Your daily dose of Product Management Goodness

Market Validation

This week we’re running through the techniques for market validation.

Technique number 5: SURVEYS



POSTAL SURVEYS, PHONE INTERVIEWS, INTERNET SURVEYS-Postal, phone and Internet surveys have the greatest potential for causing resentment on the part of those surveyed. And very low (less than 1%) response rates. Additionally, respondents may not be representative of the market and can misdirect you.

This week we’re running through the techniques for market validation.

Technique number 5: SURVEYS



POSTAL SURVEYS, PHONE INTERVIEWS, INTERNET SURVEYS-Postal, phone and Internet surveys have the greatest potential for causing resentment on the part of those surveyed. And very low (less than 1%) response rates. Additionally, respondents may not be representative of the market and can misdirect you.

Market Validation

This week we’re running through the techniques for market validation.

Technique number 4: PERSONAL INTERVIEWS

Personal Interview research is a face-to-face meeting. People are more willing to respond in person, but can often tell you what they think you want to hear.
Participants tend to say the first thing that comes to mind or what they think they want. Once you look deeper into it you notice that there’s a lot more that must be uncovered, sometimes what they think they want or why they think they choose a product or service isn’t always the true motivation.

This week we’re running through the techniques for market validation.

Technique number 4: PERSONAL INTERVIEWS

Personal Interview research is a face-to-face meeting. People are more willing to respond in person, but can often tell you what they think you want to hear.
Participants tend to say the first thing that comes to mind or what they think they want. Once you look deeper into it you notice that there’s a lot more that must be uncovered, sometimes what they think they want or why they think they choose a product or service isn’t always the true motivation.

Market Validation

This week we’re running through the techniques for market validation.

Technique number 3: FOCUS GROUP
In focus group research, 6 to 12 people are brought together by researchers to discuss a specific situation or reactions to a product. Questions are asked to the group, who are free to discuss the topics with each other. One key issue is that the research is reliant on the interpretation of group discussion. This can raise questions about observer dependency and validity.

This week we’re running through the techniques for market validation.

Technique number 3: FOCUS GROUP
In focus group research, 6 to 12 people are brought together by researchers to discuss a specific situation or reactions to a product. Questions are asked to the group, who are free to discuss the topics with each other. One key issue is that the research is reliant on the interpretation of group discussion. This can raise questions about observer dependency and validity.

Market Validation

This week we’re running through the techniques for market validation. Technique number 2: OBSERVATIONAL

In observational research actions of people are watched either by cameras or observers, typically in a natural environment. Using this technique, product managers can see how clients respond to different stimuli and situations. The benefit is that clients are more likely to demonstrate typical behaviour in a natural setting rather than ‘ideal’ behaviour in a simulated or artificial environment. However, what it cannot show is why customers behave in a certain way – their attitudes...

This week we’re running through the techniques for market validation. Technique number 2: OBSERVATIONAL

In observational research actions of people are watched either by cameras or observers, typically in a natural environment. Using this technique, product managers can see how clients respond to different stimuli and situations. The benefit is that clients are more likely to demonstrate typical behaviour in a natural setting rather than ‘ideal’ behaviour in a simulated or artificial environment. However, what it cannot show is why customers behave in a certain way – their attitudes or motivations.

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Product Thinking Fundamentals

No.5
We Boss Customer Value.
We increase commercial value through constantly increasing the customer value 1% at a time. Search to improve and optimize propositions throughout their lifecycle. Continuously track and measure to ensure what we do truly delivers.
Become world class 1% at a time.

No.5
We Boss Customer Value.
We increase commercial value through constantly increasing the customer value 1% at a time. Search to improve and optimize propositions throughout their lifecycle. Continuously track and measure to ensure what we do truly delivers.
Become world class 1% at a time.

Product Thinking Fundamentals

NO.4
We wallow in Customer Pain.
People use our products and services because they have pain.
A pain point is the root problem a customer has, and businesses exist to solve their customers pain points.
Our solutions are a response to that pain, But, don’t forget to truly understand the customer problem first, before going to the solution.

NO.4
We wallow in Customer Pain.
People use our products and services because they have pain.
A pain point is the root problem a customer has, and businesses exist to solve their customers pain points.
Our solutions are a response to that pain, But, don’t forget to truly understand the customer problem first, before going to the solution.

Product Thinking Fundamentals

Product Thinking Fundamentals

No.3

New Ideas are our Heartbeat.

New ideas are the lifeblood of product teams. So, to have fresh ideas, we need to break away from established patterns of thought and start to see new paths ahead.

Product and Design teams use Design Thinking as a methodology.

Empathise – What is the problem?

Define – Why is it important?

Ideate – How do we solve it?

Prototype – Why do we create it?

Product Thinking Fundamentals

No.3

New Ideas are our Heartbeat.

New ideas are the lifeblood of product teams. So, to have fresh ideas, we need to break away from established patterns of thought and start to see new paths ahead.

Product and Design teams use Design Thinking as a methodology.

Empathise – What is the problem?

Define – Why is it important?

Ideate – How do we solve it?

Prototype – Why do we create it?

Product Thinking Fundamentals

No.2

Strong Vision gives us Direction.

If Product Managers had a magic wand they would use it to predict future trends!

Unfortunately we don’t, so, having a strong vision is one of the keys to product/service success.

Miss the trend and your product or service becomes irrelevant.

Think about the introduction of internet.

When it first arrived, we could not have predicted the scale of change this would bring about. Companies collapsed when customers embraced the convenience of having everything at their fingertips. One of the casualties of this trend was Blockbuster.

...

No.2

Strong Vision gives us Direction.

If Product Managers had a magic wand they would use it to predict future trends!

Unfortunately we don’t, so, having a strong vision is one of the keys to product/service success.

Miss the trend and your product or service becomes irrelevant.

Think about the introduction of internet.

When it first arrived, we could not have predicted the scale of change this would bring about. Companies collapsed when customers embraced the convenience of having everything at their fingertips. One of the casualties of this trend was Blockbuster.

More recently, during the Pandemic, the internet has thrived. Some businesses have recognized the tidal wave and ridden it. Technology has enabled us to work from home, it has provided comfort for loved ones and provided the tools for us to socialize virtually. It’s helped us get all our essential shopping with the touch of a button and, kept us entertained daily through social media.

Amazon, Google, Zoom, Teams and Boohoo amongst others, have all surfed the crest of the wave, others have floundered and become irrelevant.

Read more

Product Thinking Fundamentals

Product Thinking Fundamentals.

No.1

Great strategy is built on great research.



Data really is everywhere, and product teams need to understand their customers, competition and markets. We use multiple data sources, and it’s never won and done. Product Thinkers ask themselves every week what have I learnt about my customers, my markets, or my competition. We know that truly understanding our customer wants and needs requires much more than desk-bound research.

Ask yourself how can you spend more time with your customers.

Product Thinking Fundamentals.

No.1

Great strategy is built on great research.



Data really is everywhere, and product teams need to understand their customers, competition and markets. We use multiple data sources, and it’s never won and done. Product Thinkers ask themselves every week what have I learnt about my customers, my markets, or my competition. We know that truly understanding our customer wants and needs requires much more than desk-bound research.

Ask yourself how can you spend more time with your customers.

Product Thinking Fundamentals

What is Product Thinking?
Product team work to understand how our products and services can be continuously improved to solve customer pain, they then work in an agile way to create customer value as quickly as possible.
I would say most of us make a ‘product’ or deliver a ‘service’, and that we all need to understand our customers and create value for them. So, Product thinking can be a useful practice in every department, by approaching the work you do as a product with specific customers, giving your teams problems to solve and measuring your success you’ll deliver customer val...

What is Product Thinking?
Product team work to understand how our products and services can be continuously improved to solve customer pain, they then work in an agile way to create customer value as quickly as possible.
I would say most of us make a ‘product’ or deliver a ‘service’, and that we all need to understand our customers and create value for them. So, Product thinking can be a useful practice in every department, by approaching the work you do as a product with specific customers, giving your teams problems to solve and measuring your success you’ll deliver customer value more quickly.
During the course of this week, I will be focusing on 5 product thinking fundamentals.

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Key Characteristics of a Good PM

It’s a question we face all the time. Mostly, when we’re helping businesses build a product management function. When recruiting experienced Product Managers, you might look for certain skills; launch skills, research skills, pricing skills, etc.

Why not look internally for those who are looking for a new challenge? They might not have the experience or skill set just yet, but do they have the core capability?



Try our quick checklist for working out if they have PM potential:

Curiosity – Do they demonstrate intellectual interest? Are they eager to learn?

Drive – Do they...

It’s a question we face all the time. Mostly, when we’re helping businesses build a product management function. When recruiting experienced Product Managers, you might look for certain skills; launch skills, research skills, pricing skills, etc.

Why not look internally for those who are looking for a new challenge? They might not have the experience or skill set just yet, but do they have the core capability?



Try our quick checklist for working out if they have PM potential:

Curiosity – Do they demonstrate intellectual interest? Are they eager to learn?

Drive – Do they show ambition?

Discipline – Are they organised?

People skills – Can they get people to listen to them. Can they take people with them? Are they charismatic?

Communication – Can they get their point across clearly and quickly?

Thought leadership – Do they have vision? Are they a creative problem solver?

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Capability Scores

When is a good opportunity NOT a good opportunity?

When it doesn’t match capability. It’s easy for Product Managers to get carried away with an idea and forget to look into their business. That knock-out opportunity you’ve identified might simply not match your organisation. Think of it as a capability review. Does your business have the funds, technical skills, market access, reputation, reach, scale and strategy intent to address the opportunity. If not, that great new product idea has the potential to sink your business.

When is a good opportunity NOT a good opportunity?

When it doesn’t match capability. It’s easy for Product Managers to get carried away with an idea and forget to look into their business. That knock-out opportunity you’ve identified might simply not match your organisation. Think of it as a capability review. Does your business have the funds, technical skills, market access, reputation, reach, scale and strategy intent to address the opportunity. If not, that great new product idea has the potential to sink your business.

Habits of a High Performing Team

Habit no 10

We Deliver Results.

Listen and communicate constructively and effectively. Encourage the sharing of opinions and learn by mistakes and mishaps.

Track success through metrics

Commit to improving your skills.

Habit no 10

We Deliver Results.

Listen and communicate constructively and effectively. Encourage the sharing of opinions and learn by mistakes and mishaps.

Track success through metrics

Commit to improving your skills.

Habits of a High Performing Team

No 9. We are not afraid to fail.

Lean upon the process of product management to 'Fail Fast'. Iterating fast failing achieves a desired result faster than perfecting the solution.

In the complex digital revolution era, trying to predict, control, and eliminate variances is a losing game. Reducing variance inevitably meets the law of diminishing marginal returns. The cost of reducing variance eventually exceeds the benefit.

In addition, the goal of controlling and minimising variance can be deceptive because we don't know what to measure in a complex environment that changes so rapidly...

No 9. We are not afraid to fail.

Lean upon the process of product management to 'Fail Fast'. Iterating fast failing achieves a desired result faster than perfecting the solution.

In the complex digital revolution era, trying to predict, control, and eliminate variances is a losing game. Reducing variance inevitably meets the law of diminishing marginal returns. The cost of reducing variance eventually exceeds the benefit.

In addition, the goal of controlling and minimising variance can be deceptive because we don't know what to measure in a complex environment that changes so rapidly. We can't control what we cant measure. The minute we figure it out, what we need to measure has changed.

Read more

Habits of a High Performing Team

Habit No. 8

We Play to Team Strengths.



One way to ensure your team is motivated, engaged, and performing to the best of their ability is to play to their strengths.

If you are interested in determining the strength of a team, use one of the many online questionnaires that are designed to understand individual and/or team strengths. These assessments focus around a list of 30 or so potential strengths, and, after taking the assessment, highlights about 5 top strengths, resulting in you gaining a clearer insight as to where your team members natural talents lie.

Habit No. 8

We Play to Team Strengths.



One way to ensure your team is motivated, engaged, and performing to the best of their ability is to play to their strengths.

If you are interested in determining the strength of a team, use one of the many online questionnaires that are designed to understand individual and/or team strengths. These assessments focus around a list of 30 or so potential strengths, and, after taking the assessment, highlights about 5 top strengths, resulting in you gaining a clearer insight as to where your team members natural talents lie.

Habits of a High Performing Team

Habits of a High Performing Team

No 7

We Feedback Continuously

Clear communication enables the team to deliver a high quality of work.

Emphasis should be placed upon identifying barriers and achievements to past performance to inform future performance.

Find insights and make changes that focus upon the critical elements that will actually drive performance.

Regular structured feedback creates a shared responsibility for performance:

Employees or individuals own their performance.

Managers empower, enable and facilitate it.

Habits of a High Performing Team

No 7

We Feedback Continuously

Clear communication enables the team to deliver a high quality of work.

Emphasis should be placed upon identifying barriers and achievements to past performance to inform future performance.

Find insights and make changes that focus upon the critical elements that will actually drive performance.

Regular structured feedback creates a shared responsibility for performance:

Employees or individuals own their performance.

Managers empower, enable and facilitate it.

Habits of a High Performing Team

NO 6

We Value Difference.

Do we ask enough questions, or are we happily settling for what we already know?

Avoid managerial biases and embrace the fact your team will work and act in different ways.

e.g Do you do your best work early in the morning, or do you get your most productive second wind late at night?

Timing, especially with flex workers, does matter to some managers.

According to a new study, researchers at the University of Washington Foster School of Business found that people who elect to work an early shift are perceived by their bosses to be better employees ...

NO 6

We Value Difference.

Do we ask enough questions, or are we happily settling for what we already know?

Avoid managerial biases and embrace the fact your team will work and act in different ways.

e.g Do you do your best work early in the morning, or do you get your most productive second wind late at night?

Timing, especially with flex workers, does matter to some managers.

According to a new study, researchers at the University of Washington Foster School of Business found that people who elect to work an early shift are perceived by their bosses to be better employees than those who work a late shift.

Read more

Habits of a High Performing Team

NO.5

We continuously learn.

' Your ability to learn or the quality of your learning as an individual or an organisation will be the primary factor in your ability to stay relevant and competitive' (Edward Hess).

Set goals, make small but consistent improvements towards those goals and objectives and commit to them. Once you achieve consistency, confidence will blossom.

Ask for feedback

This changes your perspective and you get new ideas.

Prepare for the unexpected. You must be able to anticipate barriers and respond quickly to problems.

Boost your profile.

Individuals...

NO.5

We continuously learn.

' Your ability to learn or the quality of your learning as an individual or an organisation will be the primary factor in your ability to stay relevant and competitive' (Edward Hess).

Set goals, make small but consistent improvements towards those goals and objectives and commit to them. Once you achieve consistency, confidence will blossom.

Ask for feedback

This changes your perspective and you get new ideas.

Prepare for the unexpected. You must be able to anticipate barriers and respond quickly to problems.

Boost your profile.

Individuals obtain 70% of their knowledge from job related experiences, 20% through interactions with others and 10% from formal training.

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Habits of a High Performing Team

NO.4
Excellence isn’t micromanagement
Excellence is a consistently high standard of performance employees may not always attain, but even when they don't their effort is excellent.
Excellence is reflected in 2 ways:
Formal goals and Informal expectations.
Formal goals that are aggressive but not so high they're impossible to reach, which only serves to demoralize.
Informal expectations are the casual attitudes we display on an everyday basis: that all work we receive will be high quality, done with care, and to a person's very best ability.

NO.4
Excellence isn’t micromanagement
Excellence is a consistently high standard of performance employees may not always attain, but even when they don't their effort is excellent.
Excellence is reflected in 2 ways:
Formal goals and Informal expectations.
Formal goals that are aggressive but not so high they're impossible to reach, which only serves to demoralize.
Informal expectations are the casual attitudes we display on an everyday basis: that all work we receive will be high quality, done with care, and to a person's very best ability.

Habits of a high performing Team

Habit No.3
There is a lot of debate about Product Managers being CEO's of their product. In today's workplace, the CEO mindset is exactly what we need, not just for Product Managers, but also the entire team... Individuals capable of making their own decisions and possess the ability to get the work done.

Determine which CEO skills your product need now and

create a strategy to achieve that.

Develop a right culture, a 'way of being' in your team that brings out the best in people and supports them to feel autonomous.

Habit No.3
There is a lot of debate about Product Managers being CEO's of their product. In today's workplace, the CEO mindset is exactly what we need, not just for Product Managers, but also the entire team... Individuals capable of making their own decisions and possess the ability to get the work done.

Determine which CEO skills your product need now and

create a strategy to achieve that.

Develop a right culture, a 'way of being' in your team that brings out the best in people and supports them to feel autonomous.

Habits of a High Performing Team

Habits of a high performing team

No 2

We set ambitious objectives.

Goals are full of unlimited potential and if we fail to set ambitious goals for ourselves we fail to reach our full potential.

So, low goals produce sub-par results and ambitious goals lead to improved results.

Naturally, we are not always able to achieve all of our 'high' set goals, however the act of trying moves you far closer than if you had set them at average level.

- Set the bar high.. Reach for the stars!

- Make a plan. Every goal needs a plan..

- Create short term milestones..

- Assess your a...

Habits of a high performing team

No 2

We set ambitious objectives.

Goals are full of unlimited potential and if we fail to set ambitious goals for ourselves we fail to reach our full potential.

So, low goals produce sub-par results and ambitious goals lead to improved results.

Naturally, we are not always able to achieve all of our 'high' set goals, however the act of trying moves you far closer than if you had set them at average level.

- Set the bar high.. Reach for the stars!

- Make a plan. Every goal needs a plan..

- Create short term milestones..

- Assess your achievements.. celebrate them.

Never stop learning

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A High Performing Team

HABITS OF A HIGH PERFORMING TEAM

NO.1 Have a foundation of trust.
Create POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS by Staying in touch on the issues and concerns of others. Give honest feedback, resolve conflict whilst balancing concerns for others and generate co-operation to achieve a resolution.

Use GOOD JUDGEMENT when making decisions. Anticipate and respond quickly to problems using a solid foundation of knowledge and expertise to achieve results. Others will trust and seek your opinions.

Be CONSISTENT.

Be a Role Model.

Walk the talk and follow through on commitments.

Go above and beyond...

HABITS OF A HIGH PERFORMING TEAM

NO.1 Have a foundation of trust.
Create POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS by Staying in touch on the issues and concerns of others. Give honest feedback, resolve conflict whilst balancing concerns for others and generate co-operation to achieve a resolution.

Use GOOD JUDGEMENT when making decisions. Anticipate and respond quickly to problems using a solid foundation of knowledge and expertise to achieve results. Others will trust and seek your opinions.

Be CONSISTENT.

Be a Role Model.

Walk the talk and follow through on commitments.

Go above and beyond what needs to be done.

Read more

10 Habits

Over the next few days I will be showing you the 10 habits of a highly effective cross functional team.

Here is a brief look at what's to come.

Over the next few days I will be showing you the 10 habits of a highly effective cross functional team.

Here is a brief look at what's to come.

How Balanced is your Portfolio

How balanced is your portfolio? Unbalanced portfolios cluster around lifecycle stages. magnifying lifecycle-stage risk. (For example, all products tracking into decline at the same time). Balanced portfolios spread across the lifecycle stages

How balanced is your portfolio? Unbalanced portfolios cluster around lifecycle stages. magnifying lifecycle-stage risk. (For example, all products tracking into decline at the same time). Balanced portfolios spread across the lifecycle stages

Big VS Small Business PM

Big Business vs Small Business Product Management

We train product management in some of the biggest and smallest companies globally.

Last year our biggest client employed over 4,000 people in product roles and our smallest had a product management team of one. Clearly there is going to be some change to the PM role depending on the size of the business and the product team, so what is the difference?

What does product management look like at these extremes? I’d characterise it like this – GLUING VS DOING.
In a big team, the product manager has marketers, pricing experts, launch ...

Big Business vs Small Business Product Management

We train product management in some of the biggest and smallest companies globally.

Last year our biggest client employed over 4,000 people in product roles and our smallest had a product management team of one. Clearly there is going to be some change to the PM role depending on the size of the business and the product team, so what is the difference?

What does product management look like at these extremes? I’d characterise it like this – GLUING VS DOING.
In a big team, the product manager has marketers, pricing experts, launch managers, research teams, etc. Their job is to use those extensive resources to build out the perfect product. They GLUE.

In a small team, the product manager doesn’t have the same extensive team and resources available, therefore they need to figure out most of the detail for themselves. They DO.

The core discipline remains the same but the daily actions can look very different. When we train teams we pay attention to this because we are aware of the differences – it’s one of the ways we can be effective in very big and very small teams.

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3A.M Problems

Find the 3 A.M. problem
We work with many teams who want to innovate more – find the next big thing that will propel their business forward. Often these conversations focus on the product “What new shiny thing can we take to market?”. This is not the right place to start. In the B2B world, great products are built on solving real world problems. The bigger the problem, the more motivation there is to fix it. Obvious really, but missed by so many teams on their quest to uncover a winning idea. So, next time you’re looking to innovate, start with this question “What problems are keepi...

Find the 3 A.M. problem
We work with many teams who want to innovate more – find the next big thing that will propel their business forward. Often these conversations focus on the product “What new shiny thing can we take to market?”. This is not the right place to start. In the B2B world, great products are built on solving real world problems. The bigger the problem, the more motivation there is to fix it. Obvious really, but missed by so many teams on their quest to uncover a winning idea. So, next time you’re looking to innovate, start with this question “What problems are keeping our customers awake at night?”. Problems that wake someone at 3am, are problems they’re motivated to solve

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Churn Or Retention

Ever tried to fill a sink with the plug out? Thought not. Trying to grow a business with a high churn rate is similar – every good thing you do to grow with new product and service is negated by customers leaving (or more recently, a pandemic)

Something every product manager should sweat about are their churn or retention stats. Here are two things to do to reduce churn:

1. Know your customer behaviour and lifecycle
Customers who churn typically show pre-churn behaviour (lack of use, complaints, etc) or are date driven (contract renewal). Work out the signs and timing and build inte...

Ever tried to fill a sink with the plug out? Thought not. Trying to grow a business with a high churn rate is similar – every good thing you do to grow with new product and service is negated by customers leaving (or more recently, a pandemic)

Something every product manager should sweat about are their churn or retention stats. Here are two things to do to reduce churn:

1. Know your customer behaviour and lifecycle
Customers who churn typically show pre-churn behaviour (lack of use, complaints, etc) or are date driven (contract renewal). Work out the signs and timing and build intervention strategies

2. Make your product frictionless
The more barriers you put in the way of usage, the lower the usage (and therefore retention). Something as simple as a complex login process can kill a product. Think of amazon one click as properly frictionless and try to away the barriers to using your product.

Hard work I know, but think about the results – a two percent reduction in churn equates to more than a 10% revenue increase over a 5 year window. It’s worth the effort

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Market Shift

Does your Market Disappear or Shift?

The ‘decline of the high-street’ has been regular news for the what seems like forever. Few weeks go by without another casualty hitting the headlines.

Take Blockbuster for example, they filed for bankruptcy, blaming a declining market. In reality, their market was larger than ever, it had just shifted towards the online & digital space.

So, what can we learn from this? Sure, some markets disappear, but most shift. And these shifts cause disruption that product managers can either embrace and take advantage of or ignore and find their products...

Does your Market Disappear or Shift?

The ‘decline of the high-street’ has been regular news for the what seems like forever. Few weeks go by without another casualty hitting the headlines.

Take Blockbuster for example, they filed for bankruptcy, blaming a declining market. In reality, their market was larger than ever, it had just shifted towards the online & digital space.

So, what can we learn from this? Sure, some markets disappear, but most shift. And these shifts cause disruption that product managers can either embrace and take advantage of or ignore and find their products and services irrelevant.

Don’t get left behind by your market because of stubbornness or short-sighted, tactical thinking.

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PM Health Check

It looks like Spring is on its way, so it's time for a PM health check!



How do you review the maturity of a PM function? We use a 360 review:



• People

Without the right team in place it’s impossible to excel. We review the team through capability (Do they have the potential to be a great PM?), skills (Do they have the right PM experience?) and scale (Is there enough of them?)



• Processes

We review the full process, reporting, RACI, etc, viewing the process in terms of fit to your business (Risk vs reward vs scale vs speed vs certainty vs evidence vs innovation)...

It looks like Spring is on its way, so it's time for a PM health check!



How do you review the maturity of a PM function? We use a 360 review:



• People

Without the right team in place it’s impossible to excel. We review the team through capability (Do they have the potential to be a great PM?), skills (Do they have the right PM experience?) and scale (Is there enough of them?)



• Processes

We review the full process, reporting, RACI, etc, viewing the process in terms of fit to your business (Risk vs reward vs scale vs speed vs certainty vs evidence vs innovation)



• Tools.

Without standardisation, product managers use such a wide variety of tools that it becomes increasingly difficult for a management team to make reasoned decisions – they cannot do an ‘apples to apples’ comparison. We review the complete process suite for robustness, ease of use, visibility and adherence.



• Environment

A great PM team, with the right processes, tools and templates can still fail to thrive because of the environment - stakeholders, supporting processes and management not aligning with product. We review stakeholder teams leadership engagement and adjacent processes to asses alignment.

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Dealing with Obstacles

Dealing with obstacles

Navigating obstacles is a daily part of Product Management – dealing with product issues, pressures from other teams, workload, worrying about product performance…..
Some Product Managers become so overwhelmed that they can’t see anything but obstacles. Their performance suffers, their product suffers,
they suffer! Here’s a tip from the world of cycling; instead of looking at the obstacles, look beyond them at where you want to go. Look through the trees and around the rocks. By focusing on where you want to go instead of what you want to miss, the obstacles...

Dealing with obstacles

Navigating obstacles is a daily part of Product Management – dealing with product issues, pressures from other teams, workload, worrying about product performance…..
Some Product Managers become so overwhelmed that they can’t see anything but obstacles. Their performance suffers, their product suffers,
they suffer! Here’s a tip from the world of cycling; instead of looking at the obstacles, look beyond them at where you want to go. Look through the trees and around the rocks. By focusing on where you want to go instead of what you want to miss, the obstacles shrink and that good path becomes clear.

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Value your Customers

So many organisations look at their existing customers as ‘A deal that is already done’.

Why is it that they so rarely ask how are these happy customers going to help them sell to the next group of customers?

When launching a new product, having a group of strong advocates will kick start those sales far quicker than sending out flyers or other marketing materials.

Think about what you need to do with getting the innovators on board and talking about your solution.

Don’t take your customers for granted. They could be your greatest advocate or your biggest critic. And they can...

So many organisations look at their existing customers as ‘A deal that is already done’.

Why is it that they so rarely ask how are these happy customers going to help them sell to the next group of customers?

When launching a new product, having a group of strong advocates will kick start those sales far quicker than sending out flyers or other marketing materials.

Think about what you need to do with getting the innovators on board and talking about your solution.

Don’t take your customers for granted. They could be your greatest advocate or your biggest critic. And they can either damage or improve your solution growth, depending on how you treat them.

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Roadmap to Recovery

Here in the UK our PM has published his “roadmap to recovery”. i.e. how we exit lockdown and get back to a normal life. As any Product team knows, roadmaps are difficult to get right – committing enough to gain interest/excitement/support/confidence whilst not making promises that you can’t keep is a difficult balance. So how has Boris done? He’s committed to a set of major ‘from’ dates and given high-level expectations around each of these dates. Essentially he’s got some room for maneuver if the situation changes. The two worst things he could have done would have been 1. Sa...

Here in the UK our PM has published his “roadmap to recovery”. i.e. how we exit lockdown and get back to a normal life. As any Product team knows, roadmaps are difficult to get right – committing enough to gain interest/excitement/support/confidence whilst not making promises that you can’t keep is a difficult balance. So how has Boris done? He’s committed to a set of major ‘from’ dates and given high-level expectations around each of these dates. Essentially he’s got some room for maneuver if the situation changes. The two worst things he could have done would have been 1. Said nothing. 2. Committed too much. I’d say that from a road mapping perspective he’s got this about right.

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Competition

We should think about levels of competition.

