FRESH CONTENT
When it comes to food, organic is all the rage.
There are whole sections of the grocery store focused
on organic fruits and vegetables. It’s featured front and
center on packaging. And it comes with a premium price.
In business, though, it’s the inorganic growth we talk about
most: mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, takeovers. Those are the stories that fill the news and grab the headlines. And they can be powerful tools, as Frank Tait writes about in this issue.
But what if we put just a little more focus on organic
growth, on thinking about how we can leverage the products,
organizations, processes, customers, markets, etc. already in
place to drive growth? With the right focus, could we move
beyond slow and steady growth and really start to drive the
numbers and scale our business naturally?
Those were the driving questions as we put together this
issue of Pragmatic Marketer and why we’ve gathered a
team of thought leaders to talk about everything from how
to cultivate the right employees to how to grow through
segmentation. And as always, we’ve tried to include
actionable tools and tips you can implement immediately. So
grab a coffee and dig in!
Happy reading,
Rebecca Kalogeris
WHO ARE YOUR COMPETITORS?
“Oh, we don’t have any competitors. No one really
does what we do.”
I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard
otherwise smart executives give this answer. Nor
can I think of a company or situation where it’s
actually true.
The really dangerous thing about that statement is
that it leads to ignorance, which can lead to being
blindsided. If you truly think you haven’t any
competition, you won’t watch the market. You won’t
see the disruption coming. And you won’t be able to
react to problems or capitalize on the opportunities
that competitive shifts can create.
When it comes to your competition, the answer isn’t
to put your head in the sand. It’s to actively and
regularly study that competition. And not just who
you think is the competition, but who your market
thinks is your competition.
So, how do you do that? How do you learn about
your competition and decide which part of that
knowledge you should (and shouldn’t) care about?
That’s what we tackle in this issue of Pragmatic
Marketer, thanks to the help of some great
contributors, a real-life case study and, as always,
a slew of tips and best practices you can put to
work immediately.
Happy reading,
Rebecca Kalogeris
Why do some products and companies fail, where others succeed? Based on surveys spanning 3,000 companies, 45,000 individuals and one-on-one interviews with 30 technology CEOs, we found seven consistent success factors related to company culture, management style, and product & marketing strategies that propelled the winners. And also the seven fatal flaws that derail market laggards.
Having defined roles and responsibilities for 60,000 technology product management and marketing professionals at 5,000 companies in 21 countries, the Pragmatic Marketing Framework is the industry standard worldwide.
The Key to Building Better Products
It’s frustrating when customers don’t respond to your product the way you hope they will, especially when you can’t pinpoint why. So what exactly does it take to move a product from being good to great?
FRESH CONTENT
When it comes to food, organic is all the rage.
There are whole sections of the grocery store focused
on organic fruits and vegetables. It’s featured front and
center on packaging. And it comes with a premium price.
In business, though, it’s the inorganic growth we talk about
most: mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, takeovers. Those are the stories that fill the news and grab the headlines. And they can be powerful tools, as Frank Tait writes about in this issue.
But what if we put just a little more focus on organic
growth, on thinking about how we can leverage the products,
organizations, processes, customers, markets, etc. already in
place to drive growth? With the right focus, could we move
beyond slow and steady growth and really start to drive the
numbers and scale our business naturally?
Those were the driving questions as we put together this
issue of Pragmatic Marketer and why we’ve gathered a
team of thought leaders to talk about everything from how
to cultivate the right employees to how to grow through
segmentation. And as always, we’ve tried to include
actionable tools and tips you can implement immediately. So
grab a coffee and dig in!
Happy reading,
Rebecca Kalogeris
WHO ARE YOUR COMPETITORS?
“Oh, we don’t have any competitors. No one really
does what we do.”
I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard
otherwise smart executives give this answer. Nor
can I think of a company or situation where it’s
actually true.
The really dangerous thing about that statement is
that it leads to ignorance, which can lead to being
blindsided. If you truly think you haven’t any
competition, you won’t watch the market. You won’t
see the disruption coming. And you won’t be able to
react to problems or capitalize on the opportunities
that competitive shifts can create.
When it comes to your competition, the answer isn’t
to put your head in the sand. It’s to actively and
regularly study that competition. And not just who
you think is the competition, but who your market
thinks is your competition.
So, how do you do that? How do you learn about
your competition and decide which part of that
knowledge you should (and shouldn’t) care about?
That’s what we tackle in this issue of Pragmatic
Marketer, thanks to the help of some great
contributors, a real-life case study and, as always,
a slew of tips and best practices you can put to
work immediately.
Happy reading,
Rebecca Kalogeris
Why do some products and companies fail, where others succeed? Based on surveys spanning 3,000 companies, 45,000 individuals and one-on-one interviews with 30 technology CEOs, we found seven consistent success factors related to company culture, management style, and product & marketing strategies that propelled the winners. And also the seven fatal flaws that derail market laggards.
Having defined roles and responsibilities for 60,000 technology product management and marketing professionals at 5,000 companies in 21 countries, the Pragmatic Marketing Framework is the industry standard worldwide.
The Key to Building Better Products
It’s frustrating when customers don’t respond to your product the way you hope they will, especially when you can’t pinpoint why. So what exactly does it take to move a product from being good to great?
Gone are the days when glossy brochures and door hangers would draw in new business. Today, the customer cycle starts online. The technological disruption has altered the way people research buying and selling options and the real estate industry is not immune to this change. A compelling digital presence, along with a strategic use of digital marketing and social media, are a must to build the trust and emotional connection the next-generation buyers, renters and sellers are looking for.
Marketing analytics a practical guide to improving consumer insights using da...MarketingForum
Available at a lower price from other sellers that may not offer free Prime shipping.
Who is most likely to buy and what is the best way to target them? How can businesses improve strategy without identifying the key influencing factors? The second edition of Marketing Analytics enables marketers and business analysts to leverage predictive techniques to measure and improve marketing performance. By exploring real-world marketing challenges, it provides clear, jargon-free explanations on how to apply different analytical models for each purpose. From targeted list creation and data segmentation, to testing campaign effectiveness, pricing structures and forecasting demand, this book offers a welcome handbook on how statistics, consumer analytics and modelling can be put to optimal use.
The fully revised second edition of Marketing Analytics includes three new chapters on big data analytics, insights and panel regression, including how to collect, separate and analyze big data. All of the advanced tools and techniques for predictive analytics have been updated, translating models such as tobit analysis for customer lifetime value into everyday use. Whether an experienced practitioner or having no prior knowledge, methodologies are simplified to ensure the more complex aspects of data and analytics are fully accessible for any level of application. Complete with downloadable data sets and test bank resources, this book supplies a concrete foundation to optimize marketing analytics for day-to-day business advantage.
Mastering the Complex Sale: How to Get Paid for the Value you CreatePragmatic Marketing
The commoditization of high-value and complex solutions is causing more products and services to miss market forecasts. It not only frustrates executives, who aren't getting the profitable results they expect, but everyone across the organization feels the pressure.
When you join our February 20 webinar at 1 p.m. EST, you will learn how to turn this frustrating situation into a substantial competitive advantage.
Jeff Thull, CEO and president of Prime Resource Group, will discuss why customers have become immune to value propositions and how the value life cycle is the key to market dominance.
