strategies
are necessary to propel growth?
01
04 02
03
SOLUTION FIT
Define solutions that specifically solve
the most challenging market problems.
Test as MVP and pivot
EXPERIENCE FIT
Evaluate solution effectiveness based
on alignment with customers’
business models, growth trajectories
and planned business or financial
outcomes.
Strategy First. Execution Follows.
6

7. WHERE I GAIN MARKET INSIGHT
INDUSTRY LEADERS
Meetings with Analysts and
industry insiders, who shape
opinions of Buyers
VOICE OF MARKET
Gained through first had
knowledge: Advisory Boards,
Market research, Industry
events
EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP
Ensure targeted messaging
infiltrates campaigns, thought
leadership and customer
outreach
SALES
Insights gleaned on sales and
buying processes and on
effectiveness of GTM
execution
WIN – LOSS CALLS
Understanding hits and misses
one customer at a time sheds
light on thematic challenges
and opportunities
VOICE OF CUSTOMER
Gained through: Customer
meetings, Sales meetings,
Customer advisory groups,
Focus Groups
Insights help me Cross-Pollinate the Organization as Market Evangelist
7

8. THE 10 MUST-ANSWER QUESTIONS
#2 TARGET MARKET
For whom do we solve that
problem?
#3 MARKET SIZE
How big is the opportunity?
#4 METRICS / REVENUE STRATEGY
How will we measure success?
#9 SOLUTION REQUIREMENTS
What factors are critical to success?
#8 GTM STRATEGY
How will we get this product to
market?
#7 MARKET WINDOW
Why now?
ASSESSING THE
OPPORTUNITY
How Product
Management
Defines the
Problem to be
Solved
#1 VALUE PROPOSITION
Exactly what problem will this
solve?
#10 GO / NO-GO
Given these factors, what is the
recommendation?
#6 DIFFERENTIATOR
Why are we best suited to pursue?
#5 COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
What alternatives are out there now?
8

9. THE VALUABLE ROLE OF MVP
Test-and-learn scenarios validate which solutions to market problems offer the
greatest value to customers and potential customers. Testing the hypotheses
allows you to move forward with concrete market data.
Hypothesis-Driven Testing
MVP Minimizes Risk
Build-Measure-Learn Feedback Loop
Fail Fast & Pivot
Solving market and customer problems is never easy. The crux of MVP
development ensures that the customer problem is solved sufficiently enough
that customers are willing to pay.
Agile development builds hypothesis-testing scenarios specifically to gain insight
into specific capabilities targeted to specific problems. Real buyers offer
feedback on value delivered by the proposed solution.
Of all of the learnings in the model, learning to create tests that allow you to
experiment – and if necessary, fail fast – is by far the hardest. Knowing whether
the idea is worth pursuing to solve the customer’s challenge is the greatest gift.
Assessing Solution Fit with Minimum Viable Product
9

10. SOLUTION & MARKET FIT MATURITY MODEL
FOUNDATION
Customers relied on investing in
and integrating core solutions
other assets
MVP PLATFORM
Unified MVP platform validates
your company understands and
has solved the most important
problems
INNOVATOR
The platform ecosystem
exponentially accelerates
customers’ growth
INTEGRATED TOOLS
Your company holds the key to
simplify your market’s top
problems
Yesterday
Today
PLATFORM
Build a market around the
platform model, continuing to
test, learn and pivot to grow
Future
Tomorrow Vision
Evolving from a Product to a Platform Innovator
10

11. HOW I LEAD: MY LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES
Bringing together diverse ideas and insights can
yield creative outcomes
Thinking Big
My most important job is to hire and develop talent
to take team to the next level
Hire , Develop & Retain
Grit is at the heart of how I work to motivate teams
and to grow professionally
Passion & Perseverance
Working on behalf of customers is why I love the
discipline of inventing great products
Customer Centricity
Finding solutions to complex problems requires
tenacity, persistence and creativity
Solution Creator
Accountability and transparency for action and
results will always start and end with me
Ownership
My love of learning drives me to continue to grow,
challenge myself, and equip others
Curiosity
By modeling and teaching, I elicit strong
performance from staff and in the organization
Coaching
Servant Leader, Inspiring Others to Deliver their Best
11