1. We might face products similar to ours from competitors that look a lot like us. These are direct competitive threats - think Audi vs BMW vs Mercedes.

2. Sometimes the competition is less obvious. Its other ways that our customers can solve the problem that we help them solve. These are indirect competitive threats – think car vs plane vs video conferencing

3. Occasionally we see our product having no competition. This sounds great, but we should be cautious. No competition might mean you’re first to market, but it might also mean th...

We should think about levels of competition.

1. We might face products similar to ours from competitors that look a lot like us. These are direct competitive threats - think Audi vs BMW vs Mercedes.

2. Sometimes the competition is less obvious. Its other ways that our customers can solve the problem that we help them solve. These are indirect competitive threats – think car vs plane vs video conferencing

3. Occasionally we see our product having no competition. This sounds great, but we should be cautious. No competition might mean you’re first to market, but it might also mean that there really is no market. Even being first to market isn’t without risk. History is littered with examples of products and businesses that got there first, but didn’t thrive – think Palm in the PDA market, the Beta max format in the video market or Atari in the games console market. All three were first to market. All three failed to capitalise on first mover advantage

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Market Research Quick Tip

Market research can give you the wrong answers if you don’t ask the questions in the right way. “Which is your favourite colour car” is a very different question to “Which colour car would you buy”. They make like the yellow car, but buy the blue one because of resale value concerns.

Market research can give you the wrong answers if you don’t ask the questions in the right way. “Which is your favourite colour car” is a very different question to “Which colour car would you buy”. They make like the yellow car, but buy the blue one because of resale value concerns.

Building out a vision

Building out a vision is tough. Working out how to deliver is even tougher! We’ve built a one page canvas that helps:-

1. Define your three year goals for your product

2. Think of annual initiatives or themes for years 1, 2 and 3 that drive to that goal

3. Break the annual initiative down into quarterly points of value

It breaks a big problem down into smaller, bite sized steps.

How are you currently dealing with planning your product's future?

Let us know what you think might be useful in the comments

Building out a vision is tough. Working out how to deliver is even tougher! We’ve built a one page canvas that helps:-

1. Define your three year goals for your product

2. Think of annual initiatives or themes for years 1, 2 and 3 that drive to that goal

3. Break the annual initiative down into quarterly points of value

It breaks a big problem down into smaller, bite sized steps.

How are you currently dealing with planning your product's future?

Let us know what you think might be useful in the comments

Mega Trends

Mega trends are substantial changes that can impact any aspect of our business. Once upon a time the internet was a potential mega trend, out on the horizon, gathering strength. Some businesses saw it, built or modified their products to accommodate it, and rode the internet wave. Others weren’t so visionary and floundered as the world moved online.

How do we identify mega trends? product managers must constantly look for trends in four broad categories:

· Technology – today we see trends such as A.I or the Internet of Things gathering momentum.

· Social – think of trends such...

Mega trends are substantial changes that can impact any aspect of our business. Once upon a time the internet was a potential mega trend, out on the horizon, gathering strength. Some businesses saw it, built or modified their products to accommodate it, and rode the internet wave. Others weren’t so visionary and floundered as the world moved online.

How do we identify mega trends? product managers must constantly look for trends in four broad categories:

· Technology – today we see trends such as A.I or the Internet of Things gathering momentum.

· Social – think of trends such as the ageing population or urbanization

· Economic – the gig economy and peer-to-peer networks are relevant examples

· Political – trends could be border security or environmental controls.

Once we’ve identified the trends, we need to think of what they mean to our business. For example, IoT presents risk and opportunity around cybersecurity. There will be an estimated 26 billion connected devices by 2020 – some sharing sensitive data and payment information. Hacking into that network could cause widespread disruption.

So what mega trends present opportunity or risk to your product? Product Managers should be thinking about this regularly.

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Mega Trends

Mega trends are substantial changes that can impact any aspect of our business. Once upon a time the internet was a potential mega trend, out on the horizon, gathering strength. Some businesses saw it, built or modified their products to accommodate it, and rode the internet wave. Others weren’t so visionary and floundered as the world moved online.

How do we identify mega trends? product managers must constantly look for trends in four broad categories:

· Technology – today we see trends such as A.I or the Internet of Things gathering momentum.

· Social – think of trends such...

Mega trends are substantial changes that can impact any aspect of our business. Once upon a time the internet was a potential mega trend, out on the horizon, gathering strength. Some businesses saw it, built or modified their products to accommodate it, and rode the internet wave. Others weren’t so visionary and floundered as the world moved online.

How do we identify mega trends? product managers must constantly look for trends in four broad categories:

· Technology – today we see trends such as A.I or the Internet of Things gathering momentum.

· Social – think of trends such as the ageing population or urbanization

· Economic – the gig economy and peer-to-peer networks are relevant examples

· Political – trends could be border security or environmental controls.

Once we’ve identified the trends, we need to think of what they mean to our business. For example, IoT presents risk and opportunity around cybersecurity. There will be an estimated 26 billion connected devices by 2020 – some sharing sensitive data and payment information. Hacking into that network could cause widespread disruption.

So what mega trends present opportunity or risk to your product? Product Managers should be thinking about this regularly.

Read more

Mega Trends

Mega trends are substantial changes that can impact any aspect of our business. Once upon a time the internet was a potential mega trend, out on the horizon, gathering strength. Some businesses saw it, built or modified their products to accommodate it, and rode the internet wave. Others weren’t so visionary and floundered as the world moved online.

How do we identify mega trends? product managers must constantly look for trends in four broad categories:

· Technology – today we see trends such as A.I or the Internet of Things gathering momentum.

· Social – think of trends such...

Mega trends are substantial changes that can impact any aspect of our business. Once upon a time the internet was a potential mega trend, out on the horizon, gathering strength. Some businesses saw it, built or modified their products to accommodate it, and rode the internet wave. Others weren’t so visionary and floundered as the world moved online.

How do we identify mega trends? product managers must constantly look for trends in four broad categories:

· Technology – today we see trends such as A.I or the Internet of Things gathering momentum.

· Social – think of trends such as the ageing population or urbanization

· Economic – the gig economy and peer-to-peer networks are relevant examples

· Political – trends could be border security or environmental controls.

Once we’ve identified the trends, we need to think of what they mean to our business. For example, IoT presents risk and opportunity around cybersecurity. There will be an estimated 26 billion connected devices by 2020 – some sharing sensitive data and payment information. Hacking into that network could cause widespread disruption.

So what mega trends present opportunity or risk to your product? Product Managers should be thinking about this regularly.

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The Value Delivery Network

The value delivery network
When we think about the value our products deliver, we often think about the value we deliver to one group; the end users. But it is rare for value delivery to be that simple. For most products, value delivery is best perceived as a network of value creators and value recipients. We might create elements of value by what we build, how we support, or how we price. That value is delivered to those who buy, support, and use our product. Not one single entity either creates or receives all of the value. Forget this and there will be an imbalance in value creation.

The value delivery network
When we think about the value our products deliver, we often think about the value we deliver to one group; the end users. But it is rare for value delivery to be that simple. For most products, value delivery is best perceived as a network of value creators and value recipients. We might create elements of value by what we build, how we support, or how we price. That value is delivered to those who buy, support, and use our product. Not one single entity either creates or receives all of the value. Forget this and there will be an imbalance in value creation.

The Impact of getting a product

The impact of getting a product wrong
You can get a product wrong in many ways - badly designed, poorly build, doesn’t solve any specific need, too expensive etc....
We often think of the cost of the mistake in relation to the product - x million in development effort has been wasted, but the cost is much bigger than that. Think of it from a brand perspective. If a company delivers a bad product then customers don’t just reject the product, but they become wary of brand. An example from two brands- Alfa Romeo and Porsche; Alfa have a history of highs and lows. Sometimes they delight, ...

The impact of getting a product wrong
You can get a product wrong in many ways - badly designed, poorly build, doesn’t solve any specific need, too expensive etc....
We often think of the cost of the mistake in relation to the product - x million in development effort has been wasted, but the cost is much bigger than that. Think of it from a brand perspective. If a company delivers a bad product then customers don’t just reject the product, but they become wary of brand. An example from two brands- Alfa Romeo and Porsche; Alfa have a history of highs and lows. Sometimes they delight, sometimes not. Porsche have consistency. Now imagine both companies announce a new sports car for 2019 that you can place a deposit on today. Guess who would have the fuller order book? Brand confidence is a war that products battle to win

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What's your product Value?

What’s your product value?
Product managers should be able to articulate the value of their product to the target market in a concise, coherent and compelling way. Here’s the value proposition template with Nespresso as an example. Simply replace the black words with your own to build your value statement.

What’s your product value?
Product managers should be able to articulate the value of their product to the target market in a concise, coherent and compelling way. Here’s the value proposition template with Nespresso as an example. Simply replace the black words with your own to build your value statement.

Better Product Communicators

Leaders of Product Management often ask how to get their team to be better product communicators - to be able to get their message across well. My response is to ask one simple question “When did you last ask the team about value propositions?”. Here are some simple tips to drive better product communications:

1. Be value proposition obsessed
Test the team regularly by getting them to present the following:

• Elevator pitch
• Five minute overview
• Product vision
• Value proposition
• Objection handling

2. Measure communications effectiveness

• E.g. does the sa...

Leaders of Product Management often ask how to get their team to be better product communicators - to be able to get their message across well. My response is to ask one simple question “When did you last ask the team about value propositions?”. Here are some simple tips to drive better product communications:

1. Be value proposition obsessed
Test the team regularly by getting them to present the following:

• Elevator pitch
• Five minute overview
• Product vision
• Value proposition
• Objection handling

2. Measure communications effectiveness

• E.g. does the sales team know the message

3. Coach on multi-channel delivery

• Face to face
• Audio
• Video
• Written

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Firmographic Segmentation

This is a neat segmentation technique. Firmographic segmentation is the process of analysing B2B audiences and grouping them based on their shared characteristics.
Firmographic data is gathered and analyzed in order to better understand and isolate the target audience
Businesses use firmographics for organisations in the same way that B2C companies use demographics for people

This is a neat segmentation technique. Firmographic segmentation is the process of analysing B2B audiences and grouping them based on their shared characteristics.
Firmographic data is gathered and analyzed in order to better understand and isolate the target audience
Businesses use firmographics for organisations in the same way that B2C companies use demographics for people

Maintenance vs Innovation

Maintenance vs innovation

How do product managers balance the needs of their current product versus investing in new ideas? We’re working with a company where about 80% of development effort is directed towards product maintenance, some towards enhancements and the little bit that’s left goes to innovation. The result? A very frustrated senior management team who see a huge spend and nothing new to sell. There can be many reasons behind this (badly architected product, fixed sized dev teams, etc) but it clearly can't be sustained. Our fix? Set a target maintenance spend (say 20%) and a ...

Maintenance vs innovation

How do product managers balance the needs of their current product versus investing in new ideas? We’re working with a company where about 80% of development effort is directed towards product maintenance, some towards enhancements and the little bit that’s left goes to innovation. The result? A very frustrated senior management team who see a huge spend and nothing new to sell. There can be many reasons behind this (badly architected product, fixed sized dev teams, etc) but it clearly can't be sustained. Our fix? Set a target maintenance spend (say 20%) and a target date to hit that spend (say 3 years), and then ratchet spend down each quarter. This gives teams the time to address the fundamentals, get a plan in place and move towards a more appropriate spending level.

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Your business case

Keeping your business case up to date
Product managers understand the need for a business case when they are looking for investment in a new product. It tells stakeholders about customers, markets, competition, and the solution needed to capture those markets. But what about post launch - should the business case be filed and forgotten? The short answer is no – the business case needs to reflect current market conditions to enable good decisions throughout the product lifecycle . Here’s our tip on making this happen; When you launch your product, file a copy of the business case. But also...

Keeping your business case up to date
Product managers understand the need for a business case when they are looking for investment in a new product. It tells stakeholders about customers, markets, competition, and the solution needed to capture those markets. But what about post launch - should the business case be filed and forgotten? The short answer is no – the business case needs to reflect current market conditions to enable good decisions throughout the product lifecycle . Here’s our tip on making this happen; When you launch your product, file a copy of the business case. But also take a second copy and spend a few minutes at the end of each week updating it with new insights “What have I learnt about my business over the last few days”. Every three months file the updated copy and continue with the process. The net result? A business case that describes why you went to market and a set of incremental updates that describe current market conditions.

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Market Research Quick Tip

A quick tip on market research.
With all research techniques we should remember that what customers do and say and think is not always consistent. I may LIKE the yellow car. It might be my FAVOURITE colour, but I might BUY the blue car – it stays looking clean, it’s easier to sell, it’s less a risky choice. So remember to ask the same question from many angles and look for consistency:
What is your favourite colour?
Which colour would you choose?
Which will be most popular?
Which colour would your partner choose?
Which colour would you buy?

A quick tip on market research.
With all research techniques we should remember that what customers do and say and think is not always consistent. I may LIKE the yellow car. It might be my FAVOURITE colour, but I might BUY the blue car – it stays looking clean, it’s easier to sell, it’s less a risky choice. So remember to ask the same question from many angles and look for consistency:
What is your favourite colour?
Which colour would you choose?
Which will be most popular?
Which colour would your partner choose?
Which colour would you buy?

How to turn vision into action

Turning vision into action.
Building a vision is great.
But Product managers need to turn that vision into action – work out how to deliver customer value in incremental as we work towards that vision. We use this vision template to help:

1. Describe the core value you plan to offer (your vision)
2. Work out what the annual goal needs to be that help move towards that vision
3. Describe the incremental customer value you deliver each quarter that move towards your annual goal

Turning vision into action.
Building a vision is great.
But Product managers need to turn that vision into action – work out how to deliver customer value in incremental as we work towards that vision. We use this vision template to help:

1. Describe the core value you plan to offer (your vision)
2. Work out what the annual goal needs to be that help move towards that vision
3. Describe the incremental customer value you deliver each quarter that move towards your annual goal

Product Manager vs Product Owner

How do you structure Product Owners and Product Managers in a team?
It’s a dilemma for many – we often work with teams where there really is not role clarity and often one person is trying to do both jobs. Typically the urgency of Product Owner duties overwhelms the importance of Product Management duties with the net result of very little commercial and strategic thinking taking place – the individual becomes technical, tactical and faces in to the organisation.
Short term this isn’t a problem, but look out over a longer horizon and the impact can be huge; limited vision, little mar...

How do you structure Product Owners and Product Managers in a team?
It’s a dilemma for many – we often work with teams where there really is not role clarity and often one person is trying to do both jobs. Typically the urgency of Product Owner duties overwhelms the importance of Product Management duties with the net result of very little commercial and strategic thinking taking place – the individual becomes technical, tactical and faces in to the organisation.
Short term this isn’t a problem, but look out over a longer horizon and the impact can be huge; limited vision, little market connection, and incremental product enhancement that exposes the business to risks from disruptive technology. Product Managers need time to be strategic, commercial, outbound and market-connected.

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Design Thinking - Test

Here is the 5th stage of Design thinking

Test
The prototypes are rigorously tested with customers. All feedback is good feedback at this stage. Product teams are not trying to persuade customers to purchase. Negative feedback at this stage is quick and easy to fix. Many ideas do not get past first test. Success is a quick and clear (positive or negative) customer response.
In this stage we stay open and inquisitive:
Why (do you like / dislike)
What (do you want or need to achieve) (are we missing) (would make it knockout)
Who (drives these wants and needs)
When (do you need to achieve...

Here is the 5th stage of Design thinking

Test
The prototypes are rigorously tested with customers. All feedback is good feedback at this stage. Product teams are not trying to persuade customers to purchase. Negative feedback at this stage is quick and easy to fix. Many ideas do not get past first test. Success is a quick and clear (positive or negative) customer response.
In this stage we stay open and inquisitive:
Why (do you like / dislike)
What (do you want or need to achieve) (are we missing) (would make it knockout)
Who (drives these wants and needs)
When (do you need to achieve them by)
How (do you currently plan to meet these wants and needs)

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Design Thinking - Ideate

Ideate
During the ideate stage we are ready to start generating ideas. We reframe the problem statements through a series of lenses in order to:

• Reframe problems in a positive way
• Open minds to alternate solutions
• Turn challenges into opportunities
• Foster creative solutions
• Facilitate brainstorming
• Allow for crazy ideas

The How Might We (HMW) framework is a way to reframe a problem. HMW questions drive ideation sessions where product teams explore ideas which can help solve problem statements in an innovative way. These are the HMW reframing lenses:

•...

Ideate
During the ideate stage we are ready to start generating ideas. We reframe the problem statements through a series of lenses in order to:

• Reframe problems in a positive way
• Open minds to alternate solutions
• Turn challenges into opportunities
• Foster creative solutions
• Facilitate brainstorming
• Allow for crazy ideas

The How Might We (HMW) framework is a way to reframe a problem. HMW questions drive ideation sessions where product teams explore ideas which can help solve problem statements in an innovative way. These are the HMW reframing lenses:

• Amp up the good
• Remove the bad
• Explore the opposite
• Question an assumption
• Go after adjectives
• ID unexpected resources
• Play problem statement against the challenge
• Change a status quo
• Break problem statement into pieces

Using our Problem statement framework example, we look for creative solutions to our problem:

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Design Thinking-Prioritise

Here is the 3rd satge of design thinking
Prioritise
The Prioritisation Framework is designed to help product teams
conduct systematic prioritisation of problem statements.
Higher ranking problem statements are likely to have more commercial
value. A consistent set of prioritisation criteria for all Problem Statements.

Here is the 3rd satge of design thinking
Prioritise
The Prioritisation Framework is designed to help product teams
conduct systematic prioritisation of problem statements.
Higher ranking problem statements are likely to have more commercial
value. A consistent set of prioritisation criteria for all Problem Statements.

Design Thinking- Define

Here is the 2nd stage of Design Thinking
Define
During the Define stage, you analyse your observations and synthesise them in order to identify the core pain points. You then define the pain points using the problem statement format – statements that capture the pain from a customer centric viewpoint:

Here is the 2nd stage of Design Thinking
Define
During the Define stage, you analyse your observations and synthesise them in order to identify the core pain points. You then define the pain points using the problem statement format – statements that capture the pain from a customer centric viewpoint:

Design Thinking - Empathise

Here is the 1st stage of Design Thinking
Empathise
The first stage of the Design Thinking process is to gain an empathic understanding of the problem you are trying to solve. This involves observing, engaging and empathizing with people to understand their experiences and motivations, as well as immersing yourself in the physical environment so you can gain a deeper personal understanding of the issues involved. Empathy is crucial to Design Thinking, and empathy allows design thinkers to set aside their own assumptions about the world in order to gain insight into users and their needs.

E...

Here is the 1st stage of Design Thinking
Empathise
The first stage of the Design Thinking process is to gain an empathic understanding of the problem you are trying to solve. This involves observing, engaging and empathizing with people to understand their experiences and motivations, as well as immersing yourself in the physical environment so you can gain a deeper personal understanding of the issues involved. Empathy is crucial to Design Thinking, and empathy allows design thinkers to set aside their own assumptions about the world in order to gain insight into users and their needs.

Empathy Maps are used to document our findings

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Design Thinking Introduction

Design Thinking is a design methodology that provides a solution-based approach to solving problems. It’s extremely useful in tackling complex problems that are ill-defined or unknown, by understanding the human needs involved, by re-framing the problem in human-centric ways, by creating many ideas in brainstorming sessions, and by adopting a hands-on approach in prototyping and testing.

The six stages of Design Thinking are as follows: Empathise, Define (the problem), Prioritise, Ideate, Prototype, and Test.
Over the next 6 days we will cover each stage.

Design Thinking is a design methodology that provides a solution-based approach to solving problems. It’s extremely useful in tackling complex problems that are ill-defined or unknown, by understanding the human needs involved, by re-framing the problem in human-centric ways, by creating many ideas in brainstorming sessions, and by adopting a hands-on approach in prototyping and testing.

The six stages of Design Thinking are as follows: Empathise, Define (the problem), Prioritise, Ideate, Prototype, and Test.
Over the next 6 days we will cover each stage.

Be aware of bias

Here’s my 5th tip for start strategising
5. Be aware of bias
Psychologists have identified more than 100 thinking biases, there is even one called the ‘IKEA effect’ that I think has particular relevance to product managers. The ‘IKEA effect’ means we place a disproportionate value on something we helped to make like flat-pack furniture. Easy to see how this bias might apply to our own products, as a result of the fruits of our labours.
Here are some other biases to be mindful of;
‘Confirmation bias’, is our tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of our existing be...

Here’s my 5th tip for start strategising
5. Be aware of bias
Psychologists have identified more than 100 thinking biases, there is even one called the ‘IKEA effect’ that I think has particular relevance to product managers. The ‘IKEA effect’ means we place a disproportionate value on something we helped to make like flat-pack furniture. Easy to see how this bias might apply to our own products, as a result of the fruits of our labours.
Here are some other biases to be mindful of;
‘Confirmation bias’, is our tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of our existing belief or theory, this makes us stop gathering data, or pick out the data point only that supports our view or prejudice, ignoring or forgetting the information that doesn’t support our view.
Or, the ‘bandwagon effect’, this is our tendency to adopt a view because everyone else is doing it. It is a form of groupthink behavior, and it’s easily adopted because we want to be on the winning side, and we hop on the bandwagon despite the evidence to the contrary.
To avoid biases try to look for instance where you might be wrong, and try these things;
1. Try to prove why our strategy or opinion might not work; challenge it from different perspectives, and points of view
2. Ask ‘What if’ questions
3. Seek out people who think differently to us, or who work in different areas, or industries get their opinion
We as Product managers come into our roles through many paths, and that broad knowledge and perspectives give us enormous potential to be strategic, alongside that we have a role, and a function that demands that we be, strategic, we’re the CEOs of our product. If we aren’t being strategic we will die! So, commit to change; acknowledge what is stopping us or holding us back, work to eliminate it or minimise it, and use the suggestions in our blogs to start. Finally, tell us how you got on, we love to hear the experiences, and the personal stories, connect with us here

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Be Curious

Here’s my fourth tip on start strategising

4. Be curious
The thinking goes hand in hand with curiosity. Look under all the rocks, we may not know the answers, but we sure should know the questions. Curiosity is one of the most wonderful attributes we can have; it is the trait of truly awesome people. With curiosity, you get engaged, commit to understanding, acquire new knowledge and deliver results. There’s also nothing more important for building a quality relationship than being genuinely interested in somebody. Do we ask enough questions, or are we happily settling for what you kno...

Here’s my fourth tip on start strategising

4. Be curious
The thinking goes hand in hand with curiosity. Look under all the rocks, we may not know the answers, but we sure should know the questions. Curiosity is one of the most wonderful attributes we can have; it is the trait of truly awesome people. With curiosity, you get engaged, commit to understanding, acquire new knowledge and deliver results. There’s also nothing more important for building a quality relationship than being genuinely interested in somebody. Do we ask enough questions, or are we happily settling for what you know already? Do you need some help in this area? Here are some ideas;
1. Be curious about everyone we meet; What they do? How they do it?
2. Approach things from a learners perspective, or a child’s eyes, be willing to be vulnerable and ask what might be considered naive questions
3. Develop broader interests outside of the immediate organisation, and consume content on different subjects, even subjects outside of our comfort zone.
4. Take time to listen. We mean, LISTEN. Listen without judgment. Curious people are always good listeners
Lastly, having curiosity makes life more interesting, and more fulfilling, so what’s not to like?

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Think Strategically

How do we start being strategic?

Here’s my third tip on start strategising

3. Think strategically
Strategic thinkers make connections they link variables; plans, people, ideas, and they make projections of those things and how they might impact our products, services, markets, customer, and our teams. Those are complex, and I can’t stress this enough, thinking through those things requires that we slow down. If you’ve delegated, and or freed up time, and product management ideas like Vision, Mega Trends, and Product Strategy tasks above haven’t got you started, here are some oth...

How do we start being strategic?

Here’s my third tip on start strategising

3. Think strategically
Strategic thinkers make connections they link variables; plans, people, ideas, and they make projections of those things and how they might impact our products, services, markets, customer, and our teams. Those are complex, and I can’t stress this enough, thinking through those things requires that we slow down. If you’ve delegated, and or freed up time, and product management ideas like Vision, Mega Trends, and Product Strategy tasks above haven’t got you started, here are some other ideas to get you thinking strategically.
1. Read annual reports of competitors, or read other annual reports unrelated from other industries just to be curious (see below)
2. Get someone from the Strategic function to mentor or tutor you
3. Volunteer to serve on a strategic task force, or ask a Manager if you can participate or assist them in any of their work that might be strategic in nature
The more you do it, the better you’ll become.

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Talk Strategically

How do we start being strategic?

Talk Strategically

Strategy is an ever-emerging and ever-changing field; we should keep up to date with the terminology. The company we work in and the industry we work in may also have its own nomenclature associated with strategy. Use the latest buzz words; we can, ‘synergise’, ‘ideate’ and ‘bifurcate’ with the best of them! If we talk strategically we’ll be seen as more strategic. Listen out for the organisational buzz words, and give them a go! The most important thing is committing to being strategic and committment to learning and tryi...

How do we start being strategic?

Talk Strategically

Strategy is an ever-emerging and ever-changing field; we should keep up to date with the terminology. The company we work in and the industry we work in may also have its own nomenclature associated with strategy. Use the latest buzz words; we can, ‘synergise’, ‘ideate’ and ‘bifurcate’ with the best of them! If we talk strategically we’ll be seen as more strategic. Listen out for the organisational buzz words, and give them a go! The most important thing is committing to being strategic and committment to learning and trying it out. There is a world of difference between ‘wanting’ and being ‘committed to’. Commitment takes sacrifices, dedicated time, and ability to step out of our comfort zone, perhaps spend personal time researching the subject of strategy as opposed to usual pastimes or interests. Here are some research ideas that will help you sound more strategic;

Read - Read books written by strategy gurus, or select some of the 554,000,000 articles or paper available in Google. Harvard Business Review (HBR) is a great trusted resource on strategic topics

Listen - Try Ted talks, or Podcasts, on related topics

Attend - Look for Meet Ups or Webinars on strategy related themes

Louise Cantrill

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Make Strategy a Habit

How do we start being strategic?
Here’s my first tip on being more strategic
1. Make strategy a habit, schedule time for it
If we don’t schedule time for strategy it won’t happen, and it certainly won’t become a habit. Schedule time for strategic activities, product managers already have a ‘Licence to Strategise’. There is so much in product management as a function that is strategic in nature so let’s start here, use the time we’ve scheduled to revisit or create these items for our product;
• Creating or reviewing the Product Vision
• Researching or thinking about Me...

How do we start being strategic?
Here’s my first tip on being more strategic
1. Make strategy a habit, schedule time for it
If we don’t schedule time for strategy it won’t happen, and it certainly won’t become a habit. Schedule time for strategic activities, product managers already have a ‘Licence to Strategise’. There is so much in product management as a function that is strategic in nature so let’s start here, use the time we’ve scheduled to revisit or create these items for our product;
• Creating or reviewing the Product Vision
• Researching or thinking about Mega Trends
• Creating or reviewing the Product Strategy
• Creating or reviewing the Future or the Long Term Roadmap
• Researching competitors
Additionally don’t wait till any corporate strategic planning initiatives happen, if you have strategic calendared initiatives find out when they are, and plan for proactively presenting our ideas and thinking on things like Mega Trends or Product Vision ahead of that timetable, this enables us to present our ideas and thoughts to our peers and managers, influencing them and demonstrating our strategic prowess.

[link to previous blog on strategy]

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Start Strategising.

Stop fire-fighting start strategising – what’s stopping us?
One of the biggest reasons some of us are held back from deep thinking is because we are too busy. The ‘to do’ list never goes away so strategy never gets a look in. Strategic thinking doesn’t require a great deal of time, we just need to take time out from the operational, that’s why in our number 1, 7 Habits of a Highly Successful Product Managers ‘Start Strategising’ is alongside ‘Stop Fire-Fighting’, because they go hand in hand.

What stops us from strategising?
Here is a list of possible causes that may ...