Lead nurturing has become an integral part of a successful marketing strategy—specifically when building relationships with potential buyers across multiple channels, even if they are not currently looking to purchase a product or service. Today’s potential buyers don’t become customers overnight—they require marketing over time as they self-educate and build trust with a company. Lead nurturing helps marketers communicate consistently with buyers cross-channel and throughout the sales cycle—addressing the gap in time between when a lead first interacts with you and when she is ready to purchase.
The Definitive Guide to Lead Nurturing covers everything you need to know to get started using lead nurturing to drive revenue growth, including how to:
Create a lead nurture strategy
Nurture leads across channels
Segment a lead database
Choose appropriate content for each lead nurture track and audience
Get the most value from lead nurturing with testing and optimization
Measure and explain lead nurturing’s return on investment
Betting Industry Guide: How to Structure Your Marketing TeamThe Unit
How to structure your marketing team in the betting sector to avoid conflicts of interests and bottlenecks. Guide to how to optimise your team's structure to achieve your goals.
How to grow your marketing contribution to sales through growth optimization ...Eduardo Esparza
Maximizing Your Marketing Contribution to Sales -
Unpack the 6-step growth-driven marketing process that rapidly growing SaaS, enterprise software, and high-value B2C companies are using to blow past their competitors.
Gone are the days when glossy brochures and door hangers would draw in new business. Today, the customer cycle starts online. The technological disruption has altered the way people research buying and selling options and the real estate industry is not immune to this change. A compelling digital presence, along with a strategic use of digital marketing and social media, are a must to build the trust and emotional connection the next-generation buyers, renters and sellers are looking for.
Marketing analytics a practical guide to improving consumer insights using da...MarketingForum
Available at a lower price from other sellers that may not offer free Prime shipping.
Who is most likely to buy and what is the best way to target them? How can businesses improve strategy without identifying the key influencing factors? The second edition of Marketing Analytics enables marketers and business analysts to leverage predictive techniques to measure and improve marketing performance. By exploring real-world marketing challenges, it provides clear, jargon-free explanations on how to apply different analytical models for each purpose. From targeted list creation and data segmentation, to testing campaign effectiveness, pricing structures and forecasting demand, this book offers a welcome handbook on how statistics, consumer analytics and modelling can be put to optimal use.
The fully revised second edition of Marketing Analytics includes three new chapters on big data analytics, insights and panel regression, including how to collect, separate and analyze big data. All of the advanced tools and techniques for predictive analytics have been updated, translating models such as tobit analysis for customer lifetime value into everyday use. Whether an experienced practitioner or having no prior knowledge, methodologies are simplified to ensure the more complex aspects of data and analytics are fully accessible for any level of application. Complete with downloadable data sets and test bank resources, this book supplies a concrete foundation to optimize marketing analytics for day-to-day business advantage.
Mastering the Complex Sale: How to Get Paid for the Value you CreatePragmatic Marketing
The commoditization of high-value and complex solutions is causing more products and services to miss market forecasts. It not only frustrates executives, who aren't getting the profitable results they expect, but everyone across the organization feels the pressure.
When you join our February 20 webinar at 1 p.m. EST, you will learn how to turn this frustrating situation into a substantial competitive advantage.
Jeff Thull, CEO and president of Prime Resource Group, will discuss why customers have become immune to value propositions and how the value life cycle is the key to market dominance.
Lead nurturing has become an integral part of a successful marketing strategy—specifically when building relationships with potential buyers across multiple channels, even if they are not currently looking to purchase a product or service. Today’s potential buyers don’t become customers overnight—they require marketing over time as they self-educate and build trust with a company. Lead nurturing helps marketers communicate consistently with buyers cross-channel and throughout the sales cycle—addressing the gap in time between when a lead first interacts with you and when she is ready to purchase.
The Definitive Guide to Lead Nurturing covers everything you need to know to get started using lead nurturing to drive revenue growth, including how to:
Create a lead nurture strategy
Nurture leads across channels
Segment a lead database
Choose appropriate content for each lead nurture track and audience
Get the most value from lead nurturing with testing and optimization
Measure and explain lead nurturing’s return on investment
Betting Industry Guide: How to Structure Your Marketing TeamThe Unit
How to structure your marketing team in the betting sector to avoid conflicts of interests and bottlenecks. Guide to how to optimise your team's structure to achieve your goals.
How to grow your marketing contribution to sales through growth optimization ...Eduardo Esparza
Maximizing Your Marketing Contribution to Sales -
Unpack the 6-step growth-driven marketing process that rapidly growing SaaS, enterprise software, and high-value B2C companies are using to blow past their competitors.
The purpose of this whitepaper is to enable businesses to leverage data and insights to increase efficiency, provide seamless experiences, build a data-driven culture, empower automation, data utilization at scale and use programmatic advertising to laser target relevant audience. Incorporating winning strategies, this research paper will allow you to better organize, analyze and apply data in every operation.
A strong web presence creates a strong lead generation tool for your business. Your potential customers are looking online for solutions to business problems. You want to connect with them and grow your business. This guide will help map the tactics and tools you require to build an online strategy for your business that helps you attract new customers and nurture existing relationships.
What will marketing be like in the semantic web, the burgeoning new "web of data"? This presentation for the 2009 Semantic Technology Conference outlines a framework of 7 missions for data web marketing.
Despite a steady stream of changes and often volatile shifts in ranking/position, the state of the search marketing industry remains strong. According to the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization’s (SEMPO) 10th State of the Industry report, which surveyed more than 500 digital marketers and agencies about their online marketing activities across
digital channels, search engine optimization (SEO) is the most prevalent marketing activity for 94 percent of individual marketers/clients and 92 percent of agencies – significantly higher than when the survey was conducted in 2013 http://withDrDavid.com Search-based advertising is also top of mind with today’s enterprises, with 84 percent of agencies/consultants and 83 percent of marketers/clients indicating they run paid campaigns.
Preparing to Manage Social Media in a Crisis
Social media has changed crisis management exponentially. It has become the primary source for news as it breaks, to maintain a connection to the crisis, and to reach out to ask questions, comment, or get support. Consumers flock to find the ‘official’ page of the business within search, and their official channels on Social Media. This presentation from Matt Lynch explores best practice across Search Engine Optimisation and Social Media for the Crisis Management Leaders Summit, Perth 2015 #gocrisis #voriantraining
Long gone are the days when the marketing landscape encompassed only traditional, interruptive methods for engaging
with prospects. Today, leaders are shifting the marketing mix faster as inbound and digital continue to represent a huge
opportunity for driving demand. This recent study shows that global organizations—regardless of size—are integrating
more omni-channel and modern marketing techniques to help drive business forward.
Download this complimentary report to uncover the most challenging obstacles facing inbound marketing success and how SMB and enterprise marketers plan to overcome them in the year ahead. (Research conducted by Ascend2, in partnership with Marketing Advocate.)
AAA Partners' Network is about marketing in the new world of the social customer. With AAA you know which, how and why 50% of your marketing budget is working, and spend just that. Move the balance 50% to your bottom-line. If you're not doing social marketing with AAA, you're leaving money on the table.
SaaS Marketing: Expert Paid Media Tips Backed By $150M In Ad SpendSearch Engine Journal
In the face of growing challenges with customer acquisition, it’s important to know where to focus your ad spend.
Do you know how to optimize for lower customer acquisition costs and pipeline growth that keeps your sales team busy and your CFO happy?
Watch and learn a unique methodology for growth that has driven massive revenue at a lower cost for hundreds of SaaS brands. We’ll dive into case studies backed by real data from over $150 million in SaaS ad spend per year.