12. MANAGEMENT BY DESIGN
Product Management equips teams to
perform their jobs better, based on data
and intelligence.
I collaborate across the organization – and
coach the team to do the same – to ensure
collective insights add value to both
internal and external customers. I love
white boards and brainstorming!
Product Management is the growth engine,
helping the organization to strategically
focus on finding, acquiring and retaining
best-fit customers.
I teach the team how to focus on success
outcomes, risk mitigation and cross-
functional collaboration.
Product Management drives organizational
focus on solving pervasive customer
problems – answering the Why.
I hire and coach team members, who are
passionate about market engagement in
addition to understanding technology.
CUSTOMERS EMPLOYEES SHAREHOLDERS

13. HOW TO INNOVATE WHILE STILL SERVING CUSTOMERS
INNOVATION / MVP
Growth depends on testing
customer / market fit for the
new solutions. With clearly
defined business use cases,
team must develop and test.
TECHNICAL DEBT
REDUCTION
No business acceleration can be
complete without the reduction
of technical debt of older
solutions – held in balance with
new development.
ROADMAP
EXECUTION
While MVP solutions are
tested, committed roadmap
must be delivered to inspire
confidence in market.
FEATURE
ENHANCEMENTS
Customer-requested feature
enhancements are prioritized
in the backlog based on
prioritized customer voting.
02
04
01
03
Harmonize and Prioritize Product Release Efforts
13

14. THOUGHTS ON TEAM STRUCTURE
• Market / customer-
facing. Identifies
market need for
product
• Owns vision, roadmap,
program backlog,
pricing, licensing
• Drives release and
sprint planning
• Establishes feature
acceptance criteria
PLATFORM PMMUX DESIGNER
PRODUCT MANAGER
PRODUCT OWNER
VP, PRODUCT
MANAGEMENT
• Solution, Technology
and team facing
• Responsible for
maximizing success of
Dev team
• Owns & manages
backlog
• Owns, creates and
defines stories
• Creates story
acceptance criteria
• Market / Solution /
Technology team
facing
• Responsible for User
research with strong
communication skills
• Leader of product
design, based on
usability & workflow
• Collaborates with
Scrum team to drive
implementation
• Market / Customer
facing. Responsible for
market vision across
platform
• Owns vision, roadmap,
program backlog,
working with other
PMs
• Owns Epics, themes
and priorities for
Platform solution
Create Organization to Scale for Innovation
14

15. HOW I MEASURE SUCCESS
ADVOCACY
Delighted customers advocate
and drive new business
ADOPTION
Ensure adoption and onboarding
ensures early and sustainable
customer success
ACQUISITION
Accelerate the acquisition of
best-fit customers with high-
value, long-term contracts
RETENTION
Successful engagement and
quantifiable ROI ensures
retention
EXPANSION
Successful customers see
accelerated business growth
through their channels and
expand commitment
Build a Culture of Accountability, Transparency and Measurement
15

16. KEY MILESTONES FOR ONBOARDING
LEARN
I will spend the first month
learning from customers,
stakeholders and employees. I
acquire information rapidly, put
it to use quickly – and ask a lot
of questions!
Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4
BUILD
I’ll finalize team design and
declare strategic 2018
priorities. Action plans to
address gaps as well as to
accelerate performance will be
shared.
LEAD
I will be working with the team
to deliver the results that are
planned. We’ll be planting the
seeds of future client success
through proven product
management tactics. Month by
month, VOM / VOC will drive
our priorities and investments.
EVALUATE
With an understanding of the
market, I’ll evaluate and set
strategic priorities for the team
and work on assessing talent.
I’ll put the foundation of the
team and success measures in
place.
16

17. THANKS!
I’m ready to continue doing what I do best: facilitating the
creation, development, and marketing of innovative
software products that delight the client; and building
customer success programs to ensure that products solve
customers’ most challenging business issues.
My leadership style focuses on building, mentoring and
coaching high-performing teams, who are Trusted
Advisors to customers and peers alike.
Feel free to start a dialog! Contact me at
fuller.krista3@gmail.com
ABOUT KRISTA
COMMERCIALIZATION LEADER
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