Stop fire-fighting start strategising – what’s stopping us?
One of the biggest reasons some of us are held back from deep thinking is because we are too busy. The ‘to do’ list never goes away so strategy never gets a look in. Strategic thinking doesn’t require a great deal of time, we just need to take time out from the operational, that’s why in our number 1, 7 Habits of a Highly Successful Product Managers ‘Start Strategising’ is alongside ‘Stop Fire-Fighting’, because they go hand in hand.

What stops us from strategising?
Here is a list of possible causes that may also be hindering us;
• We don’t like complexity
• We are new to the area or inexperienced in function
• We may be uncomfortable speculating, or dealing with uncertainty
• We may lack perspective, or have a narrow perspective about our business or market
• Our role may be very tactical
• Finally, we may not know how to start being strategic
So, take time to think through what’s really stopping us?
It’s really important to identify the right cause, identifying the right cause enables us to identify the right remedy.

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Empathy Map

Todays blog comes from @Louise Cantrill

It’s January, are you already fire-fighting?

I work with product teams who tell me that they want to spend more time talking to customers. Then, I hear what actually happens, emails, meetings, fire- fighting. Weeks, months go by and still fire-fighting! Making time for the things that are most important to us don’t just happen. You must commit to it, so don’t just talk about it do it!
Start with the empathy map, interview a customer find out how they ‘think and feel’ and their ‘pains and gains’. I promise you won’t regret it

Todays blog comes from @Louise Cantrill

It’s January, are you already fire-fighting?

I work with product teams who tell me that they want to spend more time talking to customers. Then, I hear what actually happens, emails, meetings, fire- fighting. Weeks, months go by and still fire-fighting! Making time for the things that are most important to us don’t just happen. You must commit to it, so don’t just talk about it do it!
Start with the empathy map, interview a customer find out how they ‘think and feel’ and their ‘pains and gains’. I promise you won’t regret it

Talking the Right Language

Talking the right language

Ever feel your message isn’t getting through to your customer? It could be that the message is wrong, but often it’s not the message, but the delivery – language that doesn’t resonate with your target market. Here’s a simple example; you want to encourage your children to exercise more. Which statement is more likely to work: ‘ Shall we go for a long ride on our bikes to improve our cardiovascular fitness’ or

‘Let’s see who can get muddiest on the canal path!

’’Simple rule of product management – when you talk to your customers, speak...

Talking the right language

Ever feel your message isn’t getting through to your customer? It could be that the message is wrong, but often it’s not the message, but the delivery – language that doesn’t resonate with your target market. Here’s a simple example; you want to encourage your children to exercise more. Which statement is more likely to work: ‘ Shall we go for a long ride on our bikes to improve our cardiovascular fitness’ or

‘Let’s see who can get muddiest on the canal path!

’’Simple rule of product management – when you talk to your customers, speak in a way that makes sense to them not in language that impresses your boss!

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Survey 4

Technique 4 of 4

Finally, we can use surveys to build a quantitative view of our market. These could be online, over the ‘phone or even postal, but we need to be aware that these type of surveys have the greatest potential for causing resentment on the part of those surveyed and can have very low (less than 1%) response rates. Additionally, respondents may not be representative of the market with just the extremes feeling motivated to complete the survey.

Technique 4 of 4

Finally, we can use surveys to build a quantitative view of our market. These could be online, over the ‘phone or even postal, but we need to be aware that these type of surveys have the greatest potential for causing resentment on the part of those surveyed and can have very low (less than 1%) response rates. Additionally, respondents may not be representative of the market with just the extremes feeling motivated to complete the survey.

Discuss 3

Technique 3 of 4

A one-on-one either in face-to-face or virtual form is a great way of conducting market research . People are more willing to respond in more depth, detail and honesty outside of a group dynamic. But focus groups also fall into this category – a group of 6 to 12 people who are brought together by researchers to discuss a particular situation or reactions to a product.

More than any other technique, the researcher can impact the outcome. Individuals can build a view of the researchers opinion and modify their response based on that. For example, if interviewees believe ...

Technique 3 of 4

A one-on-one either in face-to-face or virtual form is a great way of conducting market research . People are more willing to respond in more depth, detail and honesty outside of a group dynamic. But focus groups also fall into this category – a group of 6 to 12 people who are brought together by researchers to discuss a particular situation or reactions to a product.

More than any other technique, the researcher can impact the outcome. Individuals can build a view of the researchers opinion and modify their response based on that. For example, if interviewees believe the researcher has strong concerns about the environment then some of the cohort will modify their views in an attempt to cause less offence to the researcher.

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Observe 2

Technique 2 of 4

Observational market research is a technique which involves directly observing consumers or another target audience in their natural environment - for instance, watching how shoppers stop outside a fashion retailer, what they are drawn to in a window display and which direction they go after entering the store.

But be aware OBSERVING is not the same as UNDERSTANDING.

Technique 2 of 4

Observational market research is a technique which involves directly observing consumers or another target audience in their natural environment - for instance, watching how shoppers stop outside a fashion retailer, what they are drawn to in a window display and which direction they go after entering the store.

But be aware OBSERVING is not the same as UNDERSTANDING.

Experiment 1

Technique 1 of 4

Experimental market research is a useful refinement and validation technique. Take two market research groups and change one single variable within the 7 P model.

For example, the same product is presented, but the price point is changed. We then gauge reaction to this change.

Technique 1 of 4

Experimental market research is a useful refinement and validation technique. Take two market research groups and change one single variable within the 7 P model.

For example, the same product is presented, but the price point is changed. We then gauge reaction to this change.

Core Content

CORE CONTENT

Product Managers often present complex content. Imagine presenting a Product Plan at a peer review with a 50 slide deck full of 10 point writing. How do you think your audience would respond?

It’s better to adopt a “less is more” approach. If we take the product plan example, a great way to present it is to build the content into an eight slide deck. Each slide has a heading (the section name) one image (a graph, or picture) and three bullet points. You can then present from it rather than read it.

You’ll get questions as you go, some easy to handle others requiri...

CORE CONTENT

Product Managers often present complex content. Imagine presenting a Product Plan at a peer review with a 50 slide deck full of 10 point writing. How do you think your audience would respond?

It’s better to adopt a “less is more” approach. If we take the product plan example, a great way to present it is to build the content into an eight slide deck. Each slide has a heading (the section name) one image (a graph, or picture) and three bullet points. You can then present from it rather than read it.

You’ll get questions as you go, some easy to handle others requiring more thought. For those questions, think of using a “parking lot” – a board where we write questions and comments we’ll address after the meeting.

And one other tip – keep an eye on the time. You don’t want to ruin your big finale because the clock beat you!

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Business case

How do you build out a product business case?

It’s a loaded term and everyone seems to have different expectations. So what is a business case?

In simple terms it’d a model to provide justification for undertaking a project or programme. It evaluates the benefit, cost and risk of alternative options and provides a rationale for the preferred solution.

How do you build out a product business case?

It’s a loaded term and everyone seems to have different expectations. So what is a business case?

In simple terms it’d a model to provide justification for undertaking a project or programme. It evaluates the benefit, cost and risk of alternative options and provides a rationale for the preferred solution.

Successfully launching a product

Who is responsible for successfully launching a product?

Ever tried to build a RACI model that describes roles and responsibilities through a product delivery cycle? It often ends up as an overcomplex spreadsheet that feels more academic than real-world as we try and map out the complex world we live in.

What the exercise misses is this; taking a product to market is a team sport - a group of people with expertise across the product delivery process are engaged in bringing a product to market from inception, to launch, to in-life management.

They bring their expertise to the table an...

Who is responsible for successfully launching a product?

Ever tried to build a RACI model that describes roles and responsibilities through a product delivery cycle? It often ends up as an overcomplex spreadsheet that feels more academic than real-world as we try and map out the complex world we live in.

What the exercise misses is this; taking a product to market is a team sport - a group of people with expertise across the product delivery process are engaged in bringing a product to market from inception, to launch, to in-life management.

They bring their expertise to the table and might take the lead on certain topics. But they work as a team to get the best product delivered. My tip; whenever you’re trying to deliver a product to market, agree some team objectives and key results, and never lose sight that you’re on the same team!

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long-term direction of product

When did you last think about the long term direction of your product?

Many of us get so caught up in the day-to-day that we forget to look up. The risk is our product might become irrelevant as trends change market needs. So spend a few minutes thinking:

• What trends are heading towards my market that may impact what we deliver?

• How would our current product suite cope?

• What small technology, communications and regulatory steps should I take to keep my product relevant.

Remember, taking many small steps forward is easier and less risky than one giant leap. But it of...

When did you last think about the long term direction of your product?

Many of us get so caught up in the day-to-day that we forget to look up. The risk is our product might become irrelevant as trends change market needs. So spend a few minutes thinking:

• What trends are heading towards my market that may impact what we deliver?

• How would our current product suite cope?

• What small technology, communications and regulatory steps should I take to keep my product relevant.

Remember, taking many small steps forward is easier and less risky than one giant leap. But it often gets you to the same place.

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Vision into action

Turning vision into action. Building a vision is great.

But Product managers need to turn that vision into action – work out how to deliver customer value in incremental as we work towards that vision.

We use this vision template to help:

1. Describe the core value you plan to offer (your vision)
2. Work out what the annual goal needs to be that help move towards that vision
3. Describe the incremental customer value you deliver each quarter that move towards your annual goal

Turning vision into action. Building a vision is great.

But Product managers need to turn that vision into action – work out how to deliver customer value in incremental as we work towards that vision.

We use this vision template to help:

1. Describe the core value you plan to offer (your vision)
2. Work out what the annual goal needs to be that help move towards that vision
3. Describe the incremental customer value you deliver each quarter that move towards your annual goal

Product Management/Marketing

Product Management and Product Marketing

Clarity of the roles and responsibilities across the two disciplines is vital in any organisation.

For many product managers, the role of product marketing may be undertaken by another group or individual in the organisation. It may be considered part of their own role but is often undertaken with lower levels of knowledge & experience.

In some cases, product marketing may not be practiced at all, and a new or improved product "thrown over the wall" to the rest of the organisation and the market!

It is clear to me that the combination of st...

Product Management and Product Marketing

Clarity of the roles and responsibilities across the two disciplines is vital in any organisation.

For many product managers, the role of product marketing may be undertaken by another group or individual in the organisation. It may be considered part of their own role but is often undertaken with lower levels of knowledge & experience.

In some cases, product marketing may not be practiced at all, and a new or improved product "thrown over the wall" to the rest of the organisation and the market!

It is clear to me that the combination of strategies and processes from both disciplines maximises the success of a new or updated product.

In many ways it is less about the need for an organisation to have both roles (although this is undoubtedly important as a product scales) but more about the need for an organisation to adopt & integrate both disciplines, perhaps using a collaborative team approach.

In simple terms we could state that Product Management has to define and oversee the build of the product and Product Marketing has to take it to market. The reality is more complex than this...

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Don’t take customers for granted

So many organisations look at their existing customers as ‘A deal that is already done’.

Why is it that they so rarely ask how are these happy customers going to help them sell to the next group of customers?

When launching a new product, having a group of strong advocates will kick start those sales far quicker than sending out flyers or other marketing materials.

Think about what you need to do with getting the innovators on board and talking about your solution.

Don’t take your customers for granted. They could be your greatest advocate or your biggest critic. And they can...

So many organisations look at their existing customers as ‘A deal that is already done’.

Why is it that they so rarely ask how are these happy customers going to help them sell to the next group of customers?

When launching a new product, having a group of strong advocates will kick start those sales far quicker than sending out flyers or other marketing materials.

Think about what you need to do with getting the innovators on board and talking about your solution.

Don’t take your customers for granted. They could be your greatest advocate or your biggest critic. And they can either damage or improve your solution growth, depending on how you treat them.

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PM Health Check

How do you review the maturity of a PM function? We use a 360 review:

• People
Without the right team in place it’s impossible to excel. We review the team through capability (Do they have the potential to be a great PM?), skills (Do they have the right PM experience?) and scale (Is there enough of them?)

• Processes
We review the full process, reporting, RACI, etc, viewing the process in terms of fit to your business (Risk vs reward vs scale vs speed vs certainty vs evidence vs innovation)

• Tools.
Without standardisation, product managers use such a wide variety of tools ...

How do you review the maturity of a PM function? We use a 360 review:

• People
Without the right team in place it’s impossible to excel. We review the team through capability (Do they have the potential to be a great PM?), skills (Do they have the right PM experience?) and scale (Is there enough of them?)

• Processes
We review the full process, reporting, RACI, etc, viewing the process in terms of fit to your business (Risk vs reward vs scale vs speed vs certainty vs evidence vs innovation)

• Tools.
Without standardisation, product managers use such a wide variety of tools that it becomes increasingly difficult for a management team to make reasoned decisions – they cannot do an ‘apples to apples’ comparison. We review the complete process suite for robustness, ease of use, visibility and adherence.

• Environment
A great PM team, with the right processes, tools and templates can still fail to thrive because of the environment - stakeholders, supporting processes and management not aligning with product. We review stakeholder teams leadership engagement and adjacent processes to asses alignment.

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The MVP approach

Why do we use it?

Building the final product takes a long time and is expensive and high risk. Rather than trying to be all things to all segments at the outset, we use the MVP approach to help us prioritize our development roadmap.

The MVP approach helps us to:

• Identify our addressable market.
• Identify and prioritize our segments.
• Identify and prioritize our personas in that segment.
• Identify and prioritize our user stories for our personas.

Careful prioritisation means we can manage the capacity of our development team while still meeting the needs of our custo...

Why do we use it?

Building the final product takes a long time and is expensive and high risk. Rather than trying to be all things to all segments at the outset, we use the MVP approach to help us prioritize our development roadmap.

The MVP approach helps us to:

• Identify our addressable market.
• Identify and prioritize our segments.
• Identify and prioritize our personas in that segment.
• Identify and prioritize our user stories for our personas.

Careful prioritisation means we can manage the capacity of our development team while still meeting the needs of our customers.

So before development, we prioritize our markets and then we prioritise our personas, then the features and then we develop user stories so that we can develop our product in a controlled and carefully prioritized sequence.

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Dealing with discounts

Customers ask for discounts. In the b2b sector it’s pretty unusual for customers not to push the price point down. This is obviously something for sales teams so how does it impact product management?

Firstly, we can help sales teams deal with discount discussions in how we structure the product - a modular approach to pricing means that when a customer asks a £10k solution, we have a £10k product. We can strip out the higher value components and hit the price point with a suitable product offer. But we all know customers often want all the features and the discount. In this case, think...

Customers ask for discounts. In the b2b sector it’s pretty unusual for customers not to push the price point down. This is obviously something for sales teams so how does it impact product management?

Firstly, we can help sales teams deal with discount discussions in how we structure the product - a modular approach to pricing means that when a customer asks a £10k solution, we have a £10k product. We can strip out the higher value components and hit the price point with a suitable product offer. But we all know customers often want all the features and the discount. In this case, think of what the sales team can ask for in return for a discount that might benefit your product - reference site visits, a quote to use in some marketing piece, a joint presentation at a conference, access to end users to conduct market research...

The point is this, don’t let discounts be given for ‘free’. It’s much easier to get the quote agreed during a negation than trying to secure it afterwards when the customer wants nothing from you.

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Value Proposition

In working with product teams on the Tarigo 5 D model of Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver and Drive, we often see some challenges in the area of Define, and in our workshops associated with Define we see less precision in the communications associated with the target market. Teams use “marketing speak” rather than hard language that directly resonates. If you have challenges with this, see how you can use language that will resonate with your target market, and remember, a generic start from a value proposition is difficult to build from.

In working with product teams on the Tarigo 5 D model of Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver and Drive, we often see some challenges in the area of Define, and in our workshops associated with Define we see less precision in the communications associated with the target market. Teams use “marketing speak” rather than hard language that directly resonates. If you have challenges with this, see how you can use language that will resonate with your target market, and remember, a generic start from a value proposition is difficult to build from.

No business can stay still

With Covid here and continuing to disrupt our business and lives, more than ever we need to be focused on what the future is going to look like and how we are going to deal with the change that is inevitably going to happen So, here are 3 tips on how to survive:

1) Listen to your customers
Your customers have also gone through the same amount of change as you have, so empathise and go back out to listen to them. You may find that their needs have changed or, at the very least, their priorities. Pivot your business to meet these changing needs.

2) Focus on trends
The world has ch...

With Covid here and continuing to disrupt our business and lives, more than ever we need to be focused on what the future is going to look like and how we are going to deal with the change that is inevitably going to happen So, here are 3 tips on how to survive:

1) Listen to your customers
Your customers have also gone through the same amount of change as you have, so empathise and go back out to listen to them. You may find that their needs have changed or, at the very least, their priorities. Pivot your business to meet these changing needs.

2) Focus on trends
The world has changed; there is the ‘new normal’ and you need to adapt. Don’t think things will go back to where they were, they won’t! People have identified key benefits of working in the ‘new normal’. You also need to think about

what trends might be happening in 3-5 years’ time.

3) Differentiate yourself
Think about why your targeted customer segments would want to buy from you. Go back to what is important to your customers and make sure you are delivering a message that still resonates with their needs. Look at your competition and see what they are saying; are they saying the same thing as you?

I hope these three points make sense. Remember, no business can stay still.

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Rock your Value Prop

Rock your Value Prop for product & customer success!

Don’t leave Value Props till the Delivery phase. Value Propositions are in the Define phase of the Product Management Process to ensure we build products from the get-go that create value for the customer.

Product teams must understand the greatest value from the get-go, because it determines the vision for our products and services, shapes the roadmap, the plan, and helps us prioritise. Understanding the customer perception of value at the beginning in the Define phase helps us build products that will be valued by customers when th...

Rock your Value Prop for product & customer success!

Don’t leave Value Props till the Delivery phase. Value Propositions are in the Define phase of the Product Management Process to ensure we build products from the get-go that create value for the customer.

Product teams must understand the greatest value from the get-go, because it determines the vision for our products and services, shapes the roadmap, the plan, and helps us prioritise. Understanding the customer perception of value at the beginning in the Define phase helps us build products that will be valued by customers when they are delivered. In the Delivery phase we use a Value Proposition to communicate the value and differentiation to our potential customers.

Value Propositions are a key component of product communications, they enable us to get our message across well, they really do Rock!

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Design thinking Step 4

Design thinking step 4 Execute

There is no point to any of this if we do not follow through with our actions but also learn from the process. We need to act on our successful product ideas, as well as look at our approach to the design thinking process! At this point we need to capture feedback on our product and plan our implementation. We need to understand what our MVP is as well as where we stand with everything relating to the product. We can then compare what we had planned to where we stand currently.

We also need to look at ourselves retrospectively and try to improve, we must a...

Design thinking step 4 Execute

There is no point to any of this if we do not follow through with our actions but also learn from the process. We need to act on our successful product ideas, as well as look at our approach to the design thinking process! At this point we need to capture feedback on our product and plan our implementation. We need to understand what our MVP is as well as where we stand with everything relating to the product. We can then compare what we had planned to where we stand currently.

We also need to look at ourselves retrospectively and try to improve, we must ask what we like, wish and wonder about the products evolution and question the decisions we made. Take positives from what went well and consider what might have happened if feature X had made the cut, for example.

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Design thinking Step 3

Test early

We build and test our successful ideas with real customers, gather their feedback and get as much detail as we can. Do not be afraid of getting to prototype quickly, the earlier we can test it with a real user the quicker we can address any key flaws. We get a sense of whether we are on the right lines with the idea or not. When we test, we need to capture a lot of feedback, are we solving the problem, and if yes? Are we solving the solution effectively and efficiently.

Test early

We build and test our successful ideas with real customers, gather their feedback and get as much detail as we can. Do not be afraid of getting to prototype quickly, the earlier we can test it with a real user the quicker we can address any key flaws. We get a sense of whether we are on the right lines with the idea or not. When we test, we need to capture a lot of feedback, are we solving the problem, and if yes? Are we solving the solution effectively and efficiently.

Design Thinking Step 2

Design thinking step 2 Start the brainstorm

Hopefully during step 1, we are focused on the problem and the need from the user perspective by putting ourselves in their shoes. Ideation should come once we have a clear view through the customer lens. We then need to get crazy and creative with our brainstorming. Bring your team together and sketch as many different ideas out as you can. Share the ideas and mix them and then remix them around!

Design thinking step 2 Start the brainstorm

Hopefully during step 1, we are focused on the problem and the need from the user perspective by putting ourselves in their shoes. Ideation should come once we have a clear view through the customer lens. We then need to get crazy and creative with our brainstorming. Bring your team together and sketch as many different ideas out as you can. Share the ideas and mix them and then remix them around!

Design Thinking Step 1 Part 2

Design Thinking step 1 part 2 spend time observing

Once we understand, we move onto Observe – what is the customer journey and who are our key personas? What trends can we discover and do peers agree with their peers? This is an explorative step that allows us to see the next step and evolution of the information we have already obtained.

Then we move onto our own actions.

How might we tackle the information we’ve generated and what that means for the vision to success? The key before we start brainstorming our innovative ideas, we need to be able to create extremely compelling st...

Design Thinking step 1 part 2 spend time observing

Once we understand, we move onto Observe – what is the customer journey and who are our key personas? What trends can we discover and do peers agree with their peers? This is an explorative step that allows us to see the next step and evolution of the information we have already obtained.

Then we move onto our own actions.

How might we tackle the information we’ve generated and what that means for the vision to success? The key before we start brainstorming our innovative ideas, we need to be able to create extremely compelling stories that satisfy our lead users and deliver as much value as we can.

How does this compare to PM’s more common approaches to generating new ideas? We would love to hear how similar or different this process is compared to your current practices and if you would like to hear more about design thinking get involved with us in the comments!

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Design Thinking Step 1 Part 1

Design Thinking step 1, part 1 starts with understanding the customer

Find a customer and spend time listening to them, ask why more times than is probably comfortable. (x5). Find out their problem statement and understand their pain.
Ultimately, we are responsible for releasing a product that solves a real problem in a meaningful way. To create real value for customers we need to spend time wallowing in customer pain.

Design Thinking step 1, part 1 starts with understanding the customer

Find a customer and spend time listening to them, ask why more times than is probably comfortable. (x5). Find out their problem statement and understand their pain.
Ultimately, we are responsible for releasing a product that solves a real problem in a meaningful way. To create real value for customers we need to spend time wallowing in customer pain.

Delivering Value vs Pain Points

Delivering value vs addressing pain points

Sometimes the point of difference you have over a competitor has nothing to do with the product and all to do with an adjacent pain point you can address.

Simple example, two companies supply house bricks to the construction industry. Their bricks are identical in every way. Which would the house builder choose? Conventional logic says “the cheapest” and both businesses would engage in a price war. But step away from the product and think about the bigger picture. House builders can have a real pain point around cash-flow – address that a...

Delivering value vs addressing pain points

Sometimes the point of difference you have over a competitor has nothing to do with the product and all to do with an adjacent pain point you can address.

Simple example, two companies supply house bricks to the construction industry. Their bricks are identical in every way. Which would the house builder choose? Conventional logic says “the cheapest” and both businesses would engage in a price war. But step away from the product and think about the bigger picture. House builders can have a real pain point around cash-flow – address that and you unlock a point of difference. Charging more per brick, but having payment terms that mean the house builder doesn’t pay until the property is sold is a potentially disruptive strategy

Even for Product Managers, it’s not always about the product.

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What's YOUR vision?

The Product vision describes a future state of our Product, it is a plan that shows steps to reach our goal. Many product managers have a product vision, and truly understand the value that having one brings. So how many of us have applied that same approach to our careers?
A Career vision is the same as your Product vision, it’s about what you want to achieve in your career, what you hope to attain, the position you aspire to, the developments you need to make to support your product, or your career journey. Hundreds of studies over decades have shown the effectiveness and how setting chal...

The Product vision describes a future state of our Product, it is a plan that shows steps to reach our goal. Many product managers have a product vision, and truly understand the value that having one brings. So how many of us have applied that same approach to our careers?
A Career vision is the same as your Product vision, it’s about what you want to achieve in your career, what you hope to attain, the position you aspire to, the developments you need to make to support your product, or your career journey. Hundreds of studies over decades have shown the effectiveness and how setting challenging, and specific goals leads to high levels of performance.
What are you waiting for!

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How might We?

In Design Thinking, and we used a technique called “How Might We?”

Using a How Might We question, allows us to turn challenges into opportunities for design, it sets us up for an innovative solution.

How might you, give it a go!

In Design Thinking, and we used a technique called “How Might We?”

Using a How Might We question, allows us to turn challenges into opportunities for design, it sets us up for an innovative solution.

How might you, give it a go!

5D's & 3E's

The 5 D’s of Product Excellence and the 3 E’s of Great Product Leaders.

Successful product teams need the rails to run on, at Tarigo we use our 5 D framework of; Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver and Drive. It guides us in all that we do across the product lifecycle.

I was just talking to a team of product leaders about the difference they make as leaders. Great product leaders use the 3 E’s with their teams:
1. Encourage,
2. Empower,
3. Enable.
Will the 3 E’s catch on like the 5 D’s?

The 5 D’s of Product Excellence and the 3 E’s of Great Product Leaders.

Successful product teams need the rails to run on, at Tarigo we use our 5 D framework of; Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver and Drive. It guides us in all that we do across the product lifecycle.

I was just talking to a team of product leaders about the difference they make as leaders. Great product leaders use the 3 E’s with their teams:
1. Encourage,
2. Empower,
3. Enable.
Will the 3 E’s catch on like the 5 D’s?

Design Thinking

What is design thinking?

Design thinking is mindset that allows us to solve problems with creativity, in a way that feels a little unorthodox – but really it allows us the freedom to come up with creative solutions that otherwise would get thrown in the bin immediately due to process, red tape and mindset that begins to limit us quickly.

Design thinking allows us to be more creative with innovation, it deals directly with customer problems based on the empathy we build up.

We ask why more so we can understand the pain and the emotional response to this. As PMs we need to come up wi...

What is design thinking?

Design thinking is mindset that allows us to solve problems with creativity, in a way that feels a little unorthodox – but really it allows us the freedom to come up with creative solutions that otherwise would get thrown in the bin immediately due to process, red tape and mindset that begins to limit us quickly.

Design thinking allows us to be more creative with innovation, it deals directly with customer problems based on the empathy we build up.

We ask why more so we can understand the pain and the emotional response to this. As PMs we need to come up with new product ideas that solve real customer problems whilst serving the needs of the organisation. Design thinking is a methodology we should have in our PM armoury that can help generate new ideas.

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Connect with customers - virtual

Connecting with customers in a virtual world

Our customers are so important to us, as product managers. We need to be connected, in touch, and form great relationships with real customers!

The widespread shift to more people working from home has, in many ways, made this a lot easier for us. We’ve heard comments like It’s levelled the playing field, because we are all at home, not some of us at home and some of us in the office. For some of us, we can be more confident in our virtual environments, and we can share really early stage concepts (rough and ready), and get more accurate...

Connecting with customers in a virtual world

Our customers are so important to us, as product managers. We need to be connected, in touch, and form great relationships with real customers!

The widespread shift to more people working from home has, in many ways, made this a lot easier for us. We’ve heard comments like It’s levelled the playing field, because we are all at home, not some of us at home and some of us in the office. For some of us, we can be more confident in our virtual environments, and we can share really early stage concepts (rough and ready), and get more accurate and honest feedback, as early as possible!

We should try our best to connect with customers in as many ways as possible. When was the last time you spoke to any of your customers? And, in what format was this done?

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PALM Reading

PALM reading – how to quickly assess an idea
Got lots of product ideas to sift through? Try PALM reading:

Problem
– Does the new idea solve a problem for a group of customers?

Ability
– Do we have the capability to deliver the new idea?

Lasting
– Is the problem pervasive? Will it still be a problem in 12 months’ time?

Magnitude
– Does it have scale? Are there many customers with the same problem?

PALM reading – how to quickly assess an idea
Got lots of product ideas to sift through? Try PALM reading:

Problem
– Does the new idea solve a problem for a group of customers?

Ability
– Do we have the capability to deliver the new idea?

Lasting
– Is the problem pervasive? Will it still be a problem in 12 months’ time?