You’ll learn:
- Why leveraging first-party data rather than third-party data is key for success.
- Ways to compare channel level performance using the Customer Lifetime Value to Customer Acquisition Cost (LTV:CAC) formula.
- Strategies for growing pipeline revenue that identify and emotionally connect with your exact persona at your ideal account.
With Garrett Mehrguth, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Directive, we’ll explore how to use financial modeling using LTV:CAC formulas across your channels for better budget allocation that your CFO will love.
Register and get expert tips and proven strategies for hitting your growth goals next year.
Similar to The Pragmatic Marketer: Volume 6, Issue 1 (20)
You’ve spent years carving out your place at the office. But
what did it take to get there? Pragmatic Marketing takes a
look at what other roles you’ve held throughout your career.
Before launching our Price course a year ago, we talked to companies of all shapes and sizes about their struggles with pricing. Each and every one stated that, despite all the information they could gather on their sales, their costs and their competitors, when it came right down to it, their pricing was really just their best guess.
But we can’t leave such an important aspect of our products to chance, which is why in this issue we are delving into all things price related.
Jim Semick leads us off with a great look at the challenges and opportunities of pricing SaaS products. Then our own Mark Stiving talks about pricing in competitive landscapes. Finally, Holly Krafft and Reed Holden write about how to gain internal support for your pricing strategies, first at the leadership level and then within your sales organization.
But this issue isn’t all dollars and cents. I want to call particular attention to Robin Sharma’s article on the top 10 things amazing leaders do, regardless of whether they have a title. Following these simple steps could change the trajectory of your career and those around you.
Today’s product teams have a lot to juggle. Our hope is that this issue can provide you with some tools and tips to make it all just a little easier.
Happy Reading,
Rebecca Kalogeris, Editorial Director
Groundhog day is my dad’s favorite holiday. It’s been that way for as long as I can remember, far before the Bill Murray movie of the same name came out.
Growing up, I couldn’t understand why he would pick such a random holiday to be his favorite. But then I noticed how every February 2nd he’d receive cards or calls from friends new and old. And it dawned on me: He picked it because he could own it.
His love of Groundhog Day was unique. Every year when Phil stuck out his head, whether he saw his shadow or not, people thought of my dad.
It was my first marketing lesson: Distinguish yourself from the crowd. And it’s as valid today as it was back then. That’s why this issue is dedicated to providing you tips and tools for differentiating your product, your company and your career.
Happy Reading,
Rebecca Kalogeris, Editorial Director
We all know the feeling. The creeping sense of doom that our project is falling apart. The growing horror as we watch it unravel despite all our best laid plans. The moment of terror when we realize it’s well and truly dead.
All of us—whether we make launch plans or business plans, product plans or go-to-market-plans—have at least one skeleton in our closet. And it was most likely put there by one of these plan killers: poor alignment with corporate strategy, bad metrics or lack of understanding of the market.
Fortunately, this issue of Pragmatic Marketer provides practical tools and tips for addressing all three.
First, Bill Thomson walks us through creating a strategic product plan. Robert Boyd and our own Jon Gatrell talk about key metrics—how to measure everything from overall organizational strength to individual sprints. And finally, weaving it all together, is a real-life look at how Hubspot ensures its product launch plans succeed.
There are bone-yards full of good ideas that collapse during planning and execution. In this issue we help ensure your project isn’t one of them.
Happy reading,
Rebecca Kalogeris, Editorial Director
In politics, nothing halts progress like a divided constituency. Red states vs. blue states. Liberals vs. conservatives. Athens vs. Sparta. Each side is focused not on moving forward or finding compromise, but on placing blame.
Unfortunately, this same type of divide exists in many technology companies between the product and the development teams.
But this divide cannot stand. Because, as Mark Lawler says in his article, only by working together can we “deliver great products that delight those who are the most important: your customers.”
Working together effectively means understanding each other’s points of views and goals. This summer’s issue helps you do just that, as contributors who have sat on both sides of the technology aisle weigh in on everything from methodologies to prioritization to the key artifacts required for interdepartmental communication.
So grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair and dive into the latest issue of The Pragmatic Marketer. And when you’re
done, share the issue with your partner across the aisle and start uniting your efforts for the common good.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Kalogeris, Editorial Director
We’ve all struggled with a launch under-performing at some point in our career. Usually, it’s because we’ve forgotten the No. 1 rule about launches: Launch readiness is more than product readiness.
When we recently launched our newest course, Price, we didn’t set the date by when the training materials would be ready. We set it by when the whole organization would be ready. When could the beta be done? The go-to-market materials prepared? The support systems in place? And the sales team armed with answers to questions? Until all these items were ready, nothing was really ready.
It’s these concepts, the different aspects required for a successful launch, which we delve into in this issue. I hope it offers you the tools and tips you need to make your next launch a success.
Sincerely,
Craig Stull, Founder/CEO
Technology continues to enhance our real-time communications across the globe. And as the world seemingly gets smaller, the opportunities get bigger. In the United States alone, exports rose to their highest level on record last November. And China also reported record trade figures last year.
This issue of Pragmatic Marketer takes a look at how to make the most of globalization since, as Adi Kabazo puts it in his article, “While commercializing, marketing and supporting technology products in multiple regions can be a dream come true, it can also be an extremely daunting challenge.”
From translation efforts to pricing to development, this issue features insights for going global that we hope you’ll reach for time and again.
We strive to be a go-to resource for product management and marketing professionals. If there’s anything you’d like to see in an upcoming issue, please reach out to editor@pragmaticmarketing.com.
Sincerely,
Craig Stull, Founder/CEO
In the 20 years since I founded Pragmatic Marketing, we’ve taught nearly 100,000 people about the importance of listening to the market. And when you’ve been listening to the market as long as we have, you get to hear a lot of interesting perspectives.
Whether it’s instructors or alumni, they all have unique insights that we can learn from. We’ve decided to dedicate this issue to those perspectives that touch on topics that affect us all in our day-to-day operations. Whether it’s about how to measure efforts, the relationships we build or the tactics that keep companies in business, there are actionable takeaways and best practices for everyone.
We hope you enjoy our special 20th Anniversary Perspectives issue, and we look forward to staying in touch for the next 20 years.
Sincerely,
Craig Stull, Founder/CEO
At Pragmatic Marketing, we’ve worked with thousands of high-tech companies—so we’re no strangers to innovation.
And we’ve recently completed some innovation of our own, restructuring our curriculum to offer more of what the market has told us it wants. You see, the market should be at the center of every innovation effort you make. As Neil Baron puts it in this issue’s feature article, “A valuable innovation delivers an improved customer experience as a result of a better way of doing things.”
In addition to Baron’s view, Paul Brooks helps you decide whether what you’re contemplating is actually a bad idea. Jessica Dugan provides tips to get past the hang-ups that are holding you back, and Eric Doner shows you how to foster innovation in your organization—all in hopes of helping you do your own innovating in a way that’s valued by your customers.
This issue is also full of best practices and examples of how to approach content, mobile products, competitive analysis, and much more.
As Peter Drucker once said, “Business has only two functions: marketing and innovation.” This issue strives to help you do both.
Sincerely,
Craig Stull, Founder/CEO
In the 20 years that Pragmatic Marketing has been around, we’ve seen enormous change in the importance and definition of the product management and marketing roles. Our goal as a company is to help arm people with the information and tools they need to really succeed in this changing environment. That’s why we’ve focused this issue on what it takes to become, discover and mentor top-notch talent.
