A high level view into Product Management at carsales.com.au, including: - What is a product manager? - Product Manager vs Product Owner Also included is the presentation I gave at ProductCamp Melbourne 2015, Bring Your Roadmap to Life

1. Carsales Expert Series
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT @ CS

2. Who am I and what is Product
Management?
‘Bring your Roadmap to Life’
-ProductCamp Melbourne 2015

3. Chris Duncan
Product Manager @ carsales.com.au
Keen photographer
Car nut
Loves beer
@ChrisDuncz
WHO AM I?

4. MY BACKGROUND @ CARSALES
QA Engineer
Business Analyst
Project Manager
Product Manager

5. WHAT IS A PRODUCT MANAGER (PM)?
“An incredibly broad role, a PM uses research and
product insights to direct and develop a consumer
focused product / portfolio of products.”

6. WHAT IS A PRODUCT MANAGER (PM)?
User
Experience
Business Technology

7. VARIETIES OF PM
Product
Marketing
Product
Development
Product
Manufacturing
…many more
Service
Products

8. PRODUCT MANAGER (PM) PRODUCT OWNER (PO)
VS
Externally focused to
the development
function, the PM
manages the product
strategy, assisting the
business to achieve
the organisational
strategy.
Internally focused to
the development
function, the PO
supports
development teams in
delivering on the
product strategy.

9. WHAT DOES A PM DO?

10. WHAT DOES A PM DO?
Research
Vision
Roadmap
Deliver
Whilst often challenging, a PMs time should be split equally between across these key responsibilities.

11. RESEARCH
Market Customer Problem Numbers

12. VISION
Defining ‘achievable’
targets based upon
research and
identifying high-level
ideas to achieve these
goals.

13. ROADMAP
Actionable plan
to achieve your
vision…

14. DELIVER
Support and guide the delivery
team in executing the product
roadmap.
Communicate updates to the
business on timelines and
performance.

15. ProductCamp Melbourne 2015
BRING YOUR ROADMAP TO LIFE

16. ROADMAPPING ROADMAP
VS
Roadmapping is the
use of strategic
planning techniques
to define how you will
achieve your set goals.
A roadmap is the
outcome, an
actionable plan and
an artefact that can be
used to communicate
the steps forward.

17. MY ROADMAPPING PROCESS

18. Everyone has their own technique
What works for some, won’t work for all
PREFACE
Source: www.pinkelephant.com
Source: http://imageck.com/6068939-supply-
chain-road-map.html
Source: http://forums.ocworkbench.com/
Source: http://
www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au
Source: http://www.chroniclegraphics.com/
solutions/manufacturing.html
Source: http://www.erpsoftwareblog.com/2015/03/
dynamics-gp-roadmap-convergence-2015/

19. STARTING AT THE TOPSTART
HOW I ROADMAP

20. STARTING AT THE TOP
Define your goals, targets or objectives
Sets the tone of the roadmap
Break these down to logical groups suited to
your product or organisation

21. BRAINSTORM OF IDEASBRAINSTORM
HOW I ROADMAP

22. BRAINSTORM OF IDEAS
Get the right people involved
Group your ideas based upon your goals
Working with your team, try to roughly estimate
the size / complexity of each idea

23. CREATING YOUR MAPCREATE
HOW I ROADMAP

24. CREATING THE ROADMAP
Plot your ideas against ‘horizons’ or logical time
groupings (e.g. current, near term and future)
Balance your initiatives by the your goals and
targets
Think about what you can eliminate

25. THE RESULT
HOW I ROADMAP

26. THE RESULT

27. NEXT STEPS
When presenting your roadmap, explain to
people your process.
Remember that a roadmap should stay flexible.
Continuously brainstorm ideas as new
information becomes available, making sure to
stay true to your goals.
Communicate, communicate, communicate
As initiatives are completed, communicate the
result. Keep everyone in the loop on how you
are tracking towards your goals.

28. ProductCamp Melbourne 2015
BRING YOUR ROADMAP TO LIFE