Magnitude
– Does it have scale? Are there many customers with the same problem?

Big VS Small

Big business vs small business Product Management

We train product management in some of the biggest and smallest companies – In previous years one of our biggest clients employed over 4,000 people in product roles and our smallest had a product management team of one. So what’s the difference? What does product management look like at these extremes?

I’d characterise it like this; DOING VS GLUING. In a big team, the product manager has marketeers, pricing experts, launch managers, research teams, etc. Their job is to use those extensive resources to build out the perfect product....

Big business vs small business Product Management

We train product management in some of the biggest and smallest companies – In previous years one of our biggest clients employed over 4,000 people in product roles and our smallest had a product management team of one. So what’s the difference? What does product management look like at these extremes?

I’d characterise it like this; DOING VS GLUING. In a big team, the product manager has marketeers, pricing experts, launch managers, research teams, etc. Their job is to use those extensive resources to build out the perfect product. They GLUE. In a small team, the product manager doesn’t have that extensive team and need to figure out most things for themselves. They DO. The core discipline remains the same, the daily activity can look very different. When we train teams we pay attention to this - it's one of the ways we can be effective in very big and very small teams.

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Mega Trends are change

Mega trends are substantial changes that can impact any aspect of our business. Once upon a time the internet was a potential mega trend, out on the horizon, gathering strength. Some businesses saw it, built or modified their products to accommodate it, and rode the internet wave. Others weren’t so visionary and floundered as the world moved online.

How do we identify mega trends? product managers must constantly look for trends in four broad categories:

· Technology – today we see trends such as A.I or the Internet of Things gathering momentum.
· Social – think of trends such a...

Mega trends are substantial changes that can impact any aspect of our business. Once upon a time the internet was a potential mega trend, out on the horizon, gathering strength. Some businesses saw it, built or modified their products to accommodate it, and rode the internet wave. Others weren’t so visionary and floundered as the world moved online.

How do we identify mega trends? product managers must constantly look for trends in four broad categories:

· Technology – today we see trends such as A.I or the Internet of Things gathering momentum.
· Social – think of trends such as the ageing population or urbanization
· Economic – the gig economy and peer-to-peer networks are relevant examples
· Political – trends could be border security or environmental controls.

So what mega trends present opportunity or risk to your product? Product Managers should be thinking about this regularly.

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Core Values

Can you describe the core value of your product?

Sounds simple, but some product managers struggle to get to a clear, coherent and concise statement.

We use a structure, shown here for a nespresso coffee maker – replace the black text with your words and you’ve got a first-pass value proposition statement.

Can you describe the core value of your product?

Sounds simple, but some product managers struggle to get to a clear, coherent and concise statement.

We use a structure, shown here for a nespresso coffee maker – replace the black text with your words and you’ve got a first-pass value proposition statement.

Maintaining a business case

Maintaining a business case

How many of us build out a business case to get our product funded and then simply forget it?

It is worth remembering that the business case changes as conditions change; customers, markets, competition, risks, numbers, etc all can change. To build the business case once and then forget it is to neglect this fundamental of change. And if we build the business case and forget it, we’re building a product for historical market conditions – what our markets used to look like.

Simple product management tip – make a habit of reviewing your business case an...

Maintaining a business case

How many of us build out a business case to get our product funded and then simply forget it?

It is worth remembering that the business case changes as conditions change; customers, markets, competition, risks, numbers, etc all can change. To build the business case once and then forget it is to neglect this fundamental of change. And if we build the business case and forget it, we’re building a product for historical market conditions – what our markets used to look like.

Simple product management tip – make a habit of reviewing your business case and updating it – 15 minutes per week where you record any new information that you’ve uncovered over the last 7 days so you always have an up-to-date record.

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Retiring a product

How do you retire a product?

Is it even important to have a strategy when you’re pulling the product, why worry? Two reasons:

? Customers - Do it badly and customers aren’t going to be knocking at your door for your next product. You lost their trust.

? Competition - Get it wrong and you leave the door wide open for competitors to enter and build their position.

Think of retirement as the mirror of market entry - do your research, build your plan, and communicate your position clearly and frequently.

We have a tool to help you decide whether retirement is the best option for...

How do you retire a product?

Is it even important to have a strategy when you’re pulling the product, why worry? Two reasons:

? Customers - Do it badly and customers aren’t going to be knocking at your door for your next product. You lost their trust.

? Competition - Get it wrong and you leave the door wide open for competitors to enter and build their position.

Think of retirement as the mirror of market entry - do your research, build your plan, and communicate your position clearly and frequently.

We have a tool to help you decide whether retirement is the best option for your product. Step through the Retirement Canvas, question by question, and determine the next steps for your product.

The result? You gain a clear picture of your market, how retirement may affect the market and whether you should plan to replace the product you are looking to retire!

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What do you look for...

We often get asked to assess a potential PM candidate. Outside of their PM knowledge, these are the attributes that I look for...

What do you look for in the perfect product manager?

We often get asked to assess a potential PM candidate. Outside of their PM knowledge, these are the attributes that I look for...

What do you look for in the perfect product manager?

What keeps you awake at night

Where do you find that next, great breakthrough product? One way is to turn your mindset from product innovation to problem validation. Think about it – we are all motivated to fix problems that stress us. Your customers are no different. The bigger the stress, the more motivated we are to find the fix. So step into your customers shoes and think about what keeps them awake at night. 3am problems generate successful products.

Where do you find that next, great breakthrough product? One way is to turn your mindset from product innovation to problem validation. Think about it – we are all motivated to fix problems that stress us. Your customers are no different. The bigger the stress, the more motivated we are to find the fix. So step into your customers shoes and think about what keeps them awake at night. 3am problems generate successful products.

Opportunity

When is a good opportunity NOT a good opportunity?

When it doesn’t match capability. It’s easy for Product Managers to get carried away with an idea and forget to look into their business. That knock-out opportunity you’ve identified might simply not match your organisation. Think of it as a capability review. Does your business have the funds, technical skills, market access, reputation, reach, scale and strategy intent to address the opportunity. If not, that great new product idea has the potential to sink your business.

When is a good opportunity NOT a good opportunity?

When it doesn’t match capability. It’s easy for Product Managers to get carried away with an idea and forget to look into their business. That knock-out opportunity you’ve identified might simply not match your organisation. Think of it as a capability review. Does your business have the funds, technical skills, market access, reputation, reach, scale and strategy intent to address the opportunity. If not, that great new product idea has the potential to sink your business.

Product Communications

Leaders of Product Management often ask how to get their team to be better product communicators - to be able to get their message across well. My response is to ask one simple question “When did you last ask the team about value propositions?”. Here are some simple tips to drive better product communications:

1. Be value proposition obsessed
Test the team regularly by getting them to present the following:

• Elevator pitch
• Five minute overview
• Product vision
• Value proposition
• Objection handling

2. Measure communications effectiveness

• E.g. does the sa...

Leaders of Product Management often ask how to get their team to be better product communicators - to be able to get their message across well. My response is to ask one simple question “When did you last ask the team about value propositions?”. Here are some simple tips to drive better product communications:

1. Be value proposition obsessed
Test the team regularly by getting them to present the following:

• Elevator pitch
• Five minute overview
• Product vision
• Value proposition
• Objection handling

2. Measure communications effectiveness

• E.g. does the sales team know the message

3. Coach on multi-channel delivery

• Face to face
• Audio
• Video
• Written

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Balance - customer needs

We run a product clinic with one of our customers every week. Question of the week was this “How do I balance the needs of the loudest customers against the many?”. It’s a common issue, and here are my top tips

1. Have a compelling road-map and you’ll get fewer ad-hoc requests.
Customers will want to join you on your exciting journey rather than make up their own.

2. Translate needs into problem statements so you understand what really needs attention.
Always understand the problem they’re trying to solve and the scale of the problem in your market.

3. Be quick and clear w...

We run a product clinic with one of our customers every week. Question of the week was this “How do I balance the needs of the loudest customers against the many?”. It’s a common issue, and here are my top tips

1. Have a compelling road-map and you’ll get fewer ad-hoc requests.
Customers will want to join you on your exciting journey rather than make up their own.

2. Translate needs into problem statements so you understand what really needs attention.
Always understand the problem they’re trying to solve and the scale of the problem in your market.

3. Be quick and clear with feedback so that no-one’s left hanging
Feedback in days on all customer requests and be clear on your rationale

4. Its OK to say no because you can’t meet the needs of one at the expense of the many.
Saying ‘no’ is always better done quickly, and with clear reasoning.

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Overloading a presentation

Don’t overload your presentation

I’ve recently sat through the presentation of torture – a product manager with slides full of 10 point font! It was an hour of staring at the back of a the persons head as they read their own slides. I understand why this happens - nervousness. They think “I’ll never remember everything I need to say so I’ll write in it the deck as support”. But the problem when they present is that either the audience just read the slides or the presenter reads for them - both are pretty dull and completely un-engaging.

Remember, slide decks are a presentat...

Don’t overload your presentation

I’ve recently sat through the presentation of torture – a product manager with slides full of 10 point font! It was an hour of staring at the back of a the persons head as they read their own slides. I understand why this happens - nervousness. They think “I’ll never remember everything I need to say so I’ll write in it the deck as support”. But the problem when they present is that either the audience just read the slides or the presenter reads for them - both are pretty dull and completely un-engaging.

Remember, slide decks are a presentation aid, they do not tell the full story and probably make little sense without the presenter. So use them as an aid – three or four big statements per slide that gives your presentation structure and direction

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Product Managers talk too much..

Product, Problem or Solution managers?

I was in conversation with some sales people recently and we got on to one of the regular hot topics - product managers talk too much about product. It can sound a little weird - surely a product manager should talk about the product? But too much product focus is wrong because customers don’t really buy products. Think of it like this; the old saying in sales that ‘people buy from people’ has a product management equivalent. “People don’t buy products they buy solutions to problems”. Help sales team sell by ensuring they have clarity on th...

Product, Problem or Solution managers?

I was in conversation with some sales people recently and we got on to one of the regular hot topics - product managers talk too much about product. It can sound a little weird - surely a product manager should talk about the product? But too much product focus is wrong because customers don’t really buy products. Think of it like this; the old saying in sales that ‘people buy from people’ has a product management equivalent. “People don’t buy products they buy solutions to problems”. Help sales team sell by ensuring they have clarity on the issues that are front of mind for your customers rather than a dry list of features. Develop a problem and solution focus.

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Luck

Luck has no place in successful product management, right?

Taking a product to market is about skills – research skills, analytical skills, communication skills, development skills, financial skills, etc, etc. There’s nothing lucky about it…… except….. sure, it takes skills to get to market, but a good product manager must make sure his team are ready to ride a lucky wave. Think of it like this - the CEO of your biggest target customer is about to pick up the phone and call one of your sales team to find out more about your new product. It’s your lucky day! But only if your team...

Luck has no place in successful product management, right?

Taking a product to market is about skills – research skills, analytical skills, communication skills, development skills, financial skills, etc, etc. There’s nothing lucky about it…… except….. sure, it takes skills to get to market, but a good product manager must make sure his team are ready to ride a lucky wave. Think of it like this - the CEO of your biggest target customer is about to pick up the phone and call one of your sales team to find out more about your new product. It’s your lucky day! But only if your team are prepared. Every business gets lucky breaks, successful businesses are prepared for it.

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Managing a product post launch

Driving a Product

We have arrived at market with momentum and successfully launched our new product, but what’s next?

Managing a product post launch is big task, we have to consider a few things:

• Which phase of the life-cycle our product sits in?

• How our product is performing in market?

• With a fully launched product, what new markets and target customers can we start to target?

There are a few things that we can do in order to drive our product.

Use marginal gains thinking to make incremental product improvements – We make lots of small improvements to our ...

Driving a Product

We have arrived at market with momentum and successfully launched our new product, but what’s next?

Managing a product post launch is big task, we have to consider a few things:

• Which phase of the life-cycle our product sits in?

• How our product is performing in market?

• With a fully launched product, what new markets and target customers can we start to target?

There are a few things that we can do in order to drive our product.

Use marginal gains thinking to make incremental product improvements – We make lots of small improvements to our offering, be that product features, support or the overall product offering. Over time these small improvements add together to give our product serious gain in value to our target customers.

To gain useful research information to guide our product decisions, we look at win/loss reporting to analyse why we are winning or losing with customers over our competition. Doing this with many potential and real customers helps us build up a repository of information that we can use to guide our product improvements.

Combining win/loss reporting with marginal gain product improvements is a great way to move toward building out a world class product offering, driving growth for as long as possible.

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How do you get ready for market?

How do you get ready for market? Too many product managers treat it as an afterthought – they focus on building the product and think about everything else later. And remember, we can define and build a world beating product, but it’s for nothing if the product is not “market ready”; which means taking care of naming, pricing, training, regulation, and support, etc. To fix this, we recommend using a market readiness tool and following a simple process:

1. Build the product delivery team. Invite stakeholders from across the business who have a role in the launch such as, customer del...

How do you get ready for market? Too many product managers treat it as an afterthought – they focus on building the product and think about everything else later. And remember, we can define and build a world beating product, but it’s for nothing if the product is not “market ready”; which means taking care of naming, pricing, training, regulation, and support, etc. To fix this, we recommend using a market readiness tool and following a simple process:

1. Build the product delivery team. Invite stakeholders from across the business who have a role in the launch such as, customer delivery, legal, regional product and marketing. This ensures the right teams and people are on-board to support the build and launch of the product. It’s best to do this months in advance.

2. Review the Market Readiness tool. Step through the document and work out what needs to be in place for a successful launch.

3. Assign responsibility. Work out who in the team owns each task.

4. The Track your progress. Get the team together every thirty days to review progress versus plan.

Combining this process with our Market Readiness tool gives you the best opportunity to achieve product success.

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Managing a product

Managing a product is complex. We need to understand our customers, markets, competition, regulation, and more. That’s a lot to remember! To fix this, product managers keep a product plan – a document that overviews our products & markets. What does it contain?

Product - what it is and what it offers the market

Vision - how the product will develop over the next 1 to 3 years

Customers - their needs, likes & dislikes, the problems & opportunities they have

Competition – how can we differentiate our product

Financials - Scale of the market , P&L model & pricing

Risks - wi...

Managing a product is complex. We need to understand our customers, markets, competition, regulation, and more. That’s a lot to remember! To fix this, product managers keep a product plan – a document that overviews our products & markets. What does it contain?

Product - what it is and what it offers the market

Vision - how the product will develop over the next 1 to 3 years

Customers - their needs, likes & dislikes, the problems & opportunities they have

Competition – how can we differentiate our product

Financials - Scale of the market , P&L model & pricing

Risks - with mitigation

Execution plan
It’s up to the product manager, guided by their leadership team to build an appropriate level of depth & detail into the document. So a product plan is written by product management before a product is built, but what about once the product is launched? We know market conditions will change, so we keep the product plan updated. The best practice is to make small but regular updates to the plan. Put aside 15 minutes per week, and ask yourself “What have I learnt about my products and markets over the last 7 days ”. Using this technique, the product plan is always up to date, and the amount of time & effort required to keep it updated is small.

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Agile Marketing

Does agile development require agile marketing?

Let’s have a think about this and discuss it below!

Over the past few years, agile processes have become the dominant process-type in the development and delivery of technology. Promising a level of responsiveness and customer focus. Variants of this core agile method are now commonly used for developing product across the board.

But whilst product teams have embraced the brave new world of agile, their colleagues in marketing, support, finance and other functions have not seen the relevance to them. The net result? A fragmented respon...

Does agile development require agile marketing?

Let’s have a think about this and discuss it below!

Over the past few years, agile processes have become the dominant process-type in the development and delivery of technology. Promising a level of responsiveness and customer focus. Variants of this core agile method are now commonly used for developing product across the board.

But whilst product teams have embraced the brave new world of agile, their colleagues in marketing, support, finance and other functions have not seen the relevance to them. The net result? A fragmented response.

Technology is delivered through regular sprint iterations whilst messaging, marketing, support and other deliverables follow a much more static or traditional delivery path. Failing to match the agility of development processes that are in place.

What do you think? Does marketing need to be as dynamic and responsive as development when dev teams use agile methods?

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Develop Relationships

We can’t develop a relationship with every single one of our customers, but we still need a way of understanding them. Grouping together customers with similar problems, needs, wants or desires helps us define them.

I find this tool helpful when I’m trying to build out a persona suite for a product or service. Its helps me build proto personas (i.e. unvalidated), that I can then test against real people.

It’s a simple model:

1. Start with their wants and needs

2. Then describe how they think and feel based on those wants and needs

3. Next, what do they do about the situati...

We can’t develop a relationship with every single one of our customers, but we still need a way of understanding them. Grouping together customers with similar problems, needs, wants or desires helps us define them.

I find this tool helpful when I’m trying to build out a persona suite for a product or service. Its helps me build proto personas (i.e. unvalidated), that I can then test against real people.

It’s a simple model:

1. Start with their wants and needs

2. Then describe how they think and feel based on those wants and needs

3. Next, what do they do about the situation

4. Finally, knowing more about their situation we can create a problem statement around their pain points

You can use your knowledge and make assumptions to create proto-personas that you then go and validate.

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7P's

Managing Through Product Lifecycle

Product management and innovation are intimately connected processes that require skilful interventions to maximise returns at every stage.

Milestone phases that are tackled as products move from their birth to infancy and ultimately to their maturity include:

- The Product Lifecycle
- Crossing the Chasm
- Entering the Tornado
- Sustaining and Disruptive innovation theories

Familiarity with these theories is critical for product management success. The 7Ps of the marketing mix also provides a framework for different actions that can be taken ac...

Managing Through Product Lifecycle

Product management and innovation are intimately connected processes that require skilful interventions to maximise returns at every stage.

Milestone phases that are tackled as products move from their birth to infancy and ultimately to their maturity include:

- The Product Lifecycle
- Crossing the Chasm
- Entering the Tornado
- Sustaining and Disruptive innovation theories

Familiarity with these theories is critical for product management success. The 7Ps of the marketing mix also provides a framework for different actions that can be taken across the lifecycle.

In order to maximise profit, product managers need to firstly understand at which stage the market is at. If the product is new for a brand-new market, then disruptive innovation and its techniques are required to move through introduction and growth. If the market is already in the growth/maturity phases or beyond then sustaining innovation techniques are essential.

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Continuously improve products

What does a Product Manager do?

Our role can be complex and difficult to describe, and product culture within company can influence our definition massively. If we don’t have a clear purpose then we run the risk of being misplaced in our business, step forward all those Product Managers who really act as sales support or project managers...

So, we define the Product Management role in this way.

“Product Managers reduce the risk of launching a product flop and increase the success of products in market”.

So, what does that mean? Well, product failure occurs in every sector....

What does a Product Manager do?

Our role can be complex and difficult to describe, and product culture within company can influence our definition massively. If we don’t have a clear purpose then we run the risk of being misplaced in our business, step forward all those Product Managers who really act as sales support or project managers...

So, we define the Product Management role in this way.

“Product Managers reduce the risk of launching a product flop and increase the success of products in market”.

So, what does that mean? Well, product failure occurs in every sector. By using a professional PM framework, a Product Manager reduces the risk of a potential product flop getting to market (we assess before we launch). Then, by using the same PM framework, they ensure that existing products remain successful for longer (we continuously improve products). If there’s a 25% product failure rate in your industry and your PM skills reduce that to 5% in your business, then that’s great product management.

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Key Characteristics

Key Characteristics of a Good PM

It’s a question we face all the time. Mostly, when we’re helping businesses build a product management function. When recruiting experienced Product Managers, you might look for certain skills; launch skills, research skills, pricing skills, etc.

Why not look internally for those who are looking for a new challenge? They might not have the experience or skill set just yet, but do they have the core capability?

Try our quick checklist for working out if they have PM potential:

Curiosity – Do they demonstrate intellectual interest? Are they eage...

Key Characteristics of a Good PM

It’s a question we face all the time. Mostly, when we’re helping businesses build a product management function. When recruiting experienced Product Managers, you might look for certain skills; launch skills, research skills, pricing skills, etc.

Why not look internally for those who are looking for a new challenge? They might not have the experience or skill set just yet, but do they have the core capability?

Try our quick checklist for working out if they have PM potential:

Curiosity – Do they demonstrate intellectual interest? Are they eager to learn?
Drive – Do they show ambition?
Discipline – Are the organised?
People skills – Can they get people to listen to them. Can they take people with them? Are they charismatic?
Communication – Can they get their point across clearly and quickly?
Thought leadership – Do they have vision? Are they a creative problem solver?

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Competition

Who do you compete against? When asked, most Product Managers name other companies that are similar to them. But that’s not really the full picture. When reviewing competitive threats think about it on three levels:

1. DIRECT
These are the competitors that look a lot like your company, with similar products. Think BMW vs Mercedes vs VW/Audi – all occupy a similar space in the market with similar brand profiles, therefore, directly compete with each other in the car market.

2. INDIRECT
Sometimes the competition is less obvious. It’s more about other ways that our customers can sol...

Who do you compete against? When asked, most Product Managers name other companies that are similar to them. But that’s not really the full picture. When reviewing competitive threats think about it on three levels:

1. DIRECT
These are the competitors that look a lot like your company, with similar products. Think BMW vs Mercedes vs VW/Audi – all occupy a similar space in the market with similar brand profiles, therefore, directly compete with each other in the car market.

2. INDIRECT
Sometimes the competition is less obvious. It’s more about other ways that our customers can solve their problems. These are indirect competitive threats . For example, Sage might DIRECTLY compete with Quickbooks, but INDIRECTLY compete with MS Excel in the micro sector

3. NO COMPETITION
Occasionally we see products with no competition, but is this as great as it sounds? It might mean you’re first to market, but it might equally be that there is no market. Even being first to market is no guarantee of success. Remember Palm Pilots or Betamax or Atari? All three were first to market. All three failed to capitalise on first mover advantage.

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Long term direction

When did you last think about the long term direction of your product? Many of us get so caught up in the day-to-day that we forget to look up. The risk is our product might become irrelevant as trends change market needs. So spend a few minutes thinking:

• What trends are heading towards my market that may impact what we deliver?
• How would our current product suite cope?
• What small technology, communications and regulatory steps should I take to keep my product relevant.

Remember, taking many small steps forward is easier and less risky than one giant leap. But it often gets...

When did you last think about the long term direction of your product? Many of us get so caught up in the day-to-day that we forget to look up. The risk is our product might become irrelevant as trends change market needs. So spend a few minutes thinking:

• What trends are heading towards my market that may impact what we deliver?
• How would our current product suite cope?
• What small technology, communications and regulatory steps should I take to keep my product relevant.

Remember, taking many small steps forward is easier and less risky than one giant leap. But it often gets you to the same place.

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44 activities to engage in

I often describe product management as a multi-disciplinary role. To make the point here is our list of the 44 activities product managers are likely to engage in. Some daily, some rarely. Print it off, stick it on the wall and see how many you tick off. And see where the gaps in your product management skillset are.

I often describe product management as a multi-disciplinary role. To make the point here is our list of the 44 activities product managers are likely to engage in. Some daily, some rarely. Print it off, stick it on the wall and see how many you tick off. And see where the gaps in your product management skillset are.

Maintenance vs innovation

Maintenance vs innovation

How do product managers balance the needs of their current product versus investing in new ideas? We’re working with a company where about 80% of development effort is directed towards product maintenance, some towards enhancements and the little bit that’s left goes to innovation. The result? A very frustrated senior management team who see a huge spend and nothing new to sell. There can be many reasons behind this (badly architected product, fixed sized dev teams, etc) but it clearly cant be sustained. Our fix? Set a target maintenance spend (say 20%) and a t...

Maintenance vs innovation

How do product managers balance the needs of their current product versus investing in new ideas? We’re working with a company where about 80% of development effort is directed towards product maintenance, some towards enhancements and the little bit that’s left goes to innovation. The result? A very frustrated senior management team who see a huge spend and nothing new to sell. There can be many reasons behind this (badly architected product, fixed sized dev teams, etc) but it clearly cant be sustained. Our fix? Set a target maintenance spend (say 20%) and a target date to hit that spend (say 3 years) and then ratchet spend down each quarter. This gives teams the time to address the fundamentals, get a plan in place and move towards a more appropriate spending level.

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Communication is vital

Communication is a vital skill for a product manager. It might be a 5 minute elevator pitch or a full technical review. Either way you need to keep your audience engaged and interested in what you saying. Here are a few tips :

1. Tell the audience why they are there
2. Pick three major points you want to talk about and focus on those.
3. Don't overload your presentation with text and pictures.
4. Keep an eye on time. Use a parking lot to collect points that can be answered later.
5. Don't just deliver dry facts.
6. Deliver with passion.
7. Banish your nerves.

Communication is a vital skill for a product manager. It might be a 5 minute elevator pitch or a full technical review. Either way you need to keep your audience engaged and interested in what you saying. Here are a few tips :

1. Tell the audience why they are there
2. Pick three major points you want to talk about and focus on those.
3. Don't overload your presentation with text and pictures.
4. Keep an eye on time. Use a parking lot to collect points that can be answered later.
5. Don't just deliver dry facts.
6. Deliver with passion.
7. Banish your nerves.

Know where you're going

Knowing where you’ve come from is interesting, knowing where you’re going is critical.

Most Product Management teams I work with have some form of metric set in place – they recognise the importance of tracking product success. But I’d estimate in 80% of cases those metrics are ones that look backwards. They tell you what HAS happened and give no clue as to what might happen next – they measure things like profit, usage & revenue. This is akin to a satnav giving you numerous stats on your journey so far, but not mentioning the road ahead is closed.

We know it’s impossible to ...

Knowing where you’ve come from is interesting, knowing where you’re going is critical.

Most Product Management teams I work with have some form of metric set in place – they recognise the importance of tracking product success. But I’d estimate in 80% of cases those metrics are ones that look backwards. They tell you what HAS happened and give no clue as to what might happen next – they measure things like profit, usage & revenue. This is akin to a satnav giving you numerous stats on your journey so far, but not mentioning the road ahead is closed.

We know it’s impossible to predict the future, but decent metrics give the opportunity to at least estimate it - tracking metrics on regulation, competitive landscape, tech trends, customer satisfaction & forecast financials make it a little less likely that your product hits a roadblock.

So what do you measure with your product?

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Tips for delivering bad news

5 tips for delivering bad news

There are times in every Product Managers career where we have to deliver bad news – a late product, a missing feature, a metric not achieved. It’s never easy, but here are my tips for delivering bad news:

Never delay - Bad news doesn’t get better with time.

Have clear reasons - You need to explain why. Be specific

Bring options and solutions - You need to show an action plan that solves or at the very least mitigates the problem as much as possible.

Write it down - Conversations can get misinterpreted.

Follow through - Track actions and k...

5 tips for delivering bad news

There are times in every Product Managers career where we have to deliver bad news – a late product, a missing feature, a metric not achieved. It’s never easy, but here are my tips for delivering bad news:

Never delay - Bad news doesn’t get better with time.

Have clear reasons - You need to explain why. Be specific

Bring options and solutions - You need to show an action plan that solves or at the very least mitigates the problem as much as possible.

Write it down - Conversations can get misinterpreted.

Follow through - Track actions and keep everyone informed

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Interview Preparation

Recruiting and employment is a minefield of matching skill sets and personalities, finding the right people to fit into your current team or disruptive individuals that promote change.

It is difficult to find the right balance.

Finding the right fit is hard to do from looking at CV’s, and interviews don’t help to much either… ‘On my best behaviour with my best foot forward’.

You can get a sense of their skills from the CV, but this isn’t going to be a fully accurate representation of what they can provide. Really, an interview needs to realise candidates’ attitudes and p...

Recruiting and employment is a minefield of matching skill sets and personalities, finding the right people to fit into your current team or disruptive individuals that promote change.

It is difficult to find the right balance.

Finding the right fit is hard to do from looking at CV’s, and interviews don’t help to much either… ‘On my best behaviour with my best foot forward’.

You can get a sense of their skills from the CV, but this isn’t going to be a fully accurate representation of what they can provide. Really, an interview needs to realise candidates’ attitudes and personality traits in order to identify if they are going to fit into the role or gap that you are trying to fill.