Our own Paul Young leads the discussion with the seven X-factor traits that can be found in rock stars. Some of these might surprise you. But as author Saeed Khan points out, “even rock stars have backup bands.” Khan discusses how finding the right candidates is often less about their impressive resumes and more about how well they fit in your organization.
And that’s just the beginning. As always, we have included the best practices, real-world examples and tips you need to excel in your career. We hope you enjoy this issue.
Sincerely,
Craig Stull, Founder/CEO
Welcome to the first issue of the relaunched Pragmatic Marketer magazine.
Last year, the number of people who have taken Pragmatic Marketing courses reached a milestone 85,000—demonstrating the growth of product management and marketing as a field in the 20 years we’ve been around. And with that rapid growth and constant evolution, industry professionals need a centralized resource to turn to for best practices, case studies and information about their roles. Our magazine had already built a reputation as an industry resource, and we felt the
time was right to invest in relaunching it.
Our hope is that this magazine will get important conversations started in the product management and marketing community, so it seems fitting that our inaugural issue focus on the world of communicating.
We lead with an article about a challenge everyone faces: how to work more effectively with customers. Cindy Alvarez offers you 20 ways to get the ball rolling. We follow with tips and best practices for communicating with everyone from CEOs and shareholders to finance executives and sales guys.
We’ve introduced three new recurring sections—Build Better Products, Sell More Stuff and Lead Strategically—designed to offer best practices to help you in your day-to-day roles and to address the topics that you’ve told us matter most to you.
We hope you enjoy our magazine, and please feel free to communicate with us at editor@pragmaticmarketing.com. We welcome feedback, questions or ideas for what you’d like to see in future issues of Pragmatic Marketer.
We want to be that trusted resource that you look forward to every quarter.
Sincerely,
Craig Stull, Founder/CEO
Builder.ai Founder Sachin Dev Duggal's Strategic Approach to Create an Innova...Ramesh Iyer
In today's fast-changing business world, Companies that adapt and embrace new ideas often need help to keep up with the competition. However, fostering a culture of innovation takes much work. It takes vision, leadership and willingness to take risks in the right proportion. Sachin Dev Duggal, co-founder of Builder.ai, has perfected the art of this balance, creating a company culture where creativity and growth are nurtured at each stage.
Kubernetes & AI - Beauty and the Beast !?! @KCD Istanbul 2024Tobias Schneck
As AI technology is pushing into IT I was wondering myself, as an “infrastructure container kubernetes guy”, how get this fancy AI technology get managed from an infrastructure operational view? Is it possible to apply our lovely cloud native principals as well? What benefit’s both technologies could bring to each other?
Let me take this questions and provide you a short journey through existing deployment models and use cases for AI software. On practical examples, we discuss what cloud/on-premise strategy we may need for applying it to our own infrastructure to get it to work from an enterprise perspective. I want to give an overview about infrastructure requirements and technologies, what could be beneficial or limiting your AI use cases in an enterprise environment. An interactive Demo will give you some insides, what approaches I got already working for real.
LF Energy Webinar: Electrical Grid Modelling and Simulation Through PowSyBl -...DanBrown980551
Do you want to learn how to model and simulate an electrical network from scratch in under an hour?
Then welcome to this PowSyBl workshop, hosted by Rte, the French Transmission System Operator (TSO)!
During the webinar, you will discover the PowSyBl ecosystem as well as handle and study an electrical network through an interactive Python notebook.
PowSyBl is an open source project hosted by LF Energy, which offers a comprehensive set of features for electrical grid modelling and simulation. Among other advanced features, PowSyBl provides:
- A fully editable and extendable library for grid component modelling;
- Visualization tools to display your network;
- Grid simulation tools, such as power flows, security analyses (with or without remedial actions) and sensitivity analyses;
The framework is mostly written in Java, with a Python binding so that Python developers can access PowSyBl functionalities as well.
What you will learn during the webinar:
- For beginners: discover PowSyBl's functionalities through a quick general presentation and the notebook, without needing any expert coding skills;
- For advanced developers: master the skills to efficiently apply PowSyBl functionalities to your real-world scenarios.
Transcript: Selling digital books in 2024: Insights from industry leaders - T...BookNet Canada
The publishing industry has been selling digital audiobooks and ebooks for over a decade and has found its groove. What’s changed? What has stayed the same? Where do we go from here? Join a group of leading sales peers from across the industry for a conversation about the lessons learned since the popularization of digital books, best practices, digital book supply chain management, and more.
Link to video recording: https://bnctechforum.ca/sessions/selling-digital-books-in-2024-insights-from-industry-leaders/
Presented by BookNet Canada on May 28, 2024, with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
Generating a custom Ruby SDK for your web service or Rails API using Smithyg2nightmarescribd
Have you ever wanted a Ruby client API to communicate with your web service? Smithy is a protocol-agnostic language for defining services and SDKs. Smithy Ruby is an implementation of Smithy that generates a Ruby SDK using a Smithy model. In this talk, we will explore Smithy and Smithy Ruby to learn how to generate custom feature-rich SDKs that can communicate with any web service, such as a Rails JSON API.
Encryption in Microsoft 365 - ExpertsLive Netherlands 2024Albert Hoitingh
In this session I delve into the encryption technology used in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Purview. Including the concepts of Customer Key and Double Key Encryption.
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Clients don’t know what they don’t know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clients’ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 4DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 4. In this session, we will cover Test Manager overview along with SAP heatmap.
The UiPath Test Manager overview with SAP heatmap webinar offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the role of a Test Manager within SAP environments, coupled with the utilization of heatmaps for effective testing strategies.
Participants will gain insights into the responsibilities, challenges, and best practices associated with test management in SAP projects. Additionally, the webinar delves into the significance of heatmaps as a visual aid for identifying testing priorities, areas of risk, and resource allocation within SAP landscapes. Through this session, attendees can expect to enhance their understanding of test management principles while learning practical approaches to optimize testing processes in SAP environments using heatmap visualization techniques
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into SAP testing best practices
2. Heatmap utilization for testing
3. Optimization of testing processes
4. Demo
Topics covered:
Execution from the test manager
Orchestrator execution result
Defect reporting
SAP heatmap example with demo
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey 2024 by 91mobiles.pdf91mobiles
91mobiles recently conducted a Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey in which we asked over 3,000 respondents about the TV they own, aspects they look at on a new TV, and their TV buying preferences.
Connector Corner: Automate dynamic content and events by pushing a buttonDianaGray10
Here is something new! In our next Connector Corner webinar, we will demonstrate how you can use a single workflow to:
Create a campaign using Mailchimp with merge tags/fields
Send an interactive Slack channel message (using buttons)
Have the message received by managers and peers along with a test email for review
But there’s more:
In a second workflow supporting the same use case, you’ll see:
Your campaign sent to target colleagues for approval
If the “Approve” button is clicked, a Jira/Zendesk ticket is created for the marketing design team
But—if the “Reject” button is pushed, colleagues will be alerted via Slack message
Join us to learn more about this new, human-in-the-loop capability, brought to you by Integration Service connectors.
And...
Speakers:
Akshay Agnihotri, Product Manager
Charlie Greenberg, Host
De-mystifying Zero to One: Design Informed Techniques for Greenfield Innovati...
The Pragmatic Marketer: Volume 6, Issue 1
1. Lead on Purpose:
How Product Managers
Lead Teams to Success
What are Patents?