In order to do so you should understand a few things about what you would like the net result of their employment to look like:

Should they disrupt and become the catalyst for change?
Should they be a team player that helps spreads workload?
What is key to being successful in this role?
How will the role impact the company over the next 12/24/36 months?

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Mega Trend

Mega trends are substantial changes that can impact any aspect of our business. Once upon a time the internet was a potential mega trend, out on the horizon, gathering strength. Some businesses saw it, built or modified their products to accommodate it, and rode the internet wave. Others weren’t so visionary and floundered as the world moved online.

How do we identify mega trends? product managers must constantly look for trends in four broad categories:

· Technology – today we see trends such as A.I or the Internet of Things gathering momentum.

· Social – think of trends such...

Mega trends are substantial changes that can impact any aspect of our business. Once upon a time the internet was a potential mega trend, out on the horizon, gathering strength. Some businesses saw it, built or modified their products to accommodate it, and rode the internet wave. Others weren’t so visionary and floundered as the world moved online.

How do we identify mega trends? product managers must constantly look for trends in four broad categories:

· Technology – today we see trends such as A.I or the Internet of Things gathering momentum.

· Social – think of trends such as the ageing population or urbanization

· Economic – the gig economy and peer-to-peer networks are relevant examples

· Political – trends could be border security or environmental controls.

Once we’ve identified the trends, we need to think of what they mean to our business. For example, IoT presents risk and opportunity around cybersecurity.

So what mega trends present opportunity or risk to your product? Product Managers should be thinking about this regularly.

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A Themed Roadmap

A themed roadmap is the perfect framework to manage your product along strategic lines. It enables long term objectives & product deliverables to be realised but can flex to meet shorter term demands or agreed variations on the importance of each product strategy.

Moreover, a Themed Roadmap is a single "view" of product strategies and deliverables that can be used in all discussion with major stakeholders as you seek to gain alignment and agreement on a complex set of future product deliverables.

A themed roadmap is the perfect framework to manage your product along strategic lines. It enables long term objectives & product deliverables to be realised but can flex to meet shorter term demands or agreed variations on the importance of each product strategy.

Moreover, a Themed Roadmap is a single "view" of product strategies and deliverables that can be used in all discussion with major stakeholders as you seek to gain alignment and agreement on a complex set of future product deliverables.

Reaction to losing a deal

How do you react to losing a deal?

I’ll admit that I react badly, but how should a Product Manager really react? Deal with this using GRIT.

Grieve – In my opinion good losers tend to be infrequent winners so don’t feel bad about feeling bad. Go for a run, beat a punch bag, relax in a hot bath. Whatever your way of dealing with it, give yourself a bit of time to get it out of your system.

Research - Gather as much data as you can. Gather from all sources and gather without filter or preconception.

Identify - Work out what went wrong. It’s easy to make price or product assump...

How do you react to losing a deal?

I’ll admit that I react badly, but how should a Product Manager really react? Deal with this using GRIT.

Grieve – In my opinion good losers tend to be infrequent winners so don’t feel bad about feeling bad. Go for a run, beat a punch bag, relax in a hot bath. Whatever your way of dealing with it, give yourself a bit of time to get it out of your system.

Research - Gather as much data as you can. Gather from all sources and gather without filter or preconception.

Identify - Work out what went wrong. It’s easy to make price or product assumptions, but discount nothing. I recall a deal lost years ago where we worked out that the customer had not even read our proposal. Be aware that the answer might be that the deal was never in your sights.

Translate - Make changes so that you don’t repeat the same mistakes. Remember the lesson of marginal gain - small changes can deliver significant results.

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What do PM's do

What does a product manager do?

Our role can be quite complex and difficult to describe. But if we don’t have a clear purpose then we run the risk of being misplaced in our business (step forward all those product managers who are really sales support or project managers, ....).

Here’s a definition that might help. “Product managers reduce the risk of launching a product flop and increase the success of products in market”. So what does that mean? Well, product failure occurs in every sector. By using a professional pm framework a product manager reduces the risk of a potential p...

What does a product manager do?

Our role can be quite complex and difficult to describe. But if we don’t have a clear purpose then we run the risk of being misplaced in our business (step forward all those product managers who are really sales support or project managers, ....).

Here’s a definition that might help. “Product managers reduce the risk of launching a product flop and increase the success of products in market”. So what does that mean? Well, product failure occurs in every sector. By using a professional pm framework a product manager reduces the risk of a potential product flop getting to market (we assess before we launch) and then by using the same pm framework, they ensure that existing products remain successful for longer (we continuously improve products). If there’s a 25% product failure rate in your industry and your pm skills have reduced that to 5% in your business then that’s great product management.

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Market research session

What does a great market research session look like?

I was reminded of this with a team I recently worked with. They’re in a B2B market and are conducting early stage research on a new concept. A couple of product managers reported back that their customer visit had gone well. A deeper dive and it was clear that what they really meant was that the customer hadn’t asked any tough questions and so the meeting had been a breeze. This is bad news for the product; interested customers always ask difficult questions (date, price, detail). Think of these as buying signals – if they don’t a...

What does a great market research session look like?

I was reminded of this with a team I recently worked with. They’re in a B2B market and are conducting early stage research on a new concept. A couple of product managers reported back that their customer visit had gone well. A deeper dive and it was clear that what they really meant was that the customer hadn’t asked any tough questions and so the meeting had been a breeze. This is bad news for the product; interested customers always ask difficult questions (date, price, detail). Think of these as buying signals – if they don’t ask “how much” or “when” they’re really not that interested.

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pricing - the right ball park

Want to quickly check if your pricing is in the right ball park? Then answer three questions:

1. Is the price higher than the unit cost – we don’t want to lose money every time we sell

2. Is the price lower that the (perceived or tangible) delivered customer value – customers won’t buy if your product doesn’t represent fair value

3. Is the price broadly equivalent to comparable offers in the market – if price expectations are already set, customers will be unwilling to move far from that price

For the mathematically inclined, this turns into a simple

model for sanity...

Want to quickly check if your pricing is in the right ball park? Then answer three questions:

1. Is the price higher than the unit cost – we don’t want to lose money every time we sell

2. Is the price lower that the (perceived or tangible) delivered customer value – customers won’t buy if your product doesn’t represent fair value

3. Is the price broadly equivalent to comparable offers in the market – if price expectations are already set, customers will be unwilling to move far from that price

For the mathematically inclined, this turns into a simple

model for sanity checking a price point.

P = Selling price
U = Unit cost
V = Customer value
C = Comparable solution price

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Explain Simply

I’m going to get this printed on a t-shirt and give it to the next product manager who starts by telling me their product is complex to explain! Part of the art of great product management is making the complex as simple to understand as possible. Want to test you or your team on simplicity? Then try this; describe your new product offer/feature in 30 seconds or less to a group who are in your market. Wait 10 minutes and the ask them to describe your product offer. Did they remember it? If not, that’s your problem, not theirs.

I’m going to get this printed on a t-shirt and give it to the next product manager who starts by telling me their product is complex to explain! Part of the art of great product management is making the complex as simple to understand as possible. Want to test you or your team on simplicity? Then try this; describe your new product offer/feature in 30 seconds or less to a group who are in your market. Wait 10 minutes and the ask them to describe your product offer. Did they remember it? If not, that’s your problem, not theirs.

A Product plan is the nucleus!

A Product plan is the nucleus of your product! It takes a lot of work to complete but it helps to align cross-functional teams and provides all the information available about your product, from hard market research to detailed financial models.

It’s time to present your product plan in order to bring teams in-line with your product. And all that hard work could be for nothing if you get this wrong and fail to communicate your message clearly. You have to be sure that the review team are going to understand, the product, the vision and all the key ancillaries that surround your product.
...

A Product plan is the nucleus of your product! It takes a lot of work to complete but it helps to align cross-functional teams and provides all the information available about your product, from hard market research to detailed financial models.

It’s time to present your product plan in order to bring teams in-line with your product. And all that hard work could be for nothing if you get this wrong and fail to communicate your message clearly. You have to be sure that the review team are going to understand, the product, the vision and all the key ancillaries that surround your product.

This requires a presentation that has clarity and conviction, a critical skill that all Product Managers should master. Communicating with clarity, during presentations or any cross-team activity is key to building the right foundations and setting your product on the right course!

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Personal attributes PM

What to look for in a Product Manager

I was asked recently to define the qualities or attributes of my best Product Manager hires. This is my list, what is yours?

• You’re curious – You have a natural born curiosity and are eager to learn and understand. You always ask ‘Why?’.

• You have great people skills – You can influence and inspire through your passion, drive and credibility. People want to work with you.

• You make things happen – You’re a doer as well as a thinker. You solve problems. ‘Proactive’ defines you because you want to a difference

• Y...

What to look for in a Product Manager

I was asked recently to define the qualities or attributes of my best Product Manager hires. This is my list, what is yours?

• You’re curious – You have a natural born curiosity and are eager to learn and understand. You always ask ‘Why?’.

• You have great people skills – You can influence and inspire through your passion, drive and credibility. People want to work with you.

• You make things happen – You’re a doer as well as a thinker. You solve problems. ‘Proactive’ defines you because you want to a difference

• You’re disciplined – You are structured in your approach and utilise processes and tools effectively to get the job done consistently.

• You’re a thought leader - You are able to distil complex information down into an insightful and compelling narrative. You use insight and evidence to make recommendations.

• You get your message across – You are clear, concise and credible in your communication, being able to deliver a message in a few words with complete clarity

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Impact - getting a product wrong

The impact of getting a product wrong

You can get a product wrong in many ways - badly designed, poorly build, doesn’t solve any specific need, too expensive etc....

We often think of the cost of the mistake in relation to the product - x million in development effort has been wasted, but the cost is much bigger than that. Think of it from a brand perspective. If a company delivers a bad product then customers don’t just reject the product, but they become wary of brand. An example from two brands- Alfa Romeo and Porsche; Alfa have a history of highs and lows. Sometimes they delight,...

The impact of getting a product wrong

You can get a product wrong in many ways - badly designed, poorly build, doesn’t solve any specific need, too expensive etc....

We often think of the cost of the mistake in relation to the product - x million in development effort has been wasted, but the cost is much bigger than that. Think of it from a brand perspective. If a company delivers a bad product then customers don’t just reject the product, but they become wary of brand. An example from two brands- Alfa Romeo and Porsche; Alfa have a history of highs and lows. Sometimes they delight, sometimes not. Porsche have consistency. Now imagine both companies announce a new sports car for 2020 that you can place a deposit on today. Guess who would have the fuller order book? Brand confidence is a war that products battle to win.

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Marketing, get the message right

When should product managers engage with marketing to get the message right?

All too often, product marketing is an afterthought; we see many cases where teams don’t engage with marketing until late in a delivery cycle. And then they’re disappointed when the collateral, the positioning, the imagery and the core message don’t hit the mark.

My advice? Engage early. Really early. Get the marketing team involved at the ideation stage – at the very least they can help identify USPs, more likely they’ll add real value to the discussion and ultimately help drive a better product to m...

When should product managers engage with marketing to get the message right?

All too often, product marketing is an afterthought; we see many cases where teams don’t engage with marketing until late in a delivery cycle. And then they’re disappointed when the collateral, the positioning, the imagery and the core message don’t hit the mark.

My advice? Engage early. Really early. Get the marketing team involved at the ideation stage – at the very least they can help identify USPs, more likely they’ll add real value to the discussion and ultimately help drive a better product to market. Remember, Product Management is a team sport.

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The value chain

Who is your customer?

As product managers, we often think of our customer as the person or business that uses our product – the end user. But it’s often more complex than that. Reaching that end user often means working with other teams – sales, support, third party resellers, etc. The point is this; If those intermediary teams do not see the value in your product, you’ll never get to the end user. It’s best considered as a value chain – you’re at one end, the end user is at the other. The chain is only as strong as its weakest link. If the sales team don’t understand it or ...

Who is your customer?

As product managers, we often think of our customer as the person or business that uses our product – the end user. But it’s often more complex than that. Reaching that end user often means working with other teams – sales, support, third party resellers, etc. The point is this; If those intermediary teams do not see the value in your product, you’ll never get to the end user. It’s best considered as a value chain – you’re at one end, the end user is at the other. The chain is only as strong as its weakest link. If the sales team don’t understand it or the third party reseller wont stock it then the end user won’t even see your product.

So who is your customer? Every one in the value chain. Try and address their needs and motivations, and the chain will be strong.

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The Innovator

Finding the innovator

Driver-less cars. Love them or hate them, it feels like we are moving towards a future where automation will at the very least reduce driver engagement. But how will this market grow and form? It’s easy to get caught in the hype at the consumer end of the driver-less revolution and envisage the everyday commuter ‘driving’ to work eating breakfast, shaving, reading email. But as product managers we know that most markets form around innovators with big problems to solve.

Q: Who has the biggest problem that driver-less technology can solve?

A: Logistics compa...

Finding the innovator

Driver-less cars. Love them or hate them, it feels like we are moving towards a future where automation will at the very least reduce driver engagement. But how will this market grow and form? It’s easy to get caught in the hype at the consumer end of the driver-less revolution and envisage the everyday commuter ‘driving’ to work eating breakfast, shaving, reading email. But as product managers we know that most markets form around innovators with big problems to solve.

Q: Who has the biggest problem that driver-less technology can solve?

A: Logistics companies spending a huge amount on drivers.

But what does that mean?

The driver-less market will hit the freight sector first and us commuters might have to wait longer than expected before jumping in the passenger seat. The product manager lesson: an innovator nearly always has more pain around the problem you solve.

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prioritise features

How do you prioritise features?

A common issue for Product Managers – they have a list of features and they need to make the call about which gets built first. The issue being that each feature is important to some customers.

Here’s a simple tool to help. Don’t start with the feature, start at the market end – prioritise your segments from most to least important (this could be based on value, growth , access, profits, etc). Then prioritise the people in those markets (for example, who controls the budget, or acts as the technical gatekeeper). Only when you’ve done this do you ...

How do you prioritise features?

A common issue for Product Managers – they have a list of features and they need to make the call about which gets built first. The issue being that each feature is important to some customers.

Here’s a simple tool to help. Don’t start with the feature, start at the market end – prioritise your segments from most to least important (this could be based on value, growth , access, profits, etc). Then prioritise the people in those markets (for example, who controls the budget, or acts as the technical gatekeeper). Only when you’ve done this do you think about the features - what does you most important persona in your most important market value from the feature list?

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nucleus of your product!

A Product plan is the nucleus of your product! It takes a lot of work to complete but it helps to align cross-functional teams and provides all the information available about your product, from hard market research to detailed financial models.

It’s time to present your product plan in order to bring teams in-line with your product. And all that hard work could be for nothing if you get this wrong and fail to communicate your message clearly. You have to be sure that the review team are going to understand, the product, the vision and all the key ancillaries that surround your product.
...

A Product plan is the nucleus of your product! It takes a lot of work to complete but it helps to align cross-functional teams and provides all the information available about your product, from hard market research to detailed financial models.

It’s time to present your product plan in order to bring teams in-line with your product. And all that hard work could be for nothing if you get this wrong and fail to communicate your message clearly. You have to be sure that the review team are going to understand, the product, the vision and all the key ancillaries that surround your product.

This requires a presentation that has clarity and conviction, a critical skill that all Product Managers should master. Communicating with clarity, during presentations or any cross-team activity is key to building the right foundations and setting your product on the right course!

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Agile updates & delivery

Agile Updates and Delivery

Agile delivery of product requirements and updates allows teams to maintain momentum and focus. Each sprint cycle within the agile world gives you a package update that is customer ready every 30 days, great!

But just because we work agile within the company setting doesn’t mean our customers want these updates delivered at the same rate.

We have to think about our customer base and the types of customers we deliver our product to, if we have customers working in a highly regulated sector then we have to be very considerate as to the frequency of updates t...

Agile Updates and Delivery

Agile delivery of product requirements and updates allows teams to maintain momentum and focus. Each sprint cycle within the agile world gives you a package update that is customer ready every 30 days, great!

But just because we work agile within the company setting doesn’t mean our customers want these updates delivered at the same rate.

We have to think about our customer base and the types of customers we deliver our product to, if we have customers working in a highly regulated sector then we have to be very considerate as to the frequency of updates to products and solutions that those customers use. Whereas public consumers are less likely to be upset or irritated if they receive updates more regularly.

Even with that in mind, we don’t have software updates for our smart phones every month, that would become tedious to most! Instead updates are delivered when there is a substantial package ready for consumer use!

Remember just because you can deliver an update every 30 days doesn’t mean that your customer types want to receive those updates at such frequency!

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Thinking of product retirement??

Many Product Managers spend very little time at the retirement end of the Product Management discipline. Consequently, it’s an area where many teams have limited process or procedure. But remember, a bad product withdrawal can impact future product introductions – would you buy a new product from a company that had let you down with a previous product retirement? As with many things PM, the key is to step back and think a little. If you have a product that you’re thinking of withdrawing or replacing or retiring, spend 15 minutes answering these six questions before diving into a retireme...

Many Product Managers spend very little time at the retirement end of the Product Management discipline. Consequently, it’s an area where many teams have limited process or procedure. But remember, a bad product withdrawal can impact future product introductions – would you buy a new product from a company that had let you down with a previous product retirement? As with many things PM, the key is to step back and think a little. If you have a product that you’re thinking of withdrawing or replacing or retiring, spend 15 minutes answering these six questions before diving into a retirement plan.

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Dealing with new ideas

How do you deal with new ideas?

“We have loads of news ideas!” Sounds like a great place to be, but for many Product Managers the stress of managing those ideas is formidable – ideas from sales teams “I can sell 100% more if you add these features” to managers “We need this new product to dominate market X”, to technical teams “We can build AI capability to enhance our product”, etc….

When the next person walks up to your desk with another great idea, whip out the innovation canvas. Fifteen minutes of effort, ten questions long, helps you understand what’s worth tak...

How do you deal with new ideas?

“We have loads of news ideas!” Sounds like a great place to be, but for many Product Managers the stress of managing those ideas is formidable – ideas from sales teams “I can sell 100% more if you add these features” to managers “We need this new product to dominate market X”, to technical teams “We can build AI capability to enhance our product”, etc….

When the next person walks up to your desk with another great idea, whip out the innovation canvas. Fifteen minutes of effort, ten questions long, helps you understand what’s worth taking further and what should be dropped.

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Persona mistake

The most common persona mistake?

The last few years has seen an increasing use of Personas and User Journeys across Product Management teams. They give us great insight and help us define products that truly meet customer needs. However, I see a common mistake; personas are so often focused solely on the end user. End users are important but they’re not the whole story – those end users won’t get to use your product if it does not make sense to the full value chain. Take a new credit card as an example; Banks would need to offer it and Merchants would need to accept it before consumer...

The most common persona mistake?

The last few years has seen an increasing use of Personas and User Journeys across Product Management teams. They give us great insight and help us define products that truly meet customer needs. However, I see a common mistake; personas are so often focused solely on the end user. End users are important but they’re not the whole story – those end users won’t get to use your product if it does not make sense to the full value chain. Take a new credit card as an example; Banks would need to offer it and Merchants would need to accept it before consumers could access the value. The value chain will break at its weakest point of value.

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What is a Roadmap?

Product Managers are often requested to build out a roadmap. Our first response should be ‘Which Roadmap?’. We identify three roadmaps:

1. The Visionary Roadmap – A broad brush view of where your products need to go over the next 5/10 years based on market mega trends. It sets the direction of travel.

2. The Product Roadmap – It takes the vision and breaks it down into tangible customer deliveries . It defines how value will be delivered and identifies the major landmarks on our journey to our vision

3. The Technical Roadmap – It adds detail. It describes how we get to each ...

Product Managers are often requested to build out a roadmap. Our first response should be ‘Which Roadmap?’. We identify three roadmaps:

1. The Visionary Roadmap – A broad brush view of where your products need to go over the next 5/10 years based on market mega trends. It sets the direction of travel.

2. The Product Roadmap – It takes the vision and breaks it down into tangible customer deliveries . It defines how value will be delivered and identifies the major landmarks on our journey to our vision

3. The Technical Roadmap – It adds detail. It describes how we get to each major landmark identified in the Product Roadmap, the people involved, etc. It tells us how we’ll make our journey to vision.

All three clearly link together. We start with the Visionary Roadmap. Without it, our product direction can’t be set.

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IKEA effect

Could you be suffering from the IKEA effect

The IKEA effect is a cognitive bias in which we place a disproportionately high value on products that we build regardless of the quality. Does your product really need a replacement strategy or a retirement plan, but you’re just too attached, and remember all the blood sweat and tears that went into it?

Could you be suffering from the IKEA effect

The IKEA effect is a cognitive bias in which we place a disproportionately high value on products that we build regardless of the quality. Does your product really need a replacement strategy or a retirement plan, but you’re just too attached, and remember all the blood sweat and tears that went into it?

How to measure a PM?

How do you measure product managers?

It’s a regular question - how should I assess a product manager? My view is a simple one - don’t assess what they do, assess what they help the business achieve. There are three things that an effective product manager can help a business achieve:

These are valuable to the business and define the value of product management to the organisation.

How do you measure product managers?

It’s a regular question - how should I assess a product manager? My view is a simple one - don’t assess what they do, assess what they help the business achieve. There are three things that an effective product manager can help a business achieve:

These are valuable to the business and define the value of product management to the organisation.

Defining Product Success

How do you define product success?

How would you define product success? Revenue? Profit? Volume? The point is this; product success comes in many flavours that do not always directly link to a simple financial metric. A product portfolio can often be thought of as a team, where products perform different roles. Think of HP – printers make ink sales possible. Or google; its search engine is an enabler for its AdWords business. Like a soccer team would not be great if it was made up of 11 strikers, a product portfolio needs balance.

So when looking at what constitutes product success, ...

How do you define product success?

How would you define product success? Revenue? Profit? Volume? The point is this; product success comes in many flavours that do not always directly link to a simple financial metric. A product portfolio can often be thought of as a team, where products perform different roles. Think of HP – printers make ink sales possible. Or google; its search engine is an enabler for its AdWords business. Like a soccer team would not be great if it was made up of 11 strikers, a product portfolio needs balance.

So when looking at what constitutes product success, think about the role your product needs to play in your product team.

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Product Managers major tasks

What are the major tasks for a Product Manager?

We’ve built this framework that describes what we need to think about throughout the product delivery process. The 5D process defines the point in the delivery cycle (From Direct, where we set product strategy, to Drive, where we use marginal gain to enhance our in-market product), and the blocks beneath describe the major activities. The framework is a useful tool to make sure you’re not missing anything major on your journey to Product Management Excellence!

What are the major tasks for a Product Manager?

We’ve built this framework that describes what we need to think about throughout the product delivery process. The 5D process defines the point in the delivery cycle (From Direct, where we set product strategy, to Drive, where we use marginal gain to enhance our in-market product), and the blocks beneath describe the major activities. The framework is a useful tool to make sure you’re not missing anything major on your journey to Product Management Excellence!

Boris the Product Manager

Boris the Product Manager

Good to see that here in the UK Boris Johnson sees the route out of the Coronavirus lockdown being guided by that classic Product Management tool; a roadmap. So, for our Prime Minister, here’s some helpful roadmap hints:

Roadmaps come in three flavours:

1. The Visionary Roadmap – A broad brush view of where you need to go. It sets the direction of travel. For Boris, I guess this is pretty simple to describe in the form of strategy strands; Lockdown over, business back to normal, people travelling, pubs open, etc

2. The Product Roadm...

Boris the Product Manager

Good to see that here in the UK Boris Johnson sees the route out of the Coronavirus lockdown being guided by that classic Product Management tool; a roadmap. So, for our Prime Minister, here’s some helpful roadmap hints:

Roadmaps come in three flavours:

1. The Visionary Roadmap – A broad brush view of where you need to go. It sets the direction of travel. For Boris, I guess this is pretty simple to describe in the form of strategy strands; Lockdown over, business back to normal, people travelling, pubs open, etc

2. The Product Roadmap – It takes the vision and breaks it down into tangible deliveries . It identifies the major landmarks on our journey to our vision. This will need Boris to think a little more - take each strategy strand and work backwards (e.g. start with the target state and work out the steps needed to get there)

3. The Technical Roadmap – It adds detail. It describes how we get to each major landmark identified in the Product Roadmap, the people involved, etc. It tells us how we’ll make our journey to vision. This is how we’ll measure Boris!

All three clearly link together. Start with the Visionary Roadmap. Without it, direction can’t be set.

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Retire a product

How should you retire a product?

Before starting a product retirement we use these six questions to check if retirement is something that should be considered – a set of basic checks to clarify why you’re retiring a product and what it will mean to you, your customers and your competition.

How should you retire a product?

Before starting a product retirement we use these six questions to check if retirement is something that should be considered – a set of basic checks to clarify why you’re retiring a product and what it will mean to you, your customers and your competition.

Naming a product

What’s in a name?

Our name gives all sorts of clues as to who we are, where we came from, our gender, our age, etc. The same’s true with product naming. What we call our product, service or business can have significant impact on its success and position (Think Easyjet and you have a business name that can’t be exclusive and high-end). Then there are local language issues (Think Mitsubishi Pajero in South America), search engine optimisation problems, (call it something so common it will be on page 5 of the search results or so complex and no-one will be able to spell it), etc. Here�...

What’s in a name?

Our name gives all sorts of clues as to who we are, where we came from, our gender, our age, etc. The same’s true with product naming. What we call our product, service or business can have significant impact on its success and position (Think Easyjet and you have a business name that can’t be exclusive and high-end). Then there are local language issues (Think Mitsubishi Pajero in South America), search engine optimisation problems, (call it something so common it will be on page 5 of the search results or so complex and no-one will be able to spell it), etc. Here’s our checklist of things to think about when you name a product

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Competitive Landscape

Here’s a tool to help Product Managers assess their competitive landscape . Based on the fact that customers buy or use products for a set of reasons, it takes value proposition thinking and gives more depth and detail.

Here’s how to use it:

1. Define a set of factors that drive use and adoption of your product or service. For example, what a guest books a hotel room they will consider price, but they’ll also think about location, facilities, rating, etc

2. Prioritise these factors from most to least important from the customer perspective

3. Plot your product in terms of ex...

Here’s a tool to help Product Managers assess their competitive landscape . Based on the fact that customers buy or use products for a set of reasons, it takes value proposition thinking and gives more depth and detail.

Here’s how to use it:

1. Define a set of factors that drive use and adoption of your product or service. For example, what a guest books a hotel room they will consider price, but they’ll also think about location, facilities, rating, etc

2. Prioritise these factors from most to least important from the customer perspective

3. Plot your product in terms of execution – score high if you deliver really well on a factor, low is you execute poorly

4. Plot your competitors on the same graph

You can then think about action – where to invest or where to promote so that you optimise the value you deliver

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Project vs Product

Project manager and Product manager.

Our names are almost the same, so what’s the difference in these roles?
A project manager focuses on the project - making sure we deliver on time, on budget, on quality, etc.
A product manager focuses on the product - making sure the features and functions map to market needs.
We need each other to work well

Project manager and Product manager.

Our names are almost the same, so what’s the difference in these roles?
A project manager focuses on the project - making sure we deliver on time, on budget, on quality, etc.
A product manager focuses on the product - making sure the features and functions map to market needs.
We need each other to work well

Business case buildiing

Building the business case is like doing a maths exam

“Build a business case”. A request many product managers hear when looking for funding for a new product or enhancement. But what do we mean by business case? Many take it to be some financials – a set of numbers to validate that by spending X we’ll gain Y (and hopefully Y is bigger than X!). But the financials are really just the business case summary. The rest of the document tells the full story – why we should build, what our market looks like, etc. It builds the narrative that makes the numbers believable. Think of it like...

Building the business case is like doing a maths exam

“Build a business case”. A request many product managers hear when looking for funding for a new product or enhancement. But what do we mean by business case? Many take it to be some financials – a set of numbers to validate that by spending X we’ll gain Y (and hopefully Y is bigger than X!). But the financials are really just the business case summary. The rest of the document tells the full story – why we should build, what our market looks like, etc. It builds the narrative that makes the numbers believable. Think of it like that maths exam you did at school, 1 point for the answer and 9 points for the method that got you there.

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Disinter-mediation - change

Disinter-mediation is driving change

There’s a theme amongst many of our customers at the moment – when they look forward 5 years they see a radically different market as technology reduces the need for intermediaries between producers and consumers. This can be seen in many sectors; banking (p2p), legal (e-conveyancing) , finance (robotic accounting). Known generally as disinter-mediation, this trend generates risk and opportunity for Product Managers. But how should we react? The key is to understand who your customers are today and who they will be tomorrow – disinter-mediation doe...

Disinter-mediation is driving change

There’s a theme amongst many of our customers at the moment – when they look forward 5 years they see a radically different market as technology reduces the need for intermediaries between producers and consumers. This can be seen in many sectors; banking (p2p), legal (e-conveyancing) , finance (robotic accounting). Known generally as disinter-mediation, this trend generates risk and opportunity for Product Managers. But how should we react? The key is to understand who your customers are today and who they will be tomorrow – disinter-mediation does not necessarily remove the market need, but it can change the economic buyer. If your product is aimed at an intermediary its worth thinking about how disinter-mediation will impact your offer and how you need to change to appeal to those adjacent in the value chain.

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Pain points vs Delivering value

Sometimes the point of difference you have over a competitor has nothing to do with the product and all to do with an adjacent pain point you can address. Simple example, two companies supply house bricks to the construction industry. Their bricks are identical in every way. Which would the house builder choose? Conventional logic says “the cheapest” and both businesses would engage in a price war. But step away from the product and think about the bigger picture. House builders can have a real pain point around cash-flow – address that and you unlock a point of difference. Charging more...

Sometimes the point of difference you have over a competitor has nothing to do with the product and all to do with an adjacent pain point you can address. Simple example, two companies supply house bricks to the construction industry. Their bricks are identical in every way. Which would the house builder choose? Conventional logic says “the cheapest” and both businesses would engage in a price war. But step away from the product and think about the bigger picture. House builders can have a real pain point around cash-flow – address that and you unlock a point of difference. Charging more per brick, but having payment terms that mean the house builder doesn’t pay until the property is sold is a potentially disruptive strategy

Even for Product Managers, it’s not always about the product.

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Health Check

PM health check

How do you review the maturity of a PM function? We use a 360 review:

• People
Without the right team in place it’s impossible to excel. We review the team through capability (Do they have the potential to be a great PM?), skills (Do they have the right PM experience?) and scale (Is there enough of them?)

• Processes
We review the full process, reporting, RACI, etc, viewing the process in terms of fit to your business (Risk vs reward vs scale vs speed vs certainty vs evidence vs innovation)

• Tools.
Without standardisatio...

PM health check

How do you review the maturity of a PM function? We use a 360 review:

• People
Without the right team in place it’s impossible to excel. We review the team through capability (Do they have the potential to be a great PM?), skills (Do they have the right PM experience?) and scale (Is there enough of them?)

• Processes
We review the full process, reporting, RACI, etc, viewing the process in terms of fit to your business (Risk vs reward vs scale vs speed vs certainty vs evidence vs innovation)

• Tools.
Without standardisation, product managers use such a wide variety of tools that it becomes increasingly difficult for a management team to make reasoned decisions – they cannot do an ‘apples to apples’ comparison. We review the complete process suite for robustness, ease of use, visibility and adherence.

• Environment
A great PM team, with the right processes, tools and templates can still fail to thrive because of the environment - stakeholders, supporting processes and management not aligning with product. We review stakeholder teams leadership engagement and adjacent processes to asses alignment.

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Features

Managing feature parity

Three customers I’m working with at the moment all have the same core issue; they’re going through a platform rewrite and are struggling with feature parity – thinking that the new product should offer EVERYTHING that the old product offered and more on day one. The start point is often bad customer- communication “Of course the new platform will deliver everything that the old one did” followed by blind panic at the realisation that feature parity will take years. Here are our tips for dealing with this:

• Find your new platform USP and make that the ...

Managing feature parity

Three customers I’m working with at the moment all have the same core issue; they’re going through a platform rewrite and are struggling with feature parity – thinking that the new product should offer EVERYTHING that the old product offered and more on day one. The start point is often bad customer- communication “Of course the new platform will deliver everything that the old one did” followed by blind panic at the realisation that feature parity will take years. Here are our tips for dealing with this:

• Find your new platform USP and make that the narrative – perhaps better security, speed, data. Something the old platform doesn’t do has to be the focus

• Make the list and prioritise – there’s nearly always an 80/20 rule, so list every feature and find the 20% that customers really use to help define the MVP. Hard research required

• Find you initial sector – Don’t attempt a big bang release – find that sector who see most benefit around your new USP and who match your MVP

• Build from there – It took years to build your current platform. It will take time to build the new one

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Customer Research - making sense

Making sense of customer research

So you’re conducting some customer research in the b2b world, trying to figure out if that new product idea is something your customers will buy and use. But how can you tell? You present your slide deck and they seem positive – but does that mean they will buy? This is a typical product management issue – trying to interpret customer reaction and turn it in to a revenue forecast. Here’s a simple tip. When you present your new idea hold three pieces of information back:

1. The price

2. The delivery date

3. Some integration details

Custom...

Making sense of customer research

So you’re conducting some customer research in the b2b world, trying to figure out if that new product idea is something your customers will buy and use. But how can you tell? You present your slide deck and they seem positive – but does that mean they will buy? This is a typical product management issue – trying to interpret customer reaction and turn it in to a revenue forecast. Here’s a simple tip. When you present your new idea hold three pieces of information back:

1. The price

2. The delivery date

3. Some integration details

Customers with real interest will ask questions like “When can I have it?”, “How much is it?” or “Will it work with our back office processes?”. Customers who don’t ask are probably not interested.

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Value Propositions

Four tips for building outstanding Value Propositions

Building a really compelling value proposition is central to great Product Management – a great product needs great messaging to thrive in a market.

So how do we do it? The start point is to use a framework like the one in the image below, complete it, and then review it with these four simple rules:

1. Does it clearly identify a targetable market?
Know who you’re aiming at

2. Does it define a real and substantial need in that market?
Fix a problem they want you to fix

3. Is there clarity in the proposition and the valu...

Four tips for building outstanding Value Propositions

Building a really compelling value proposition is central to great Product Management – a great product needs great messaging to thrive in a market.

So how do we do it? The start point is to use a framework like the one in the image below, complete it, and then review it with these four simple rules:

1. Does it clearly identify a targetable market?
Know who you’re aiming at

2. Does it define a real and substantial need in that market?
Fix a problem they want you to fix

3. Is there clarity in the proposition and the value it delivers?
The market needs to understand what you’re trying to sell to them and why

4. Is there a defensible point of difference?
The market need to know why they should choose your product.

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Marketing mix

Beating commoditization

Many Product Managers struggle with a ‘me too’– they believe that their product has no discernible point of difference, so price is the only point they can win on. It’s true that commonization at a feature level is a fact of life for some teams, but that does not mean price is the only difference left. Think about your own purchasing experience – product is important, but so is service, brand, availability, etc. The point is, people buy and use products for a range of factors and Product Managers should try and find points of difference across that range....

Beating commoditization

Many Product Managers struggle with a ‘me too’– they believe that their product has no discernible point of difference, so price is the only point they can win on. It’s true that commonization at a feature level is a fact of life for some teams, but that does not mean price is the only difference left. Think about your own purchasing experience – product is important, but so is service, brand, availability, etc. The point is, people buy and use products for a range of factors and Product Managers should try and find points of difference across that range. Here’s our tip, step through the 7 P’s of marketing and for each one try and identify a USP – you might find that your commoditized product is in fact a proposition with clear points of difference when you look though this lens.

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Growth – Who’s job is it?

Growth is something we are all familiar with. But are we fully aware of where the responsibility of growth lies?

We all get set our own targets to hit, but growth is more than just a target. Being able to produce the capability of growth, and with that – large scale growth, is a different thing entirely. Growth has become a fundamental of the product itself and therefore a lot of the responsibility lies with the product manager.

So, where does growth start? First, it’s important to note that as a product manager, growth starts with the vision - How big are you looking at the opport...

Growth is something we are all familiar with. But are we fully aware of where the responsibility of growth lies?

We all get set our own targets to hit, but growth is more than just a target. Being able to produce the capability of growth, and with that – large scale growth, is a different thing entirely. Growth has become a fundamental of the product itself and therefore a lot of the responsibility lies with the product manager.

So, where does growth start? First, it’s important to note that as a product manager, growth starts with the vision - How big are you looking at the opportunity you’ve identified? You will not be able to influence growth if you aren’t planning for growth.

Planning growth cannot happen if you, as a product manager, don’t have a deep understanding of your product! With a clear and deep understanding of your product, it is possible to coherently communicate concise points of value to the customer

Ultimately, the goal is to manage the communication of the product so that target customers move to a point of curiosity and interest as quickly as possible… within seconds of seeing your product!

As product managers, we are pulling on the strings of influence as oppose to directing this process first hand

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Time to focus!

Is this the right time to be thinking about strategy and planning for the future?

We are facing an uphill battle together, all of us are in the same position with current guidelines, and maybe this gives us some time to make sure we are up-to-date with strategy planning and product plans.

It’s important to that these things are always kept updated but we often cut these jobs quickly in order to respond, tactically, to other issues and responsibilities.

So before saying no to plan updates and strategic thinking ask yourself:

- Can I delegate some of these tactical responses to s...

Is this the right time to be thinking about strategy and planning for the future?

We are facing an uphill battle together, all of us are in the same position with current guidelines, and maybe this gives us some time to make sure we are up-to-date with strategy planning and product plans.

It’s important to that these things are always kept updated but we often cut these jobs quickly in order to respond, tactically, to other issues and responsibilities.

So before saying no to plan updates and strategic thinking ask yourself:

- Can I delegate some of these tactical responses to someone else?

- Is going to have the largest impact in the long term?

- Am I doing enough to be on track with my strategic thinking and planning?

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Worth of remote working

Proving the worth of the remote working.

With the adjustment to remote working being fresh for some, and adapting to full working weeks at home is a big change for most. We need to use this opportunity to create something positive, and that should be the benefit of working from home more regularly!

What benefits can come from remote working?

- Better work/life balance

- Higher productivity rate, if done well!

- More down time to relax and less travel time.

- Which feeds into being even more productive!!

These a just some of the shared benefits between employer and employ...

Proving the worth of the remote working.

With the adjustment to remote working being fresh for some, and adapting to full working weeks at home is a big change for most. We need to use this opportunity to create something positive, and that should be the benefit of working from home more regularly!

What benefits can come from remote working?

- Better work/life balance

- Higher productivity rate, if done well!

- More down time to relax and less travel time.

- Which feeds into being even more productive!!

These a just some of the shared benefits between employer and employee when working remotely, and we can use this situation to add a lot to the debate of working from home. Is full time remote work feasible for some? How much of a blended approach should we take to this? And, what works best for different companies, in terms of remote working?

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Working from home

Across the globe offices, buildings and many public places are closing voluntarily or have been asked to closed. the main thing is everyone is pulling together to do there bit to ensure we are all as safe as possible!

With risk comes opportunity, and this takes us to the point and case of today blog. Many of us find ourselves in the position of working from home, and whilst this might be common practice for some of us, once or twice a week, but it can be a strange concept to adjust to.

Remote working has become more accessible and with it, created more debate around the topic. With tha...

Across the globe offices, buildings and many public places are closing voluntarily or have been asked to closed. the main thing is everyone is pulling together to do there bit to ensure we are all as safe as possible!

With risk comes opportunity, and this takes us to the point and case of today blog. Many of us find ourselves in the position of working from home, and whilst this might be common practice for some of us, once or twice a week, but it can be a strange concept to adjust to.

Remote working has become more accessible and with it, created more debate around the topic. With that, we wanted to give you three key points to ensure success whilst working from home.

- Maintain the same work/life schedule. Get up at the same time, dress as normal and use this to try and limit any distractions

- Have a clear action plan, with goals set and tasks to complete.

- Communication is key, stay in touch with your peers, leaders and key members. One or two catch up video calls each day help to keep the team on the same page and everything moving in the right direction.

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Part 2 - Product Culture

The Product Manager is the person responsible for defining the Why? When and What? of the product that the engineering team builds. It is an important organisational role that:

- Sets the vision and strategy for the business solutions

- Communicates the roadmap

- Defines the feature definition for a product or product line.

- The position may also include marketing, forecasting, and profit and loss (P&L) responsibilities. In many ways, the role of a Product Manager is similar in concept to being a CEO of a solution.

Product Managers provide the deep product expertise needed to l...

The Product Manager is the person responsible for defining the Why? When and What? of the product that the engineering team builds. It is an important organisational role that:

- Sets the vision and strategy for the business solutions

- Communicates the roadmap

- Defines the feature definition for a product or product line.

- The position may also include marketing, forecasting, and profit and loss (P&L) responsibilities. In many ways, the role of a Product Manager is similar in concept to being a CEO of a solution.

Product Managers provide the deep product expertise needed to lead the organisation and make strategic product decisions. They analyse market and competitive conditions, laying out a product vision that is differentiated and delivers unique value based on customer needs. The role spans many activities from strategic to tactical and provides important cross-functional leadership most notably between engineering, marketing, sales, and support teams.

The help in transparent cross-team communication means that everyone in the company is working towards the same goal and product messages don’t get diluted or misrepresented, it’s this accuracy in communicating that helps drive product success

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Part 1 - Product Culture

Getting product culture in your organisation

Through the many years of working with different companies, it is amazing how many people say the product sells itself. Yet the truth in many cases is:

- The solution has cost far more than it had to, because they didn’t truly understand their market needs, so compensated by building everything a customer wants.

- Had no control on costs and this means no control on profit.

- The price normally was too low, as no understanding of the competition or value.

- The product was not used to its full potential, so customers didn’t under...

Getting product culture in your organisation

Through the many years of working with different companies, it is amazing how many people say the product sells itself. Yet the truth in many cases is:

- The solution has cost far more than it had to, because they didn’t truly understand their market needs, so compensated by building everything a customer wants.

- Had no control on costs and this means no control on profit.

- The price normally was too low, as no understanding of the competition or value.

- The product was not used to its full potential, so customers didn’t understand the true benefit.

- The business doesn’t understand the value of the solution, so direction of where the business is going is organic, with no true vision.

If you see truth in the above then maybe your organisation isn’t quite hitting the mark in getting product culture right and therefore product management, and the organisation could benefit massively by making some small changes to this.

This is where Product Managers are able to add value to a company, driving the commercial success of a product and leading the cross functional teams to deliver a solution that meets the needs of customers and drives the greatest growth for the business.

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Personas Part 2

Importance of persona’s Part 2

Benefits of Persona Development
Don’t think Personas are worth the trouble, think again

Benefits:

· Personas give stakeholders an opportunity to discuss critical features of a redesign: Using Personas to walk stakeholders through common interactions unveils frustrations and pain-points that will help clarify actual user priorities over the stakeholder’s personal wish list.

· They help team members share a consistent understanding of the user group: They take data and make the stories more compelling and fun, thus making them easier to remembe...

Importance of persona’s Part 2

Benefits of Persona Development
Don’t think Personas are worth the trouble, think again

Benefits:

· Personas give stakeholders an opportunity to discuss critical features of a redesign: Using Personas to walk stakeholders through common interactions unveils frustrations and pain-points that will help clarify actual user priorities over the stakeholder’s personal wish list.

· They help team members share a consistent understanding of the user group: They take data and make the stories more compelling and fun, thus making them easier to remember and consider when the team is working towards a solution – together.

· Personas help designers develop informed wireframes and site architecture: Since Personas focus on the needs of the users, the team can walk through scenarios and determine optimal placement of content to specifically support the goal of the product. This is vital to the success of a website or application and could save a lot of time, effort and money!

· Personas provide a “face” to the user story, creating more empathy and understanding about the person using the product: This prevents designers and developers from applying their own mental models to the product design which may not align with actual user needs

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Personas Part 1

The importance of Personas Part 1

A “Persona” is a fictional representation of an actual user and is applied in the early stages of product development or product redesign. Personas are vital to the success of a product because they drive design decisions by taking common user needs and bringing them to the forefront of planning before design has actually started. Personas provide the team with a shared understanding of users in terms of goals and capabilities.

We use a persona map to efficiently store all of the information of our personas. The canvas is split into sections – Give...

The importance of Personas Part 1

A “Persona” is a fictional representation of an actual user and is applied in the early stages of product development or product redesign. Personas are vital to the success of a product because they drive design decisions by taking common user needs and bringing them to the forefront of planning before design has actually started. Personas provide the team with a shared understanding of users in terms of goals and capabilities.

We use a persona map to efficiently store all of the information of our personas. The canvas is split into sections – Give your persona a name and fill out their background information i.e. age, occupation. Try to include as much background information as possible! Then we have to get into the minds of the persona and generate as much detail as we can about; how they think and feel, the environments they are exposed to, what they hear and what they see.

Because Personas are fictional representations of actual users, they’ll only work if you fully understand who your users are – or will be. The more information you have, the better. Generally, 4-7 Personas (whittled down from several user groups) are sufficient to capture and document a majority of user requirements.

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Product Communications

Leaders of Product Management often ask how to get their team to be better product communicators - to be able to get their message across well. My response is to ask one simple question “When did you last ask the team about value propositions?”. Here are some simple tips to drive better product communications:

1. Be value proposition obsessed

Test the team regularly by getting them to present the following:

• Elevator pitch
• Five minute overview
• Product vision
• Value proposition
• Objection handling

2. Measure communications effectiveness

• E.g. does the ...

Leaders of Product Management often ask how to get their team to be better product communicators - to be able to get their message across well. My response is to ask one simple question “When did you last ask the team about value propositions?”. Here are some simple tips to drive better product communications:

1. Be value proposition obsessed

Test the team regularly by getting them to present the following:

• Elevator pitch
• Five minute overview
• Product vision
• Value proposition
• Objection handling

2. Measure communications effectiveness

• E.g. does the sales team know the message

3. Coach on multi-channel delivery

• Face to face
• Audio
• Video
• Written

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Strategizing

Leaders of Product Management are often concerned that their team are all tactics and no strategy. The question asked is “How do I make product managers more strategy focused”. The answer often lies with the manager – teams focus on what they’re measured, rewarded and questioned on.

So if you want your team to think more strategically here are some simple tips:

1. Set an objective for building a vision – if they have it as an objective, it’s more likely to happen.

2. Talk strategy – if you only ever talk to your team about short term, urgent issues, they’ll only focus...

Leaders of Product Management are often concerned that their team are all tactics and no strategy. The question asked is “How do I make product managers more strategy focused”. The answer often lies with the manager – teams focus on what they’re measured, rewarded and questioned on.

So if you want your team to think more strategically here are some simple tips:

1. Set an objective for building a vision – if they have it as an objective, it’s more likely to happen.

2. Talk strategy – if you only ever talk to your team about short term, urgent issues, they’ll only focus on the short term.

3. Coach on urgent vs important – help them understand how to manage workload and recognise that we must take care of our products today (urgent) be we cannot forget about the future and must have an eye on where to go next (important).

4. Test strategy – a quarterly review keeps the team focused.

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Systems/Requirements Engineering

In Systems engineering and Requirements engineering, a non-functional requirement is a requirement that specifies criteria that can be used to judge the operation of a system, rather than specific behaviours.

For example: Scalability, Accessibility, Capacity. However, it should be about more than this in a SaaS world!

From an Architecture perspective, you need to get this right or you will have heavy costs fixing issues in the future. More importantly you should be setting out what your expectations of the overall customer experience looks like.

When thinking of your NFR’s, think a...

In Systems engineering and Requirements engineering, a non-functional requirement is a requirement that specifies criteria that can be used to judge the operation of a system, rather than specific behaviours.

For example: Scalability, Accessibility, Capacity. However, it should be about more than this in a SaaS world!

From an Architecture perspective, you need to get this right or you will have heavy costs fixing issues in the future. More importantly you should be setting out what your expectations of the overall customer experience looks like.

When thinking of your NFR’s, think about the experience you want your customers to have and draw out all these journeys, so that every area of the business is aware of their responsibility.

Just some questions to ask are:

- Are we going to offer free trials? If so, how are we going to support them? What do we need from development, sales, pre-sales, marketing?

- What is the work flow for customers to purchase? Do we have Account Managers selling? Are we expecting customers to purchase from a portal?

- Are we going to do all training online? Do we have partners who need to train the software? Who across the business needs to be involved?

- How are we going to support our customers, once they are trained and on-board?

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Identifying a good PM

How do you identify a good Product Manager?

I'm constantly asked what makes a great Product Manager. In my experience, a strong Product Manager is the CEO of their solution and gets involved in all aspects from inception to launch, and then in-life management. Due to this I am a strong believer in ‘Hire for attitude, train for skill’. If someone has the right behaviours, then you can teach them the skills to be a great product manager.

My approach to interviewing is firstly to understand their personality, so:

1) Can they fit into the team dynamic? (disruption of the ‘status quo...

How do you identify a good Product Manager?

I'm constantly asked what makes a great Product Manager. In my experience, a strong Product Manager is the CEO of their solution and gets involved in all aspects from inception to launch, and then in-life management. Due to this I am a strong believer in ‘Hire for attitude, train for skill’. If someone has the right behaviours, then you can teach them the skills to be a great product manager.

My approach to interviewing is firstly to understand their personality, so:

1) Can they fit into the team dynamic? (disruption of the ‘status quo’ to strengthen is ok as well)

2) What does their personality bring to the team that is currently missing?

3) Do I think they can work within a team, yet be focused enough to work on their own and drive the solutions that they will be managing?

4) Are they tenacious and can they prove this?

5) Have they got the right social skills to be able to work with a number of disciplines around the company?

6) Are they someone that thrives on ownership and responsibility?

An initial 1-2-1 personal interview approach allows the candidate to understand if the company is the right fit for them. They get to know my expectations and the companies.

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Be the CEO of your Products!

Product Strategy

I have worked with many CEO’s who say the trouble with strategising is they don’t see any action! People can procrastinate around strategy and in many cases, boards are reluctant to spend money, if there are any questions unanswered, or like Donald Rumsfeld said, “known unknowns”.

However, like a lot of situations in business, what is the right amount of information to make a decision? You cannot know everything at the beginning and like the rest of the product process you will continue to iterate the strategy as you have more information and realign.

A strate...

Product Strategy

I have worked with many CEO’s who say the trouble with strategising is they don’t see any action! People can procrastinate around strategy and in many cases, boards are reluctant to spend money, if there are any questions unanswered, or like Donald Rumsfeld said, “known unknowns”.

However, like a lot of situations in business, what is the right amount of information to make a decision? You cannot know everything at the beginning and like the rest of the product process you will continue to iterate the strategy as you have more information and realign.

A strategy lays out a plan on how that goal will be achieved. Without a product strategy, product execution is often haphazard, moving from one crisis to the next or from one deal to the next, as you will be redirected by the different priorities of your internal stakeholders.

If you do not own the strategy, communicate it and get buy-in from all your stakeholders, everyone else will set a strategy in their heads and start to communicate it, it will become hard to own the direction of your solution(s). This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be listening to all stakeholders, but you need to own the strategy and direction of your solution.

Remember you are the CEO of your Products!

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Forgetting Usage Analytics

Why do people forget usage analytics?

According to McKinsey, if a software company grows at only 20%, it has a 92% chance of ceasing to exist within a few years.

This means that software companies - particularly SaaS companies - must look at every advantage possible to stay alive in an ever-competitive market, remember it is the small margins that can be the deciding factor as to how successful you are.

Customer analytics can be just one way that gives you that competitive edge. Whether it is measuring retention, product usage, or on-boarding, SaaS businesses must have comprehensive d...

Why do people forget usage analytics?

According to McKinsey, if a software company grows at only 20%, it has a 92% chance of ceasing to exist within a few years.

This means that software companies - particularly SaaS companies - must look at every advantage possible to stay alive in an ever-competitive market, remember it is the small margins that can be the deciding factor as to how successful you are.

Customer analytics can be just one way that gives you that competitive edge. Whether it is measuring retention, product usage, or on-boarding, SaaS businesses must have comprehensive data collection and usage analytics, thus enabling them to make agile decisions as to the priorities and direction of their overall solution.

When starting a project, make sure that usage analytics are part of the initial NFR’s think about, what information do you want to understand and act upon. Ask your stakeholders what information would they find useful to support their business area and so they can offer the best service they possibly can. Ensure the Architect and development lead build in these analytics from the beginning, as you want the feedback at every opportunity.

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Drive - 5

Five of five - Drive

Over the week we’re going to step through the Product Management process. We call this our 5D process; Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver & Drive.

Process Is vital for successful Product Management – it ensures we build the right products at the right price point in the right time timeframe, communicated well to the right customers.

So, let’s finish with Drive – Continuously improve your product to push growth as much as possible. Aim for your product to perform well whilst in the maturity phase of its lifecycle.

For the Drive phase the main objectives a...

Five of five - Drive

Over the week we’re going to step through the Product Management process. We call this our 5D process; Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver & Drive.

Process Is vital for successful Product Management – it ensures we build the right products at the right price point in the right time timeframe, communicated well to the right customers.

So, let’s finish with Drive – Continuously improve your product to push growth as much as possible. Aim for your product to perform well whilst in the maturity phase of its lifecycle.

For the Drive phase the main objectives are:

o Product performance analysis
o Continuous product planning
o Retirement and replacement strategy

In order to Drive a product well, you should strive to grow as much as possible before the maturity phase is realised. Once your product eventually does mature ask yourself. Can we stay there without losing out or becoming commoditised?

One of the most important things during the Drive phase is actually knowing when to throw in the towel..

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Deliver - 4

Over the week we’re going to step through the Product Management process. We call this our 5D process; Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver & Drive.

Process Is vital for successful Product Management – it ensures we build the right products at the right price point in the right time timeframe, communicated well to the right customers.

So, let’s continue with Deliver – the stage in which we look to go to market with our product.

For the Deliver phase the main objectives are:

• Launch with momentum
• Begin generating revenue with your product
• Use the most appropriate l...

Over the week we’re going to step through the Product Management process. We call this our 5D process; Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver & Drive.

Process Is vital for successful Product Management – it ensures we build the right products at the right price point in the right time timeframe, communicated well to the right customers.

So, let’s continue with Deliver – the stage in which we look to go to market with our product.

For the Deliver phase the main objectives are:

• Launch with momentum
• Begin generating revenue with your product
• Use the most appropriate launch strategy

The key skills within this phase focus on:

• Launch Strategy
• Cross-Team Communication
• Building a Minimum Viable Product

In order to Deliver a product well, prepare launch messaging early so you aren’t caught short and provide clarity.

Don’t forget:

• Clarity to the product manager is important
• Accurate messaging to client
• Early sales potential
• Competitive advantage
• Ownership of the message

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Define - 3

Three of five - Define

Over the week we’re going to step through the Product Management process. We call this our 5D process; Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver & Drive.

Process Is vital for successful Product Management – it ensures we build the right products at the right price point in the right time timeframe, communicated well to the right customers.

So, let’s continue with Define – translating the best opportunities into business cases and user stories.

The next step is to do a deep dive – clearly understand the market need, translate it for our development and deliv...

Three of five - Define

Over the week we’re going to step through the Product Management process. We call this our 5D process; Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver & Drive.

Process Is vital for successful Product Management – it ensures we build the right products at the right price point in the right time timeframe, communicated well to the right customers.

So, let’s continue with Define – translating the best opportunities into business cases and user stories.

The next step is to do a deep dive – clearly understand the market need, translate it for our development and delivery teams, and build out a robust plan. . To do this, Product Managers construct a business case. This provides justification for undertaking the project by demonstrating the value delivered versus the cost and risk involved. It focuses on validating a set of core questions that drive the business case. As part of this process, we start to build out requirements - Personas, user journeys and high-level user stories that translate customer needs into the language that development and build teams use that we prioritise and track through to product launch. All of this work is driven by deep dive market research

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Discover - 2

Two of five - Discover

Over the week we’re going to step through the Product Management process. We call this our 5D process; Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver & Drive.