Patents and the Product Manager
Agile Market Requirements
Problem Solving:
It’s All About Smart(er) Questions
P r a g m a t i c M a r k e t i n g ’s
2007 Annual
Product Management
and Marketing Survey
2. Viral Marketing? Search Engines? Blogs?
his
duct t
o co n p any
ct us t r co m
Conta sit e at you p coming
a r o n ove r fo r u .
semin c s
b a ck cation
o r s e e t es a n d l o
da Create a Strategy to
Reach Buyers Directly
The New Rules of Marketing™ seminar shows you
how to leverage the potential that web-based
communication offers your business:
• Establish a personal link with your current and prospective
customers. Reach niche buyers with targeted messages
unlike “old-school” advertising they’ll likely ignore.
• Learn to publish content that people want to read and
search engines reward with high rankings. Understand how
tools like blogs, podcasts, webcasts and social networking
enhance your online presence.
• Learn a step-by-step, practical framework for building an
online marketing strategy and an action-plan to create
online thought leadership for your organization.
Based on the best-selling book, The New Rules of
Marketing & PR: How to use news releases, blogs,
podcasting, viral marketing & online media to reach
buyers directly by David Meerman Scott, the New Rules
of Marketing seminar will show you how to reach buyers
directly with information they want to hear.
New Rules of Marketing
™
Create a strategy to reach buyers directly
Visit www.pragmaticmarketing.com/newrules
or call (800) 816-7861 to register
T h e I n d u s t r y S t a n d a r d f o r Te c h n o l o g y P r o d u c t M a n a g e m e n t a n d M a r k e t i n g
3. The Pragmatic Marketer ™
8910 E. Raintree Drive
Scottsdale, AZ 85260 Inside this issue: Volume 6 Issue 1 • 2008
Pragmatic Marketing, Inc.
CEO
Craig Stull 4 Pragmatic Marketing’s 2007 Annual
President
Product Management and Marketing Survey
Phil Myers Steve Johnson
Editor-in-Chief Each year Pragmatic Marketing conducts a
Kristyn Benmoussa survey of product managers and marketing
Editor professionals. Where do you stand with
Linda Sowers the national averages?
–––––––––––––––––
Interested in contributing an article? 10 Lead on Purpose:
How Product Managers Lead Teams to Success
Visit www.TPMmag.com/submit
Michael Ray Hopkin
No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in There is pressure on the product manager to inspire others
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical to do great work—even though he or she cannot hold others
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the accountable. As a result, product managers must be persuasive,
prior written permission of the publisher.
flexible, persistent, and optimistic; they must lead on purpose.
The Pragmatic Marketer™ is available free of
charge to qualified subscribers. For subscription
or back issues call (480) 515-1411; or visit
pragmaticmarketing.com/subscribe 16 What are Patents?
To be removed from the mail list, visit Tod DeBie
pragmaticmarketing.com/unsubscribe
or send an email to info@pragmaticmarketing.com
For technology product managers, just about any new
For advertising rates, call (480) 515-1411.
product or feature is patentable: hardware, software,
Other product and/or company names mentioned
business methods, etc. Every new feature and product
in this journal may be trademarks or registered you create should be examined for patentability.
trademarks of their respective companies and are Here is a quick overview about the rules, kinds and
the sole property of their respective owners. The
Pragmatic Marketer, a Pragmatic Marketing, Inc. restrictions of patents.
publication, shall not be liable regardless of the
cause, for any errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or
other defects in, or untimeliness or unauthenticity 20 Patents and the Product Manager
of, the information contained within this magazine. Tod DeBie
Pragmatic Marketing makes no representations,
warranties, or guarantees as to the results obtained Patents are not just for the engineers or legal
from the use of this information and shall not be
liable for any third-party claims or losses of any
department. While engineers are an important
kind, including lost profits, and punitive damages. source of innovation and legal departments
The Pragmatic Marketer is a trademark of must be involved in the patent process,
Pragmatic Marketing, Inc. product managers are uniquely situated both
Printed in the U.S.A. to create new patentable inventions and guide the
All rights reserved. company to inventions worth patenting.
ISSN 1938-9752 (Print)
ISSN 1938-9760 (Online) 23 Agile Market Requirements
About Pragmatic Marketing® Steve Johnson
Founded in 1993, Pragmatic Marketing provides
training, consulting services and an online
Successful product teams are agile, combining
community for product managers, marketers collaboration with small iterations. The key to
and business leaders at thousands of technology any agile team is building products that people
companies.
want to buy. To do that, an agile team needs a
We have trained more than 45,000 product
management and marketing professionals using the
messenger for the market, a product manager
Pragmatic Marketing Framework, a common sense who thoroughly understands the problems facing
approach to identifying market problems, building today’s customers.
the right solution and creating effective go-to-market
strategies. Over 90% of attendees rate the training
as essential or very useful to their careers.
29 Problem Solving:
Our Consulting Services provide technology
companies with implementation support and
It’s All About Smart(er) Questions
custom services designed to enhance the training Nilofer Merchant
received at Pragmatic Marketing’s seminars or
onsite workshops. The answer isn’t always in the solution—it’s in the
The online community at PragmaticMarketing.com questions. Smart questions define problems well
is the first-choice destination for technology product and lead to a clear vision of the issues involved.
management and marketing professionals. With
more than 35,000 visitors per month, this dynamic
resource center contains hundreds of articles, a job
board, book reviews, instructional webinars, links
to peer networking groups and much more. The Pragmatic Marketer • Volume 6, Issue 1, 2008 • 3
Visit www.PragmaticMarketing.com to learn more.
4. $
TIC M ARKETI
NG COMPENSATION
G MA ’S
RA
P 2007
ANNUAL 17%
say the bonus
motivates a lot
Product Management over 26%
and Marketing Survey
say the bonus
does not
Average US product motivate
management compensation at all
is $100,259 salary plus
Each year Pragmatic Marketing conducts a survey of product $14,799 annual bonus.
management and marketing professionals. Our objective is to
provide you with information about compensation as well as 84% of product managers
get a bonus based on:
the most common responsibilities for product managers and
other marketing professionals. • 62% company profit
• 44% quarterly objectives
Over 900 product management and marketing professionals (MBOs)
responded to the survey, which was conducted during the
• 32% product revenue
period of October 29 through November 28, 2007 using
Vovici’s EFM Feedback.
Note: When making decisions, remember this report is
describing typical practices, not best practices. To learn
best practices in product management and marketing, attend
Compensation by state
a Pragmatic Marketing seminar.
Adjusted for relative cost of living
(COLA) using Q2, 2007 data from
All comparisons are in US Dollars. the Missouri Economic Research
and Information Center. States
with less than three responses
were excluded.
Profile of a product manager
72%
88% are
men
claim to be The typical 28%
“somewhat” product 41% have are
The average 93%
or “very” manager completed women
product have
technical has a masters
manager completed
responsibility program
is 37 college
for three
years old
products
4 • The Pragmatic Marketer • Volume 6, Issue 1, 2008
5. Regional impact on compensation
Maximum Average Minimum Maximum Average Minimum
Salary Salary Salary Bonus Bonus Bonus
Europe $ 17 0, 0 0 0 $ 10 0, 6 2 9 $ 3 5, 0 0 0 $ 6 5, 0 0 0 $ 16, 4 8 3 $0
Canada 18 3, 0 0 0 9 5, 6 3 5 5 3, 0 0 0 4 0, 0 0 0 11, 014 0
USA* 24 0, 0 0 0 10 0, 2 59 3 0, 0 0 0 215, 0 0 0 14 , 7 9 9 0
Midwest 2 0 0, 0 0 0 8 8, 4 8 4 3 0, 0 0 0 12 5, 0 0 0 13, 8 4 3 1, 0 0 0
Northeast 24 0, 0 0 0 10 3, 5 3 3 4 0, 0 0 0 7 0, 0 0 0 14 , 5 0 0 1, 0 0 0
Pacific 2 0 0, 0 0 0 10 9, 5 69 59, 0 0 0 215, 0 0 0 16,161 0
South 16 0, 0 0 0 9 6,110 4 7, 0 0 0 6 0, 0 0 0 15, 3 3 3 0
Southwest 14 5, 0 0 0 10 2 ,16 2 5 0, 0 0 0 4 0, 0 0 0 13, 5 0 0 0
West 14 3, 0 0 0 9 3, 8 7 9 6 0, 0 0 0 10 8, 0 0 0 14 , 714 1, 0 0 0
Midwest (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI); Northeast (CT, DE, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT);
Pacific (AK, CA, HI, OR, WA); South (AL, FL, GA, KY, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV); Southwest (AR, LA, OK, TX); West (AZ, CO, ID, MT, NM, NV, UT, WY)
COLA
State Average Average
Illinois $ 124 , 2 31 $ 12 7, 5 4 7 Gender bias in compensation
Texas 113,10 8 12 6, 3 78 Conventional wisdom is that men earn more than women
Georgia 113, 4 5 8 12 3, 9 9 8 for the same job.
North Carolina 114 , 9 0 0 12 0, 4 4 0 Women: $94,851 Men: $100,587
Missouri 10 8, 0 0 0 119, 8 6 7
Arizona 12 7, 0 0 0 119, 5 8 6 However, the data suggest that males and females earn approximately
the same amount when they have the same level of experience.
Virginia 112 , 2 31 112 , 6 81 The overall numbers for women skew lower because the percentage
Average 10 7, 8 3 4 of women is higher in the lower-experience levels.
Utah 10 5, 6 6 7 10 6, 6 2 6 Annual Salary
Michigan 10 5, 2 8 6 10 6, 24 2 $125,000 Women
Median 10 5 , 0 0 0
Colorado 10 6, 69 2 10 4 , 3 9 6 $100,000 Overall
South Carolina 94,6 67 101, 0 3 2 $75,000 Men
Florida 10 5, 3 6 4 101, 0 2 0
$50,000
New Hampshire 115, 75 0 10 0, 3 9 0
Massachusetts 12 5, 0 6 5 9 9, 813 $25,000
Washington 10 4 , 714 9 9, 5 3 8
Years of
Minnesota 9 9, 5 3 8 9 8, 74 8 0 1 to 2 3 to 5 6 to 10 11 to 15 15+ Experience
Wisconsin 9 4 ,15 4 9 8, 0 7 7 Years of Experience
Ohio 9 0, 6 0 0 9 6, 2 81
100% Women
Connecticut 121, 2 5 0 9 6,15 4
Nebraska 8 6, 5 0 0 9 5, 5 8 0 80% Men
California 12 8, 76 7 9 3, 513 60%
Tennessee 82,4 0 0 9 2, 273
Maine 9 9, 0 0 0 9 0, 74 2 40%
New York 119, 8 75 8 9, 3 2 6 20%
Maryland 111,12 5 8 8, 8 2 9
Oregon 9 6, 8 75 8 8, 2 2 9 0% Years of
0 1 to 2 3 to 5 6 to 10 11 to 15 15+ Experience
New Jersey 10 9, 5 0 0 8 5, 614
Alabama 7 7, 3 3 3 8 4,0 5 8
Pennsylvania 8 5, 2 5 0 8 3, 2 5 2
The Pragmatic Marketer • Volume 6, Issue 1, 2008 • 5
South Dakota 5 7, 3 3 3 6 2 ,18 4
6. Pragmatic Marketing’s 2007 Annual Product Management and Marketing Survey
ORGANIZATION
CEO
VP The typical product manager reports to a director in the product
COO management department.
• 39% report to a director
Product
8% Manager 33% • 33% to VP
• 8% report directly to the CEO or COO
Director • 36% are in a product management department
• 21% are in the marketing department
39% • 12% are in Development or Engineering
• 6% are in a sales department
Working with Development Product Management
ratios within the company
The majority of product managers research market needs, write
requirements, and monitor development projects. How are product managers allocated relative
to other departments?
• 89% monitor development projects
• 85% write requirements (the “what” document) For each product manager, we find:
• 70% research market needs • 0.7 Product marketing managers
• 53% prepare business case (up from 0.4 in 2006)
• 51% write specifications (the “how” document) • 0.7 Marketing communications
Percentage responsible for P&L
• 18% perform win/loss analysis • 6.9 Sales people
(up from 3.2 in 2006)
35%
• 2.3 Sales engineers (pre-sales support)
Working with Marketing 30% (huge leap from 0.8 in 2006)
Communications and Sales 25% • 0.9 Development leads
Product managers also spend time providing 20% • 12.2 Developers
technical content for marketing and sales. • 0.7 Product architects and designers
15% (a huge jump from 0.4 in 2006)
• 47% train sales people
10%
• 44% go on sales calls Other ratios
• 43% write promotional copy 5%
• 3.4 developers per QA manager
• 36% approve promotional materials 0%
Product Product (versus 5:1 in 2006)
Director VP CFO CEO Other
• 14% work with press and analysts Manager Marketing sales people per SE
• 2.9
Manager(improved from 4:1 in 2006)
Percentage responsiblefor Product
Responsible for P&L Profit & Loss Responsiblefor go to market
Percentage responsible for Go-to-Market Strategies
35% 35%
30% 30%
25% 25%
20% 20%
15% 15%
10% 10%
5%
5%
0%
0%
Product Product Director VP CFO CEO Other Product Product Director VP CMO CEO Other
Manager Marketing Manager Marketing
Manager Manager
6 • The Pragmatic Marketer • Volume 6, Issue 1, 2008
Percentage responsible for go to market
7. Pragmatic Marketing’s 2007 Annual Product Management and Marketing Survey
Product Management 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% ACTIVITIES
Monitoring development projects
Writing product requirements
Details of product management
Researching market needs
and product marketing activity
Creating sales presentations and demos
Where do product management and
Creating material for internal audiences (intranet/wiki) marketing professionals spend their
Preparing business case time? Over 80% of product managers
are monitoring development projects
Writing detailed specifications and writing market requirements.
In addition, most product managers
Training sales people are involved with researching market
Going on sales calls needs and creating sales presentations
and demos.
Writing copy for promotional material
The good news from this chart is that
Creating material for external audiences (blog/newsletter) over 50% of product managers are
Planning and managing marketing programs building business cases. The business
case is the evidence of the product
Visiting sites (without sales people) manager’s role as a business leader in
the company.
Approving promotional material
Sadly, fewer than 20% of product
Performing win/loss analysis managers are doing win/loss analysis,
Measuring marketing programs which is such a critical input to
product planning!
Working with press or analysts
Compared to product managers,
Product Marketing product marketers should have an
emphasis on “outbound” activities.
Creating sales presentations and demos It is interesting, however, that 50%
of product marketers also spend
Planning and managing marketing programs time monitoring development
activities, indicating that the product
Writing copy for promotional material management and product marketing
roles are not consistently defined by
Approving promotional material
inbound vs. outbound activities.