Process Is vital for successful Product Management – it ensures we build the right products at the right price point in the right time time frame, communicated well to the right customers.

So, let’s continue with Discover – assessing new ideas

Into the product management world comes with huge numbers of ideas. These ideas range in scope and type; new products, new markets, enhancements, pricing initiatives�...

Two of five - Discover

Over the week we’re going to step through the Product Management process. We call this our 5D process; Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver & Drive.

Process Is vital for successful Product Management – it ensures we build the right products at the right price point in the right time time frame, communicated well to the right customers.

So, let’s continue with Discover – assessing new ideas

Into the product management world comes with huge numbers of ideas. These ideas range in scope and type; new products, new markets, enhancements, pricing initiatives…. the list is endless. All ideas are welcome, but not all should be delivered. Some just don’t make sense; they might not deliver benefit or fit with vision, or perhaps they overlap with our existing products. As for the rest, we prioritise them based on how well they serve our customers and how they fit with our plans.

We use our one-page innovation canvas to structure this process; 10 questions that help us uncover winning ideas and prioritise those that remain. The key is quick feedback; delivering bad news is always best done quickly so we let idea originators know how we’ve prioritised their idea before their expectation & anticipation builds.

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Direct - 1

One of five - Direct

Over the week we’re going to step through the Product Management process. We call this our 5D process; Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver & Drive.

Process Is vital for successful Product Management – it ensures we build the right products at the right price point in the right time timeframe, communicated well to the right customers.

So, let’s start with Direct – setting the product vision.

Imagine stepping on a plane and the Captain announces “Not sure where we’re going today, we’ll just take off and fly and see where we end up”. Pretty unnerving...

One of five - Direct

Over the week we’re going to step through the Product Management process. We call this our 5D process; Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver & Drive.

Process Is vital for successful Product Management – it ensures we build the right products at the right price point in the right time timeframe, communicated well to the right customers.

So, let’s start with Direct – setting the product vision.

Imagine stepping on a plane and the Captain announces “Not sure where we’re going today, we’ll just take off and fly and see where we end up”. Pretty unnerving, but this is how many product managers captain their product – no sense of final destination.

Having a product vision underpins our work. Without one we run the risk of being directionless; busy with work but doing nothing to move our product towards a grand vision. Essentially we go around in circles.

To address this Product Managers set a clear and coherent direction for their product. Building a 360-degree view of the landscape - markets, competition, current offers, mega trends and business goals - and then defining a product vision to drive the desired result.

You wouldn’t set out on a flight with a plan. Don’t set out on a product journey with a vision.

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Pricing Strategy

Pricing is a strategy, not just a number Too many product teams treat pricing as an afterthought - they come up with a number some time near launch when asked “how much is it?”. Pricing should be something we start thinking about at ideation and build a strategy for through to launch. Think of products such as the HP inkjet - it’s priced using a penetration and premium model (printers are low price to penetrate the market, ink is high price to generate profit). This pricing model directs design decisions (e.g. make printers with different ink cartridge design to protect the market from a...

Pricing is a strategy, not just a number Too many product teams treat pricing as an afterthought - they come up with a number some time near launch when asked “how much is it?”. Pricing should be something we start thinking about at ideation and build a strategy for through to launch. Think of products such as the HP inkjet - it’s priced using a penetration and premium model (printers are low price to penetrate the market, ink is high price to generate profit). This pricing model directs design decisions (e.g. make printers with different ink cartridge design to protect the market from a third party ink manufacturers). It’s clearly thought about way in advance. And it’s not an isolated case - think of google with a free to use search engine and the ad words business. Don’t think of a number just before launch!

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Do Product Management have power

???

A question that comes up frequently on the basis that we often have significant responsibility for our product. So, don’t we need enough authority to execute our responsibilities? The short answer is no - product management is a role of influence rather than direct control. We influence leadership teams to invest in products, right the way through to influencing sales teams to focus on our product. So how do we gain influence? Through evidence - coherent and compelling market research. Want to secure that 7 figure investment from your leadership team? Compelling evidence is what it ta...

???

A question that comes up frequently on the basis that we often have significant responsibility for our product. So, don’t we need enough authority to execute our responsibilities? The short answer is no - product management is a role of influence rather than direct control. We influence leadership teams to invest in products, right the way through to influencing sales teams to focus on our product. So how do we gain influence? Through evidence - coherent and compelling market research. Want to secure that 7 figure investment from your leadership team? Compelling evidence is what it takes. Remember, no one is really interested in the opinion of the product management team, they’re interested in the evidence you bring from the markets you serve.

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Marginal Improvement

I recently worked with a team who had a 5% market share and falling vs a competitor at 35%. Simple question – what should they have done? To answer this Product Managers first need to establish how competitive their product offer is. It’s very easy to think the competition is too far ahead by looking simply at market share, but that’s not always the full picture – it could be that the competitor is marginally better, and that marginal advantage turns into market dominance (i.e. most customers choose the competitor because it’s ever so slightly better). So before throwing your product...

I recently worked with a team who had a 5% market share and falling vs a competitor at 35%. Simple question – what should they have done? To answer this Product Managers first need to establish how competitive their product offer is. It’s very easy to think the competition is too far ahead by looking simply at market share, but that’s not always the full picture – it could be that the competitor is marginally better, and that marginal advantage turns into market dominance (i.e. most customers choose the competitor because it’s ever so slightly better). So before throwing your product away and starting again, think about a marginal improvement program.

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Maintaining business cases

Maintaining a business case

How many of us build out a business case to get our product funded and then simply forget it? It worth remembering that the business case changes as conditions change; customers, markets, competition, risks, numbers, etc all can change. To build the business case once and then forget it is to neglect this fundamental of change. And if we build the business case and forget it, we’re building a product for historical market conditions – what our markets used to look like.

Simple product management tip – make a habit of reviewing your business case and upda...

Maintaining a business case

How many of us build out a business case to get our product funded and then simply forget it? It worth remembering that the business case changes as conditions change; customers, markets, competition, risks, numbers, etc all can change. To build the business case once and then forget it is to neglect this fundamental of change. And if we build the business case and forget it, we’re building a product for historical market conditions – what our markets used to look like.

Simple product management tip – make a habit of reviewing your business case and updating it – 15 minutes per week where you record any new information that you’ve uncovered over the last 7 days so you always have an up-to-date record.

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Product Funnel

Building the product funnel

Sales team often think of sales pipeline – a tool that enables them to describe where customers are in the sales process from initial contact through to closed. It helps the sales manager build a robust forecast, track progress within the sales team and give an early indicator of issues – no new leads in the pipeline won’t affect this quarter but will impact the next. Product managers can adopt this technique too – building a product funnel that helps them visualise how their product is tracking. Think of building a suite of metrics that don’t just meas...

Building the product funnel

Sales team often think of sales pipeline – a tool that enables them to describe where customers are in the sales process from initial contact through to closed. It helps the sales manager build a robust forecast, track progress within the sales team and give an early indicator of issues – no new leads in the pipeline won’t affect this quarter but will impact the next. Product managers can adopt this technique too – building a product funnel that helps them visualise how their product is tracking. Think of building a suite of metrics that don’t just measure success (e.g. revenue, profit), but also lead metrics that show we’re heading in the right direction (e.g. Lighthouse customer reference, product launch date, customer feedback, etc). This gives confidence that your tracking to plan.

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Growth and it's importance

Why is growth so important?

We all want our business to grow, but how important is it? Growth is much more than a nice-to-have. It’s a fundamental for success; competition is a daily reality and without growth, you are offering opportunities for others to establish in your markets. Think of it like this, over 20,000 tech businesses were registered across Europe last year alone. That’s 20,000 more reasons to grow before they start to take a share of your business. Growing isn’t about greed, it’s about survival.

Why is growth so important?

We all want our business to grow, but how important is it? Growth is much more than a nice-to-have. It’s a fundamental for success; competition is a daily reality and without growth, you are offering opportunities for others to establish in your markets. Think of it like this, over 20,000 tech businesses were registered across Europe last year alone. That’s 20,000 more reasons to grow before they start to take a share of your business. Growing isn’t about greed, it’s about survival.

Life-cycle

You can’t size a product opportunity without knowing about Life-cycle

A recurring theme in my world is a frustration in many organisations about their inability to forecast. It’s pretty obvious why we need to do this – if you can’t scale an opportunity then you can’t right-size the organisation. But I constantly meet teams where the forecast is orders of magnitude wrong. Fundamental to this is lack of understanding life-cycle – a model that describes how a market turns on and off over time as different types of users buy in to your product. The main point being that a market is ...

You can’t size a product opportunity without knowing about Life-cycle

A recurring theme in my world is a frustration in many organisations about their inability to forecast. It’s pretty obvious why we need to do this – if you can’t scale an opportunity then you can’t right-size the organisation. But I constantly meet teams where the forecast is orders of magnitude wrong. Fundamental to this is lack of understanding life-cycle – a model that describes how a market turns on and off over time as different types of users buy in to your product. The main point being that a market is not available on one day – some customers buy in early, some much later. Think of this as an adoption model and when you’re trying to build a revenue forecast your Total Addressable Market is limited to that stage of life-cycle your product is in. For example, a $100M market won’t be bigger than $5M in the introductory phase until some lighthouse customers have bought in.

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What does a Product Manager do?

It’s a question we’ve answered many times before, but this was presented to me a while ago and I thought it was a great way of simply describing our job. We sit at the interface of customers, technology and our company, and we try to deliver solutions that meet a real customer need whilst addressing both the goals of the business and tech capability. Put simply, we solve market needs while achieving business goals.

It’s a question we’ve answered many times before, but this was presented to me a while ago and I thought it was a great way of simply describing our job. We sit at the interface of customers, technology and our company, and we try to deliver solutions that meet a real customer need whilst addressing both the goals of the business and tech capability. Put simply, we solve market needs while achieving business goals.

Team Skills

We often talk about what the ideal product manager has in terms of skills. But on a more practical level, we need to make the most of the team we have - optimise their skills to meet the needs of our business. To help, we use our team planning tool and follow four steps:

1. Work out the priorities for your team – what do the team need to deliver over the next 12 months?

2. Define the skills needed to help deliver on the priorities – it will only be a subset of the full Product Management skillset

3. Build the skills curves. Work out how capable each team member is vs the skill. Bu...

We often talk about what the ideal product manager has in terms of skills. But on a more practical level, we need to make the most of the team we have - optimise their skills to meet the needs of our business. To help, we use our team planning tool and follow four steps:

1. Work out the priorities for your team – what do the team need to deliver over the next 12 months?

2. Define the skills needed to help deliver on the priorities – it will only be a subset of the full Product Management skillset

3. Build the skills curves. Work out how capable each team member is vs the skill. Build the PM and the team skills curve

4. Close any skills gaps with training, coaching or support.

It helps focus your training and coaching on what really matters

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Make the first ten words count!

Getting your message across

I’m working with a team on messaging this week. I’m struck by how complicated many product managers make their message – I often have to spend an hour trawling through brochures and slides to get any sense of their product and I’m told ‘it’s complicated’ . Think of this from a customer perspective – if your product doesn’t grab their attention immediately then they’ll move on – they’re busy people with a thousand other things to do. To fix this, think of a newspaper article – great content is wasted if there isn’t a compelling headline...

Getting your message across

I’m working with a team on messaging this week. I’m struck by how complicated many product managers make their message – I often have to spend an hour trawling through brochures and slides to get any sense of their product and I’m told ‘it’s complicated’ . Think of this from a customer perspective – if your product doesn’t grab their attention immediately then they’ll move on – they’re busy people with a thousand other things to do. To fix this, think of a newspaper article – great content is wasted if there isn’t a compelling headline to draw you in or an image that captures your attention. When messaging to customers make those first ten words count!

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Launch your solution

When do you start to launch your solution?

You are delivering a solution not just a product. A lot of companies make the mistake that they are purely building products and as soon as they are ready, then they can release. But the solution is larger than this, it is scaling your delivery and support teams are ready. This includes:

- Consultants prepared
- Marketing campaigns understood. Advocates ready to help with communication, organise your PR
- Sales enablement complete and sales teams trained
- Support Desk trained and the SLA’s (Service Level agreements) and OLA’s (Operationa...

When do you start to launch your solution?

You are delivering a solution not just a product. A lot of companies make the mistake that they are purely building products and as soon as they are ready, then they can release. But the solution is larger than this, it is scaling your delivery and support teams are ready. This includes:

- Consultants prepared
- Marketing campaigns understood. Advocates ready to help with communication, organise your PR
- Sales enablement complete and sales teams trained
- Support Desk trained and the SLA’s (Service Level agreements) and OLA’s (Operational Level Agreements) are in place
- Product ready. Are you going to trial/pilot?
- Solution feedback mechanisms are in place
- All teams are trained and ready to answer customer queries about the solution, using the right value proposition

As soon as you have had the approval for the project to go ahead, and you have secured the budget for development, the next step is bringing together your stakeholder group from around the company. Build a checklist of all the activities and add owners from the stakeholder group. Have the stakeholders keep you updated with progress, you are not to deliver on their behalf!! The success of the solution will depend on the support of the business.

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solving small customer problems

How much of your customers day is consumed with activities that involve your product or service?

Imagine you build a successful product that help shopkeepers manage inventory. A typical train of thought for the Product Manager looking for growth is “Who else has an inventory problem that I can sell to”. This is completely valid, but you could also look for growth by answering a different question “What else keeps shopkeepers busy?”. The downside of this is pretty obvious – you’ll need new products to meet the new needs you identify. But before you discount it, think about the co...

How much of your customers day is consumed with activities that involve your product or service?

Imagine you build a successful product that help shopkeepers manage inventory. A typical train of thought for the Product Manager looking for growth is “Who else has an inventory problem that I can sell to”. This is completely valid, but you could also look for growth by answering a different question “What else keeps shopkeepers busy?”. The downside of this is pretty obvious – you’ll need new products to meet the new needs you identify. But before you discount it, think about the cost of taking your ‘off -the-shelf’ product to a new market – there’s likely to be development costs, plus building channels and reputation is an expensive business. It’s always tempting to look at customer wins as flags on a map when in reality what we’ve won is a small share of their spend by solving a small problem in their world – we’ve not planted a flag, we’ve secured a small piece of the pie.

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Staying ahead of our competitors

How can we as Product Managers use marginal gain to ensure we always stay ahead of our competitors ?

First gaining prominence with Sir Dave Brailsford, Performance Director for Team Sky, the UK’s professional cycling team, he pushed the team to search for the 1% in hundreds of tiny areas that were overlooked by their competitors: they looked at more obscure areas such as taking their favourite pillows on tour to get the best night’s sleep and teaching riders how to wash their hands to avoid illness and time off training. They were relentless in their pursuit of marginal gains and it pai...

How can we as Product Managers use marginal gain to ensure we always stay ahead of our competitors ?

First gaining prominence with Sir Dave Brailsford, Performance Director for Team Sky, the UK’s professional cycling team, he pushed the team to search for the 1% in hundreds of tiny areas that were overlooked by their competitors: they looked at more obscure areas such as taking their favourite pillows on tour to get the best night’s sleep and teaching riders how to wash their hands to avoid illness and time off training. They were relentless in their pursuit of marginal gains and it paid off.

What can we learn from this? Lots of small gains that in isolation mean nothing can add up to remarkable aggregate improvements over time. Think of apple and blackberry handsets – a product that is marginally better across the piece translates into a hugely dominant market performance.

Marginal gains in your product can mean the difference between success and failure, because when product deals are won, it can be on the smallest of margins.

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NO quickly and cleanly

Getting to ‘no’

Sales teams often talk about ‘getting to yes’, but for Product Managers I’d argue that getting to ‘no’ is just as important when managing new ideas. In fact, getting to ‘no’ quickly and cleanly is a really useful skill. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen products blown off course by deals being won that created more distraction than dollars – dev teams burning huge resource to try and fit what’s been sold into what’s already been built.

The key to rejection is to act quickly (wait too long and expectation builds) and logically (sa...

Getting to ‘no’

Sales teams often talk about ‘getting to yes’, but for Product Managers I’d argue that getting to ‘no’ is just as important when managing new ideas. In fact, getting to ‘no’ quickly and cleanly is a really useful skill. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen products blown off course by deals being won that created more distraction than dollars – dev teams burning huge resource to try and fit what’s been sold into what’s already been built.

The key to rejection is to act quickly (wait too long and expectation builds) and logically (saying ‘no’ without rationale just won’t work).

My advice? ASAP spend 20 minutes with an innovation canvas and establish if that new idea really makes sense before support for it builds – a fast ‘no’ is so much more positive than a slow and reluctant ‘perhaps’.

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Product Management potential

Question: How can you spot Product Management potential? You know the type of scenario – that person who’s doing a great job in support/presales/etc is looking for a move, has no Product Management background, but do they have potential? Here are the six attributes to look for:

Curiosity - Has a natural curiosity for the product and eager to dive into the details (technology, markets, regulation, customers, competitors, etc).

An influencer - Is an Influencing and inspiring individual who is through their charismatic attitude able to drive and lead progress whilst creating a positive ...

Question: How can you spot Product Management potential? You know the type of scenario – that person who’s doing a great job in support/presales/etc is looking for a move, has no Product Management background, but do they have potential? Here are the six attributes to look for:

Curiosity - Has a natural curiosity for the product and eager to dive into the details (technology, markets, regulation, customers, competitors, etc).

An influencer - Is an Influencing and inspiring individual who is through their charismatic attitude able to drive and lead progress whilst creating a positive working environment.

Dynamic – They are a proactive problem solver, with a can-do attitude and can take the team with them.

Organised - Is disciplined and organised. They have a structured approach and utilise process effectively to get the job done. They are structured in their way of managing information.

A thought leader - Is able to distil complex information down into an insightful and compelling narrative..

A skilled communicator - Needs to be clear, concise and credible in their communication, being able to deliver a message in a few words with complete clarity.

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Presentation OVERLOAD

Don’t overload you presentation

I recently sat through a presentation torture – a product manager with slides full of 10 point font! It was an hour of staring at the back of a the persons head as they read their own slides. I understand why this happens - nervousness. They think “I’ll never remember everything I need to say so I’ll write in it the deck as support”. But the problem when they present is that either the audience just read the slides or the presenter reads for them - both are pretty dull and completely unengaging.

Remember, slide decks are a presentation aid, the...

Don’t overload you presentation

I recently sat through a presentation torture – a product manager with slides full of 10 point font! It was an hour of staring at the back of a the persons head as they read their own slides. I understand why this happens - nervousness. They think “I’ll never remember everything I need to say so I’ll write in it the deck as support”. But the problem when they present is that either the audience just read the slides or the presenter reads for them - both are pretty dull and completely unengaging.

Remember, slide decks are a presentation aid, they do not tell the full story and probably make little sense without the presenter. So use them as an aid – three or four big statements per slide that gives your presentation structure and direction.

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The right language

Talking the right language

Ever feel your message isn’t getting through to your customer? It could be that the message is wrong, but often it’s not the message, but the delivery – language that doesn’t resonate with your target market. Here’s a simple example; you want to encourage your children to exercise more. Which statement is more likely to work: ‘ Shall we go for a long ride on our bikes to improve our cardiovascular fitness’ or

‘Let’s see who can get muddiest on the canal path!

’’Simple rule of product management – when you talk to your customers, speak...

Talking the right language

Ever feel your message isn’t getting through to your customer? It could be that the message is wrong, but often it’s not the message, but the delivery – language that doesn’t resonate with your target market. Here’s a simple example; you want to encourage your children to exercise more. Which statement is more likely to work: ‘ Shall we go for a long ride on our bikes to improve our cardiovascular fitness’ or

‘Let’s see who can get muddiest on the canal path!

’’Simple rule of product management – when you talk to your customers, speak in a way that makes sense to them not in language that impresses your boss!

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‘It’s not about the bike

Lance Armstrong once wrote a book entitled ‘it’s not about the bike’. Turned out there was more truth in that title than we’d imagined, but ‘It’s not about the product’ would be a good product management book title.

Working with a new team recently on a go to market plan and they were surprised how much of product management is not about the product. It’s so true. Think about a launch plan - it shines a light on this and shows that to launch well you must have a product, but you also need legals, messaging, sales plans, support, pricing, etc. Great products need lots of roun...

Lance Armstrong once wrote a book entitled ‘it’s not about the bike’. Turned out there was more truth in that title than we’d imagined, but ‘It’s not about the product’ would be a good product management book title.

Working with a new team recently on a go to market plan and they were surprised how much of product management is not about the product. It’s so true. Think about a launch plan - it shines a light on this and shows that to launch well you must have a product, but you also need legals, messaging, sales plans, support, pricing, etc. Great products need lots of rounding out to be world class propositions.

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Footsteps

We’re a few weeks into the new year – just long enough for those ambitious plans we had for our product in the new year to start unravelling as the daily grind takes hold. How can Product Managers remain on track when we’re overwhelmed with work? The trick is to divide and conquer – complex, difficult, or overwhelming tasks are made up of many simple and easy steps. So don’t dwell on that huge product launch today to the point it overwhelms, tackle some simple steps that move you a little closer. Concentrate on the next footstep, not the mountain.

We’re a few weeks into the new year – just long enough for those ambitious plans we had for our product in the new year to start unravelling as the daily grind takes hold. How can Product Managers remain on track when we’re overwhelmed with work? The trick is to divide and conquer – complex, difficult, or overwhelming tasks are made up of many simple and easy steps. So don’t dwell on that huge product launch today to the point it overwhelms, tackle some simple steps that move you a little closer. Concentrate on the next footstep, not the mountain.

Importance of Product Partners

For many software companies there is a real challenge in continuing to develop software in keeping pace with changes in the sector. To be successful, you need a business strategy that makes sure you meet the needs of customers in your target market . . . and it’s here where Product Partners play a crucial role.

Product Partners are different to straightforward channel re sellers who include your software in a portfolio of other solutions to sell to their target market. Instead, Product Partners have created software of their own which adds value to your existing solution. They can help yo...

For many software companies there is a real challenge in continuing to develop software in keeping pace with changes in the sector. To be successful, you need a business strategy that makes sure you meet the needs of customers in your target market . . . and it’s here where Product Partners play a crucial role.

Product Partners are different to straightforward channel re sellers who include your software in a portfolio of other solutions to sell to their target market. Instead, Product Partners have created software of their own which adds value to your existing solution. They can help you to offer a functionally-rich solution, create better revenue opportunities, position your company as the strongest supplier, and create new active and passive income streams.

There are four main different types of software Product Partner, all of which need to be carefully managed to make the business successful:

Whichever Product Partner strategy you go for (and it can easily be a combination of all four) it’s important to keep the main goal of any partnership in mind; both sides must get value from the relationship.

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6 of 6

This week I’m going to step through how you can build a feature driven roadmap from a high level vision. I’ll do this through the example of Uber. We’re now on step 6:

1. Define your Elevator Epic.

2. Identify the stakeholders involved in your epic.

3. Prioritise your stakeholders

4. Define the factors that drive their behaviours

5. Define the goals that support each factor.

6. Describe the need that results from the goal

Finally, we identify the needs behind each goal. Our Uber business user might want autogenerated receipts to make expense submission easier.

So ...

This week I’m going to step through how you can build a feature driven roadmap from a high level vision. I’ll do this through the example of Uber. We’re now on step 6:

1. Define your Elevator Epic.

2. Identify the stakeholders involved in your epic.

3. Prioritise your stakeholders

4. Define the factors that drive their behaviours

5. Define the goals that support each factor.

6. Describe the need that results from the goal

Finally, we identify the needs behind each goal. Our Uber business user might want autogenerated receipts to make expense submission easier.

So over this series of blogs we’ve shown a nice and simple method to go from vision to feature!

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5 of 6

This week I’m going to step through how you can build a feature driven roadmap from a high level vision. I’ll do this through the example of Uber. We’re now on step 5:

1. Define your Elevator Epic.

2. Identify the stakeholders involved in your epic.

3. Prioritise your stakeholders

4. Define the factors that drive their behaviours

5. Define the goals that support each factor.

6. Describe the need that results from the goal

For each factor we think through the goals – What our customer is trying to achieve with that aspect of our service. For example, a business user...

This week I’m going to step through how you can build a feature driven roadmap from a high level vision. I’ll do this through the example of Uber. We’re now on step 5:

1. Define your Elevator Epic.

2. Identify the stakeholders involved in your epic.

3. Prioritise your stakeholders

4. Define the factors that drive their behaviours

5. Define the goals that support each factor.

6. Describe the need that results from the goal

For each factor we think through the goals – What our customer is trying to achieve with that aspect of our service. For example, a business user of Uber might have a goal of an E receipt being auto generated for each trip.

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4 of 6

This week I’m going to step through how you can build a feature driven roadmap from a high level vision. I’ll do this through the example of Uber. We’re now on step 4:

1. Define your Elevator Epic.

2. Identify the stakeholders involved in your epic.

3. Prioritise your stakeholders

4. Define the factors that drive their behaviours

5. Define the goals that support each factor.

6. Describe the need that results from the goal

Next we define factors that drive their behaviour. For each stakeholder group there will be reasons that make them more or less likely to use your ...

This week I’m going to step through how you can build a feature driven roadmap from a high level vision. I’ll do this through the example of Uber. We’re now on step 4:

1. Define your Elevator Epic.

2. Identify the stakeholders involved in your epic.

3. Prioritise your stakeholders

4. Define the factors that drive their behaviours

5. Define the goals that support each factor.

6. Describe the need that results from the goal

Next we define factors that drive their behaviour. For each stakeholder group there will be reasons that make them more or less likely to use your service – and typically more than one reason. For example, if we think of Uber riders, price might be important, but it won’t be the only reason they use the service. Think of things like safety, response time, ease of use, etc. So we build a prioritised factors graph that describes the most significant factors that our customers value and compares our ability to execute each factor versus our direct rivals.

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2,3 of 6

his week I’m going to step through how you can build a feature driven roadmap from a high level vision. I’ll do this through the example of Uber. We’re now on step 2 & 3:

1. Define your Elevator Epic.

2. Identify the stakeholders involved in your epic.

3. Prioritise your stakeholders

4. Define the factors that drive their behaviours

5. Define the goals that support each factor.

6. Describe the need that results from the goal

Once we’ve define our Elevator epic using the Value proposition framework, we think about who is involved – the stakeholders. This is more t...

his week I’m going to step through how you can build a feature driven roadmap from a high level vision. I’ll do this through the example of Uber. We’re now on step 2 & 3:

1. Define your Elevator Epic.

2. Identify the stakeholders involved in your epic.

3. Prioritise your stakeholders

4. Define the factors that drive their behaviours

5. Define the goals that support each factor.

6. Describe the need that results from the goal

Once we’ve define our Elevator epic using the Value proposition framework, we think about who is involved – the stakeholders. This is more than just users, it’s everyone across the value chain. From our Uber example we know that those involved include riders, drivers and regulators. There are also internal stakeholders. Additionally, stakeholder groups tend to be of more than one type. For example, riders might be business users, leisure travellers, etc. Once identified, we prioritise the customer-side personas so we know which needs to focus on.

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1 of 6

This week I’m going to step through how you can build a feature driven roadmap from a high level vision. I’ll do this through the example of Uber. There are six steps to cover:

1. Define your Elevator Epic.

2. Identify the stakeholders involved in your epic.

3. Prioritise your stakeholders

4. Define the factors that drive their behaviours

5. Define the goals that support each factor.

6. Describe the need that results from the goal

The first step is pretty simple for a Product Management team. We define our Elevator epic using the Value proposition framework. It should ...

This week I’m going to step through how you can build a feature driven roadmap from a high level vision. I’ll do this through the example of Uber. There are six steps to cover:

1. Define your Elevator Epic.

2. Identify the stakeholders involved in your epic.

3. Prioritise your stakeholders

4. Define the factors that drive their behaviours

5. Define the goals that support each factor.

6. Describe the need that results from the goal

The first step is pretty simple for a Product Management team. We define our Elevator epic using the Value proposition framework. It should capture core value that you deliver. The framework we use is:

For

Who < Statement of the need or opportunity …>

The < Product or service name >

Is a < Product or service category>

That < Positioning the value >

Unlike < Primary competitive advantage >

Our solution < Statement of primary differentiator >

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Market Shift

Does your Market Disappear or Shift?