Training sales people
Researching market needs
Impacts on productivity
Creating material for internal audiences (intranet/wiki)
• Product managers receive
Creating material for external audiences (blog/newsletter) 50 e-mails a day and send about 25.
Monitoring development projects • Product managers spend
approximately two days a week
Going on sales calls in internal meetings (15 meetings
per week). But 55% go to 15 or
Preparing business case more meetings each week, and
35% attend 20 or more meetings!
Measuring marketing programs
Writing product requirements
Working with press or analysts
Visiting sites (without sales people)
Writing detailed specifications
Performing win/loss analysis
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Some None The Pragmatic Marketer • Volume 6, Issue 1, 2008 • 7
8. Pragmatic Marketing’s 2007 Annual Product Management and Marketing Survey
Product Management vs. Product Marketing
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Monitoring development projects
Writing product requirements
Writing detailed specifications
Creating sales presentations and demos
Preparing business case
Researching market needs
Going on sales calls
Creating material for internal audiences (intranet/wiki)
Planning and managing marketing programs
Training sales people
Creating material for external audiences (blog/newsletter)
Visiting sites (without sales people)
Writing copy for promotional material
Working with press or analysts
Measuring marketing programs
Performing win/loss analysis
Approving promotional material
Product Manager Product Marketing Manager
To see the latest analysis, visit www.pragmaticmarketing.com/survey
Steve Johnson is an expert in technology product management. He works for Pragmatic Marketing as an instructor for the
top-rated seminars Practical Product Management, Requirements That Work and Pragmatic Roadmapping. Steve is a frequent
presenter at technology marketing forums throughout the United States and Europe, author of many articles on technology product
management, and the writer of the ProductMarketing.com blog. Contact Steve at sjohnson@pragmaticmarketing.com
8 • The Pragmatic Marketer • Volume 6, Issue 1, 2008
9. Achieving Best Practice in
Product Management and Marketing
with Pragmatic Marketing
Implementation of any change As experts in what works and what environment, Pragmatic Marketing
framework is hard. As an executive doesn’t, Pragmatic Marketing can can then suggest a course of action to
or business unit leader, you know the accelerate your implementation of a achieve success that includes one or
steps involved and could probably do market-driven framework, helping you more of the following:
it yourself. But your goal is to drive change the organization rapidly and
profit, customer satisfaction or other effectively with minimum disruption. • Alignment with your market by
corporate metrics, not change internal The seminars and workshops we teach identifying gaps between your current
processes. You just don’t have the time have provided the basis for successful organizational state and best practice,
or resources to lead the effort, and be shifts in corporate strategy, break- then creating a plan to address
a coach to the entire team. through products and market-leadership the misalignment.
positions for many organizations. • Acceleration of your product plan by
What you need is a trusted consultant Quite simply, the Pragmatic Marketing
who knows your business and can uncovering market problems which
Framework has become the industry can be used to develop the business
implement enough process to create standard because it works!
efficiencies without forcing the entire case for new product development.
company through an upheaval. With • Optimization of your go-to-market
an expert you trust, there is no trial Engagement Details programs by analyzing your existing
and error but immediate results solutions to current market problems,
A usual project begins with a
in the key areas of success for a and using this knowledge to drive
knowledge exchange, in which
market-driven company: marketing programs and sales
members of your executive team review
• Market sensing what it means to be truly market-driven effectiveness.
and how your current organization
• Speed to market • Reinforcement of market-driven
is aligned to meet that goal. With
principles by delivering a series of
an understanding of your current
• Product adoption tactical sessions focused on specific
tasks from the Pragmatic Marketing
• Product launch Framework.
• Customer satisfaction
To gain a better understanding of what
Pragmatic Marketing can do for you, please
visit www.pragmaticmarketing.com/services
or call (800) 816-7861.
The Pragmatic Marketer • Volume 6, Issue 1, 2008 • 9
10. Lead on Purpose
How Product Managers
Lead Teams to Success
In a recent article in The Pragmatic Marketer, Alyssa Dver states
that the success of product managers is measured by how well
they get other people in the company to do their jobs.1 There’s a
lot of truth in that statement! In most organizations, the product
manager does not have direct reports, but still is responsible
for assuring that the right product is released on time
and under budget.
This dilemma puts pressure on the product manager to inspire
others to do great work—even though he or she cannot
hold others accountable. As a result, product
managers must be persuasive, flexible, persistent,
and optimistic; they must lead on purpose.
11. By Michael Ray Hopkin
Seven guiding principles Applying the principles to Naturally, in the world of product
product management management, most product managers
I derived the title “Lead on Purpose” think about the products they manage
and many other ideas and practices How do the principles apply to as the true assets. The success of
from a seminar called “Live on product management? The role a those products creates revenue
Purpose” given by my friend and product manager often plays in an for the company and results in
coach Dr. Paul H. Jenkins (“Dr. organization resembles (at a macro praise and commendations for the
Paul” www.drpaul.org). Dr. Paul is level) the role a person’s brain plays product managers.
a clinical psychologist who specializes in influencing individual thoughts
in helping people encounter, and actions. The product manager Unfortunately, many companies view
recognize, embrace, live, and share must choose to work with other team their employees as another expense
true principles of abundant living. members who are responsible for on the income statement. Simply put,
Dr. Paul teaches the importance different aspects of the project in such things of monetary value are most
of letting principle guide through a way that allows them to function commonly thought of as assets; and,
seven key points: as a single unit. For most product often, people become tools or objects
managers, the team consists of to help an individual or company
1. People are assets. He describes acquire more “assets.”
managers and individual contributors
how people—not things—are
who design, develop, test, market, In truth, the real assets of any
the true assets that add value
support, and sell the product. Without organization are the people. Their
to our lives.
the team, products go nowhere. intellect—along with personality,
2. Trust is vital. When we focus on skills, knowledge, character, integrity,
In much the same way (also at a
building relationships and trust and other things collectively referred
macro level) that a CEO runs the
with others, we all grow together. to as “human life value”—create the
company, the product manager acts as
the catalyst to drive unity in purpose true value in any organization.
3. Knowledge is power. Knowledge
is actually potential power; only and action, which ultimately leads to Because of the nature of the work,
when it is applied does it become the timely release of quality products. it is vital that product managers treat
true power. their colleagues as true assets. Toward
If a product manager wants to lead
product teams with purpose and that end, a product manager must
4. Be decisive. We make decisions
energy, practicing and applying the spend time with the team. This means
every day, and when we are
principles of living on purpose to the talking with them, listening to their
decisive, things fall into place.
daily work of product management concerns and fears about the current
5. The victim paradigm. Victims inspires that unity and synergy among phase of the project, and occasionally
shirk responsibility for their team members and develops a more taking them out for lunch. I’m always
actions, blame others when efficient and successful creation of amazed at how much a lunch
problems occur, live in scarcity, a product. Here is a look at how motivates people.
and consume more than product managers can apply the seven When team members feel valued,
they produce. principles to their jobs: they care more about the product
6. The agent paradigm. Agents take on which they are working. Face-time
accountability for their lives, live Principle 1 with the team also helps product
in abundance, and produce more People are assets managers understand individuals and
value than they consume. personally assist them. Time spent
In today’s world, when people talk with the team pays financial dividends
7. The choice. As individuals, we about assets, they most often refer to as high-quality products make it to
ultimately choose the paradigm their house, car, boat, or investments. market on time and with enough
in which we live. In the business world, technology and vitality to excite the sales force. When
products—along with their associated product managers focus on the people
These seven principles provide
intellectual property—are the assets with whom they work, the products
direction for those who desire to live
that typically get the most attention. succeed as a result.
their lives with purpose—those who
want to take control of their actions
and live abundantly.
1) “Are you Decent?” The Pragmatic Marketer, Vol. 5, Issue 2, 2007; pp 26-30.
The Pragmatic Marketer • Volume 6, Issue 1, 2008 • 11
12. Lead on Purpose: How Product Managers Lead Teams to Success
Principle 2 Principle 3 Principle 4
Trust is vital Knowledge is power Be decisive
Gaining the trust of the team goes Before product managers can tackle How do product managers take
hand-in-hand with treating people difficult situations and effectively aim? For starters, they need to have
as assets. When product managers lead their teams to success, they a clearly-defined reason for why a
value the work and the efforts of need to gain knowledge. There are product is necessary. This definition
their teams, they gain the trust of many sources of product and market includes problem statements that
team members. When teams know knowledge: business books, analyst will be solved by the product
they are working on a great product reports, trade rags, blogs, and the and clearly-defined requirements
that will sell in the market, they are Internet. The volume of information to get there. Product managers
freed from worries about job stability is overwhelming, and keeping up need to define three things about
as well as from the boredom of less sometimes seems next to impossible. their products:
exciting products. Because knowledge is vital to leading
on purpose, product managers • Where is the product today?
Product managers gain the trust must seek avenues for finding the
of their teams by rolling up their • Where does it need to go and by
knowledge that will be most useful what time?
sleeves and getting to work. When to them and their specific needs.
the development team has an alpha • How can the team get the product
version of the product ready, a In the world of product management from here to there?
sharp-witted product manager will and marketing, one of the best sources
install it, exercise the functionality, and of knowledge I have found that can As product managers, do not
provide feedback to the team. When be applied directly to our work is underestimate the importance not
the documentation team has a draft Pragmatic Marketing. The company only of making key decisions,
of the new documents, the product provides a wide range of training but also of standing behind those
manager will carefully review and and consulting geared to educating decisions. We cannot afford to blame
provide comments. As the product gets and improving the role of product others for our decisions. If the team
closer to a beta- and ship-ready state, managers (or product marketing makes a decision, stand up and take
great product managers will work managers). responsibility for the consequences.
closely with marketing and operations Do not permit FEAR (false evidence
to make sure plans are laid for a What is the best way for product appearing real) to lead us or allow
successful product launch. managers to apply the knowledge our concern for what could happen
they gain to achieve power in their to change the course of our behavior.
Throughout the project lifecycle, position? Ultimately, they need to We must be confident in our ability to
product managers find ways to help find ways to put the knowledge they make decisions and in others’ abilities
customer-facing teams prepare to acquire into action. This most often to agree with and support us.
sell and support the product. In this becomes a personal quest; no one
way, product managers gain trust by else can do it for us. At the same time, be humble enough
showing that they are reliable and in to accept that we are not always right,
charge—leading on purpose. We can and should use tools that help and often need to change our own
us gather, filter, and deliver documents course of behavior. Making decisions
Another way to build trust is to and other types of collateral that gives us the opportunity to learn and,
take the heat when things do not ensure the team (and others) know ultimately, make better decisions.
go exactly as planned. Sometimes, product direction. I have used Ryma As product managers, we must act
taking responsibility can result in a Technology Solution’s FeaturePlan as confidently humble.
better outcome for the product. In a the tool for gathering and organizing
recent assignment, I took on a broadly the data that comes at me. Product managers must also provide
installed product that was failing with vision into where a product is going
many customers. Within days of taking Other product managers write blogs and how it will get there. Once the
over, I received calls from frustrated to disseminate knowledge. The tool vision is clear, share it with the team.
sales and product support engineers we use is less important than the effort The act of sharing vision with people
who wanted me to hear customer we put forth to use our knowledge working on various aspects of product
frustrations first hand. I accepted every to create valuable products. As product development arms them with energy
request. Even though I didn’t solve managers, we hold the key to our and desire to do their part for the
many problems at first, the mere act products’ success. success of the product. This can be
of listening to customers, discussing tricky, but if we want our team to take
their frustrations, and applying this their products in the desired direction,
knowledge to improving the product we must demonstrate vision.
won me the trust not only of the
customers, but also of my colleagues.
With the resulting synergy among
the team, we were able to release a
successful new version of the product.
12 • The Pragmatic Marketer • Volume 6, Issue 1, 2008
13. Lead on Purpose: How Product Managers Lead Teams to Success
Principle 5
Shun the victim paradigm
People living the victim mentality
blame others for what goes wrong
rather than taking responsibility
for their actions. They often live
in scarcity or feel there’s never
enough of anything and, therefore,
must have more for themselves. It’s
often a “Why me?” approach when
bad things happen.
Victims go through life avoiding
situations that could possibly harm
them or make them look bad. They
consume more than they produce.
They take the “I can’t” approach: I
can’t handle it; I can’t afford it; I
can’t do it. The ultimate outcome
of the victim mentality is captivity.
Those who take this approach
end up in bondage to the forces
around them, instead of free to
act for themselves.
Playing the victim as product
managers will not work. We must These people are producers—creating confidence in our direction. Living the
recognize moments when these more value than they consume. They agent paradigm as product managers
types of beliefs are entering our minds take the “How can I?” approach: How means living it personally—and
and seize the opportunity to employ can I handle it? How can I afford it? leading our team members to live it
some of the techniques previously How can I do it? Agents realize life is themselves. By leading as producers,
discussed to bring us back to leading a package deal and comes with ups we inspire others to live as producers;
“on purpose.” and downs. They do not focus on by moving forward as a team, we
the flaws or imperfections in others, produce great products that people
Principle 6 but on their positive traits. For those want to buy.
Live the agent paradigm who take this approach, the ultimate
We often admire people living
outcome is prosperity. Agents are free
to live unencumbered by the actions
Principle 7
the agent paradigm. Agents take of others—feeling joy and happiness Make the choice
responsibility for their actions and in their accomplishments and enjoying Achieving prosperity and success
shoulder the blame—even when they the trust and respect of others. is a choice each of us must make.
may not be fully responsible. They However, by personally living the
live in abundance and recognize To achieve success, product
managers must lead teams within principles of abundance, we inspire
that there is more than enough for others to do the same—thereby
everyone. When bad things happen, the agent paradigm. We must take
responsibility for the progress of increasing the success of the team
agents ask “Why not me?” and work and the entire organization.
toward solutions. product development and its success
when the product hits the market. The choice of how we will act, inspire,
Our goal is to willingly stand up, look and lead our teams is ours to make.
people in the eye, and demonstrate Make the choice to lead on purpose!
Michael Ray Hopkin has over 12 years experience working as a software engineer and a product manager for
companies ranging from startups to major corporations. Michael currently works as a senior product manager at
Altiris (now part of Symantec) and is responsible for the company’s core platform. He is a proven communicator
who has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to gain the trust and commitment of large, cross-divisional work
groups. He is eager to communicate with you about improving the leadership role of product management.
To contact Michael, visit his blog, http://leadonpurpose.wordpress.com or email him at mrhopkin@gmail.com
The Pragmatic Marketer • Volume 6, Issue 1, 2008 • 13
15. learn industry best practices
Product Management training Product Marketing training
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