The ‘decline of the high-street’ has been regular news for the what seems like forever. Few weeks go by without another casualty hitting the headlines. Talking with a group who are dealing with this got me thinking - is it market decline or market shift?

Take Blockbuster for example, they filed for bankruptcy, blaming a declining market. In reality, their market was larger than ever, it had just shifted towards the online & digital space.

So, what can we learn from this? Sure, some markets disappear, but most shift. And these shifts cause dis...

Does your Market Disappear or Shift?

The ‘decline of the high-street’ has been regular news for the what seems like forever. Few weeks go by without another casualty hitting the headlines. Talking with a group who are dealing with this got me thinking - is it market decline or market shift?

Take Blockbuster for example, they filed for bankruptcy, blaming a declining market. In reality, their market was larger than ever, it had just shifted towards the online & digital space.

So, what can we learn from this? Sure, some markets disappear, but most shift. And these shifts cause disruption that product managers can either embrace and take advantage of or ignore and find their products and services irrelevant.

Don’t get left behind by your market because of stubbornness or short-sighted, tactical thinking.

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Product Timeline

Building out a vision is tough. Working out how to deliver is even tougher! We’ve built a one page canvas that helps:-

1. Define your three year goals for your product

2. Think of annual initiatives or themes for years 1, 2 and 3 that drive to that goal

3. Break the annual initiative down into quarterly points of value

It breaks a big problem down into smaller, bite sized steps.

How are you currently dealing with planning your product's future?

Building out a vision is tough. Working out how to deliver is even tougher! We’ve built a one page canvas that helps:-

1. Define your three year goals for your product

2. Think of annual initiatives or themes for years 1, 2 and 3 that drive to that goal

3. Break the annual initiative down into quarterly points of value

It breaks a big problem down into smaller, bite sized steps.

How are you currently dealing with planning your product's future?

Product, Problem, Solution?

Product, Problem or Solution managers?

I was in conversation with some sales people recently and we got on to one of the regular hot topics - product managers talk too much about product. It can sound a little weird - surely a product manager should talk about the product? But too much product focus is wrong because customers don’t really buy products. Think of it like this; the old saying in sales that ‘people buy from people’ has a product management equivalent. “People don’t buy products they buy solutions to problems”. Help sales team sell by ensuring they have clarity on th...

Product, Problem or Solution managers?

I was in conversation with some sales people recently and we got on to one of the regular hot topics - product managers talk too much about product. It can sound a little weird - surely a product manager should talk about the product? But too much product focus is wrong because customers don’t really buy products. Think of it like this; the old saying in sales that ‘people buy from people’ has a product management equivalent. “People don’t buy products they buy solutions to problems”. Help sales team sell by ensuring they have clarity on the issues that are front of mind for your customers rather than a dry list of features. Develop a problem and solution focus.

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How often is too often?

How often is too often to release a product?

Recently working with a team, we got to a common agile conundrum; core to the agile process is the concept of frequent, iterative product releases. This is often seen as nothing but positive by many teams “You can release product updates every 7 days!”, but there are many markets where this makes no sense at all. For instance, your customer is a bank and your product has security implications – the iterative agile model simply can’t operate in that world. So is agile the wrong process for these types of products? Not necessarily. The agil...

How often is too often to release a product?

Recently working with a team, we got to a common agile conundrum; core to the agile process is the concept of frequent, iterative product releases. This is often seen as nothing but positive by many teams “You can release product updates every 7 days!”, but there are many markets where this makes no sense at all. For instance, your customer is a bank and your product has security implications – the iterative agile model simply can’t operate in that world. So is agile the wrong process for these types of products? Not necessarily. The agile process delivers regular product updates, but the product management team can choose what to do with those updates release to customer or hold back and bundle into a bigger product release that works for the customers business.

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characteristics

What are the characteristics of a good product manager?

It’s a question we face when we’re helping businesses build a product management function. If you’re recruiting experienced Product Managers then you might look for skills – launch skills, research skills, pricing skills, etc. But what about that person sat in support who is looking for a new challenge? They might not have the skills just yet, but do the have the core capability? Here’s our quick checklist for working out if they have pm potential

Curiosity – Do they demonstrate intellectual interest? Are they eager to l...

What are the characteristics of a good product manager?

It’s a question we face when we’re helping businesses build a product management function. If you’re recruiting experienced Product Managers then you might look for skills – launch skills, research skills, pricing skills, etc. But what about that person sat in support who is looking for a new challenge? They might not have the skills just yet, but do the have the core capability? Here’s our quick checklist for working out if they have pm potential

Curiosity – Do they demonstrate intellectual interest? Are they eager to learn?

Drive – Do they show ambition?

Discipline – Are the organised?

People skills – Can they get people to listen to them. Can they take people with them? Are they charismatic?

Communication – Can they get their point across clearly and quickly?

Thought leadership – Do they have vision? Are they a creative problem solver?

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Prod Mgnt in tech organisations?

Where does Product Management belong in Tech organisations?

As Tech companies grow and the nature of technology evolves into the world of SaaS and apps, there’s often confusion around where Product Management should sit in the organisation.

Traditional consumer organisations have a tendency to consider Product Management in the same arena as Marketing or Development. The problem here is that the Product Managers can get tied up in functionality or market communications. This means no-one is engaging with customers to understand their problems or looking ahead and strategising as to wha...

Where does Product Management belong in Tech organisations?

As Tech companies grow and the nature of technology evolves into the world of SaaS and apps, there’s often confusion around where Product Management should sit in the organisation.

Traditional consumer organisations have a tendency to consider Product Management in the same arena as Marketing or Development. The problem here is that the Product Managers can get tied up in functionality or market communications. This means no-one is engaging with customers to understand their problems or looking ahead and strategising as to what the business needs to do in the future to continue to be successful.

To drive the maximum success from a Product Management team, you need to understand exactly what their role is. It’s broadly comprised of three main focuses:

Product strategy
Product marketing
Technical product management

Within the Tech market, or any market for that matter, the truth is: if you want better products in the future, and for the product management team to be held accountable at organisational level, then it must be represented at Board level in its own right.

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How do you track product success

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Product Managers need to be able describe if the product they launched was successful, typically in metric form. Simple idea, but difficult to do. Whether you’re an OKR or KPI or SMART fan, it’s important to think in terms of lag and lead. Some metrics lag – think revenue. It’s critical, but if that’s all you quantity then there’s very little action you can take at the point that the metric becomes measurable. Other metrics lead – think pilot customer or launch date. These give an indication that you’re on the right path. Product Managers should think of a funnel of metr...

???

Product Managers need to be able describe if the product they launched was successful, typically in metric form. Simple idea, but difficult to do. Whether you’re an OKR or KPI or SMART fan, it’s important to think in terms of lag and lead. Some metrics lag – think revenue. It’s critical, but if that’s all you quantity then there’s very little action you can take at the point that the metric becomes measurable. Other metrics lead – think pilot customer or launch date. These give an indication that you’re on the right path. Product Managers should think of a funnel of metrics that describe not just what success looks like, but that journey to success.

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Existing customers

So many organisations look at their existing customers as ‘A deal that is already done’.

Why is it that they so rarely ask how are these happy customers going to help them sell to the next group of customers?

When launching a new product, having a group of strong advocates will kick start those sales far quicker than sending out flyers or other marketing materials.

Think about what you need to do with getting the innovators on board and talking about your solution.

Don’t take your customers for granted. They could be your greatest advocate or your biggest critic. And they can...

So many organisations look at their existing customers as ‘A deal that is already done’.

Why is it that they so rarely ask how are these happy customers going to help them sell to the next group of customers?

When launching a new product, having a group of strong advocates will kick start those sales far quicker than sending out flyers or other marketing materials.

Think about what you need to do with getting the innovators on board and talking about your solution.

Don’t take your customers for granted. They could be your greatest advocate or your biggest critic. And they can either damage or improve your solution growth, depending on how you treat them.

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Who is responsible?

Who is responsible for successfully launching a product?

Ever tried to build a RACI model that describes roles and responsibilities through a product delivery cycle? It often ends up as an overcomplex spreadsheet that feels more academic than real-world as we try and map out the complex world we live in. What the exercise misses is this; taking a product to market is a team sport - a group of people with expertise across the product delivery process are engaged in bringing a product to market from inception, to launch, to in-life management. They bring their expertise to the table and might...

Who is responsible for successfully launching a product?

Ever tried to build a RACI model that describes roles and responsibilities through a product delivery cycle? It often ends up as an overcomplex spreadsheet that feels more academic than real-world as we try and map out the complex world we live in. What the exercise misses is this; taking a product to market is a team sport - a group of people with expertise across the product delivery process are engaged in bringing a product to market from inception, to launch, to in-life management. They bring their expertise to the table and might take the lead on certain topics. But they work as a team to get the best product delivered. My tip; whenever you’re trying to deliver a product to market, agree some team objectives and key results, and never lose sight that you’re on the same team!

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Product Planning 2020

Three step product planning for 2020

For many of us it’s the first day back in the office and a time crystallise our plans for 2020. It can feel a little daunting, so here is our three-point checklist of things to do to get 2020 moving! Click on the links to download the templates for each step

1. Know your product goals for 2020.
Link the strategy of the business to a set of concrete objectives for your product using the market map tool. Read about it here

https://lnkd.in/ePhQ8jR

2. Make sure you have the people and skills.
Think about the skills you’ll need in your team to...

Three step product planning for 2020

For many of us it’s the first day back in the office and a time crystallise our plans for 2020. It can feel a little daunting, so here is our three-point checklist of things to do to get 2020 moving! Click on the links to download the templates for each step

1. Know your product goals for 2020.
Link the strategy of the business to a set of concrete objectives for your product using the market map tool. Read about it here

https://lnkd.in/ePhQ8jR

2. Make sure you have the people and skills.
Think about the skills you’ll need in your team to execute on the objectives you’ve set out in step 1. We’ve built a tool called “mind the gap” that you can download here

https://lnkd.in/enX_KZa

3. Articulate your plan and show the delivery of value
Being able to share your 2020 plan in a simple and coherent way is critical for buy-in. Take a look at our one-page vision template here.

https://lnkd.in/eGX55F4

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WORKOUT 5

WORKOUT 5 – Never skip leg day!!! Marginal gains and in-life management.

It seems to always be the thing that gets overlooked by product managers and those that teach product management. We find it more common that PM processes tend to leave out the detail of how we should manage our products once we’ve launched. More concerned about bringing new ideas to the table and getting them to launch.

We say, never skip leg day. Always be aware of how you can improve products in-life and manage the bit between launch and retirement as best as possible.

One of the most effective methods is ...

WORKOUT 5 – Never skip leg day!!! Marginal gains and in-life management.

It seems to always be the thing that gets overlooked by product managers and those that teach product management. We find it more common that PM processes tend to leave out the detail of how we should manage our products once we’ve launched. More concerned about bringing new ideas to the table and getting them to launch.

We say, never skip leg day. Always be aware of how you can improve products in-life and manage the bit between launch and retirement as best as possible.

One of the most effective methods is product improvements via marginal gains. Many 1% enhancements that, when added together, accumulate to a greater overall improvement of the product.

On Product Management Central we can step through marginal gains in great detail with a fantastic animated video that breaks down how to best identify marginal gain improvements for your product. Sign up now by clicking here, get 7 days free, and it costs less than half of the average gym membership per month! Only £19.99 per month!

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WORKOUT 4

WORKOUT 4 – HIIT – Portfolio fit.

High intensity Interval Training is always varied with lots of different available exercises, but they all share and help in working towards the same goal! So, when looking at products that are under-performing or being developed with a view to launch… Ask yourself, do these products make sense and ultimately help towards the shared goal of the business?

How do Product Managers make the right investment decisions so that the portfolio is performing well today and will continue to perform well in the future?

We use a dashboard so that Product Man...

WORKOUT 4 – HIIT – Portfolio fit.

High intensity Interval Training is always varied with lots of different available exercises, but they all share and help in working towards the same goal! So, when looking at products that are under-performing or being developed with a view to launch… Ask yourself, do these products make sense and ultimately help towards the shared goal of the business?

How do Product Managers make the right investment decisions so that the portfolio is performing well today and will continue to perform well in the future?

We use a dashboard so that Product Managers can make sure; the tactical balance is correct; the Lifecycle mix is right and the fit to longer term strategy is correct This gives a balanced view of portfolio.

Try to avoid a product portfolio where everything sits in the same area of the product lifecycle, market share and growth, business strength and market attractiveness.

At Product Management Central with have a huge variety of content and lessons that all help work towards the shared goal of upskilling your product management capabilities. Sign up now and get 7 days free! Each month after that cost less than a gym membership, work out your PM skills and further your career today!

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WORKOUT 3

WORKOUT 3 – Chest and Tri’s – its opportunity size!

This is the area we see and always think it could be better right? Well, if you train chest effectively you attack from a lot of different angles to get the best results. With new opportunities, it’s the same concept!

Ideation management is important and being able to understand what that idea means in terms of a potential business case, means being able to accurately describe the opportunity size.

On Product Management Central we have multiple lesson that deal with the earliest stages of a product/opportunity. Take a look at...

WORKOUT 3 – Chest and Tri’s – its opportunity size!

This is the area we see and always think it could be better right? Well, if you train chest effectively you attack from a lot of different angles to get the best results. With new opportunities, it’s the same concept!

Ideation management is important and being able to understand what that idea means in terms of a potential business case, means being able to accurately describe the opportunity size.

On Product Management Central we have multiple lesson that deal with the earliest stages of a product/opportunity. Take a look at:

- Concept assessment

- Forecasting from 1st principles

- Market sizing and demand forecasting

These lessons are useful in isolation but combine them all together and all of a sudden everything begins to make sense and fall into place. Join PMC and gain access to all of this training + refined templates and tool to help you complete the work.

Below are the steps we take when we scope a new opportunity, part of our forecasting from 1st principles lessons. Sign up to PMC now and download this tool to help in opportunity sizing!

So, here are questions on how to assess a new concept in order to determine opportunity size:

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WORKOUT 2

WORKOUT 2 – Biceps and back – Creating a roadmap.

It’s time to pump those arms and flex that back! Roadmaps take many different forms and are used for a vast number of different applications. There are a few types of roadmaps that are crucial to any products lifecycle and management, here is an overview!

The Visionary Roadmap – A high-level view of where your products need to go over the next 5/10 years based on market mega trends. It sets the direction of travel.

The Product Roadmap – It takes the vision and breaks it down into tangible customer deliveries. It defines how v...

WORKOUT 2 – Biceps and back – Creating a roadmap.

It’s time to pump those arms and flex that back! Roadmaps take many different forms and are used for a vast number of different applications. There are a few types of roadmaps that are crucial to any products lifecycle and management, here is an overview!

The Visionary Roadmap – A high-level view of where your products need to go over the next 5/10 years based on market mega trends. It sets the direction of travel.

The Product Roadmap – It takes the vision and breaks it down into tangible customer deliveries. It defines how value will be delivered and identifies the major landmarks on our journey to our vision.

The Technical Roadmap – It adds detail. It describes how we get to each major landmark identified in the Product Roadmap, the people involved, etc. It tells us how we’ll make our journey to vision.

Go to Product Management Central at any time to check up on our road-mapping content and learn how to complete this effectively. Whenever you need to revise your megatrend roadmaps or need access to a useful tool or template to complete these tasks, PMC is your go to destination!

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WORKOUT 1

WORKOUT 1 – Boulder shoulders, We’re Creating Personas!

So, its Shoulder day at the PM Gym and Product Management Central is going to step you through a shoulder workout like no other. We are going to look at the importance of creating personas and the steps we take to make this as effective as possible.

We build out personas in order to better prioritize how and what we build into our product requirements. Personas are fictional representations of actual users, they’ll only work if you fully understand who your users are – or will be. The more information you have, the better. G...

WORKOUT 1 – Boulder shoulders, We’re Creating Personas!

So, its Shoulder day at the PM Gym and Product Management Central is going to step you through a shoulder workout like no other. We are going to look at the importance of creating personas and the steps we take to make this as effective as possible.

We build out personas in order to better prioritize how and what we build into our product requirements. Personas are fictional representations of actual users, they’ll only work if you fully understand who your users are – or will be. The more information you have, the better. Generally, 4-7 Personas (whittled down from several user groups) are sufficient to capture and document a majority of user requirements.

It’s a simple model:

1. Start with their wants and needs

2. Then describe how they think and feel based on those wants and needs

3. Next, what do they do about the situation

4. Finally, knowing more about their situation we can create a problem statement around their pain points

You can use your knowledge and make assumptions to create proto-personas that you then go and validate. We have some great tools for creating personas available on PMC. Learn more here: https://www.productmanagementcentral.com/

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The PM gym

At Tarigo we would like to invite you to join the PM Gym and exercise your product management capabilities. Be better prepared and more proficient everyday as a Product Manager by maintaining constant access to learning and training materials that mirror the content and quality of our face-to-face training.

Product Management Central is your new gym, open 24 hours, allowing you to workout each skill and task that Product Managers have to perform day in, day out. At less than half the price of the average gym membership in the UK - you’ll barely notice the cost, but you will see huge benef...

At Tarigo we would like to invite you to join the PM Gym and exercise your product management capabilities. Be better prepared and more proficient everyday as a Product Manager by maintaining constant access to learning and training materials that mirror the content and quality of our face-to-face training.

Product Management Central is your new gym, open 24 hours, allowing you to workout each skill and task that Product Managers have to perform day in, day out. At less than half the price of the average gym membership in the UK - you’ll barely notice the cost, but you will see huge benefits with access to:

- Lesson topics on all thing’s product management.

- Access to archived webinars, deep dive papers and daily blogs.

- A vast Product Management toolbox with tools, templates and interactive features.

Use all of this and more to assess, manage and improve your own Product Management capabilities without the cost and out of office time of traditional training!

Follow us this week to see each ‘Workout of the Day’ to challenge your PM skills and give you a taste of the content that can help you on Product Management Central.

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Get the message across

I’m a fan of simple, clear and engaging messaging. This one from the London tube worked for me. Got any favourites?

I’m a fan of simple, clear and engaging messaging. This one from the London tube worked for me. Got any favourites?

Product Vision

Building out a product vision can be challenging, so I thought I’d share this approach with you. We’re working with a customer who wants to build product management excellence into their team over the next three years. But what does that mean? The approach we’ve taken is to describe the future by a series of quotes – what would people say about the team in 2022. I found this to be really helpful in that it gave us some goals to drive to. I can see how we can refine it to cover a range of voices (e.g. what would customers say, what would dev say, what would competitors say, etc). Intere...

Building out a product vision can be challenging, so I thought I’d share this approach with you. We’re working with a customer who wants to build product management excellence into their team over the next three years. But what does that mean? The approach we’ve taken is to describe the future by a series of quotes – what would people say about the team in 2022. I found this to be really helpful in that it gave us some goals to drive to. I can see how we can refine it to cover a range of voices (e.g. what would customers say, what would dev say, what would competitors say, etc). Interested in your thoughts.

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Turning strategy into action

How does a product leader work out what skills they need in their PM team next year? We help teams take business strategy and translate it prioritized PM activities using our strategy canvas, market map, and mid the gap tools:

• Strategy Canvas – Take strategy goals and identify areas of focus that align for your product

• Market Map – Take those areas of focus and define product initiatives in five different risk categories

• Mind the Gap – Take those product initiatives and define the skills you’ll need in your PM team to effectively deliver

This gives product leade...

How does a product leader work out what skills they need in their PM team next year? We help teams take business strategy and translate it prioritized PM activities using our strategy canvas, market map, and mid the gap tools:

• Strategy Canvas – Take strategy goals and identify areas of focus that align for your product

• Market Map – Take those areas of focus and define product initiatives in five different risk categories

• Mind the Gap – Take those product initiatives and define the skills you’ll need in your PM team to effectively deliver

This gives product leader clarity about what they need from their team. Want to take a look at any of those tools? Drop us a note at info@tarigo.co.uk

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Have the foundations set

Marginal gain improvements to your product can be very beneficial, all of those borderline losses soon turn to wins with a better more rounded out solution.

But you have to be sure that when you lose out to a competitor that you know why.

Was it a marginal loss? Or, has your product actually missed the audience in a much bigger way?

Before you turn to the tactical marginal gain strategy, be sure that you have the foundations set.

Ask yourself:
Do you understand your audience?
And, Do you understand what your objective is?

Be sure that the answers to these question are well com...

Marginal gain improvements to your product can be very beneficial, all of those borderline losses soon turn to wins with a better more rounded out solution.

But you have to be sure that when you lose out to a competitor that you know why.

Was it a marginal loss? Or, has your product actually missed the audience in a much bigger way?

Before you turn to the tactical marginal gain strategy, be sure that you have the foundations set.

Ask yourself:
Do you understand your audience?
And, Do you understand what your objective is?

Be sure that the answers to these question are well communicated across you company and customer base. Get this right straight away!

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Finding time to be strategic

How do you find time to be strategic?

Most product managers know they need to dedicate some of their week to thinking towards the future, but many are overwhelmed by their daily workload - constant tactical interrupts. Here are three tips to help free up some diary time

Manage your meetings - ensure all meetings have a defined purpose. And why do meeting need to be an hour? Try 15 minute stand-up meetings.

Don’t be an email grazer- Those notifications that pop up in the corner of your screen distract. You can end up email grazing - reading them, worrying about them, taking no immed...

How do you find time to be strategic?

Most product managers know they need to dedicate some of their week to thinking towards the future, but many are overwhelmed by their daily workload - constant tactical interrupts. Here are three tips to help free up some diary time

Manage your meetings - ensure all meetings have a defined purpose. And why do meeting need to be an hour? Try 15 minute stand-up meetings.

Don’t be an email grazer- Those notifications that pop up in the corner of your screen distract. You can end up email grazing - reading them, worrying about them, taking no immediate action. Be proactive in your email usage - set aside two 30 minute sessions a day where you read, deal and delete. And don’t check outside these windows

Train your teams to self serve - if you’re at the centre of every customer presentation, or the sales team need you to answer every question it means you’ve not trained the sales team. Take your best product presentation, annotate it, record you delivering it, make it accessible to sales. And and FAQ can help deal with those repeat questions that eat into your time.

You’ll be surprised how much time you get back with a little bit of structure

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Prioritise Communication

We’ve just completed a survey with one of our large international customers. One question we asked leadership was ‘If you could improve just one skill area across product management, what would you choose’. Communication was the clear winner. This was described in a number of ways ‘clarity of communication’, ‘communicating bad news’, ‘making it simple’, ‘telling me what’s going on’, ‘keeping me in the loop’, ‘speaking in my language’, ‘they make it too complex’, ‘they drop to detail and miss the big picture’ ....

This resonates. Too often I meet produ...

We’ve just completed a survey with one of our large international customers. One question we asked leadership was ‘If you could improve just one skill area across product management, what would you choose’. Communication was the clear winner. This was described in a number of ways ‘clarity of communication’, ‘communicating bad news’, ‘making it simple’, ‘telling me what’s going on’, ‘keeping me in the loop’, ‘speaking in my language’, ‘they make it too complex’, ‘they drop to detail and miss the big picture’ ....

This resonates. Too often I meet product teams who fail to be clear, concise, consistent, and relevant in their communication to leadership teams. Remember, Product Managers need those soft skills just as much as those technical skills. It’s no good having a great product idea if you can’t present it well.

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Friction out of the Product

Take the friction out of your product

I’m choosing a new car at the moment and I’m struck by how close it is between three options. The point is this; I’d be happy with any of the three and the decision is likely come down to friction –a salesperson being slightly more responsive, a slightly easier ordering process, something that just makes the deal a little easier to do. The same is often true for the products we manage. The difference between us and our competitors is often tiny and a little bit of friction can be the difference between a win and a loss. Think about it like this�...

Take the friction out of your product

I’m choosing a new car at the moment and I’m struck by how close it is between three options. The point is this; I’d be happy with any of the three and the decision is likely come down to friction –a salesperson being slightly more responsive, a slightly easier ordering process, something that just makes the deal a little easier to do. The same is often true for the products we manage. The difference between us and our competitors is often tiny and a little bit of friction can be the difference between a win and a loss. Think about it like this– Have you made your customer journey as frictionless as possible?

If you want an example of friction free think , think Amazon One Click – no entering credit card details, or addresses, or worrying who now has your information. I can’t be the only one who buys more through Amazon because of the frictionless purchase that One Click offers, even when it might not be the cheapest.

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Persona map

The goal of a persona is to represent the observed mindsets and behaviours of a target customer group to help us understand them better. We can’t develop a relationship with every single one of our customers, but we still need a way of understanding them. Grouping together customers with similar problems, needs, wants or desires helps us define them. Proto-personas can help product managers build a sketch- view of a customer type. We use an empathy map to understand our customer and build out a proto-persona:

1. WANTS/NEEDS – What are they trying to achieve? What targets do they have?
...

The goal of a persona is to represent the observed mindsets and behaviours of a target customer group to help us understand them better. We can’t develop a relationship with every single one of our customers, but we still need a way of understanding them. Grouping together customers with similar problems, needs, wants or desires helps us define them. Proto-personas can help product managers build a sketch- view of a customer type. We use an empathy map to understand our customer and build out a proto-persona:

1. WANTS/NEEDS – What are they trying to achieve? What targets do they have?

2. THINK – What do they think about this? For example, do they think their targets are reasonable?

3. FEEL - And how does this make them feel? Content? Overwhelmed? Happy? Angry?

4. DO - What does are the doing about the situation? How do they manage it today?

5. PAIN POINTS – What are the problem statements we can derive from points 1-4

Now that we understand needs and pain points, we can design an effective solution and craft sales messages to show how our product meets their needs.

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Market research point

A small market research point today; with all research techniques we should remember that what customers do and say and think is not always consistent.

I may LIKE the yellow car. It might be my FAVOURITE colour, but I might BUY the blue car – it stays looking clean, it’s easier to sell on. It’s less risky!

So, what does this mean to us as product managers? Its means we should try and ask the same questions from many angles and look for consistency in the responses we collect.

A small market research point today; with all research techniques we should remember that what customers do and say and think is not always consistent.

I may LIKE the yellow car. It might be my FAVOURITE colour, but I might BUY the blue car – it stays looking clean, it’s easier to sell on. It’s less risky!

So, what does this mean to us as product managers? Its means we should try and ask the same questions from many angles and look for consistency in the responses we collect.

Skills Building

How do you build the perfect product management team?

Here’s our five step model for skills building:

1. Know your skills – There are a huge number of activities involved in delivering great product. You need to know what those skills are before you can work out if your team has them. Tarigo has a skills matrix. Ask for one at info@tarigo.co.uk

2. Know what skills you need to focus on – What do your product managers need to excel at? It’s of limited value if you have an innovation expert trying maximise revenue from a mature product. Pick and prioritise the skills focus on.

...

How do you build the perfect product management team?

Here’s our five step model for skills building:

1. Know your skills – There are a huge number of activities involved in delivering great product. You need to know what those skills are before you can work out if your team has them. Tarigo has a skills matrix. Ask for one at info@tarigo.co.uk

2. Know what skills you need to focus on – What do your product managers need to excel at? It’s of limited value if you have an innovation expert trying maximise revenue from a mature product. Pick and prioritise the skills focus on.

3. Test team capability – Work out if the team has capability in the areas you need it. We use skills cards and online tests to work out how much capability an individual has per skill.

4. Find the gaps – Identify the distance between the skills the business needs and capability the product manager has.

5. Close the gap & measure – Build an intervention program. We offer bootcamps, bespoke training, webinars, masterclasses and online training to help teams close the gaps.

If you want to book a 30 minute consultancy on how we can help drive better product management performance in your organisation, email us at info@tarigo.co.uk

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Team Charter

Delivering complex product to market means working with multiple teams across multiple regions. It requires clear communication to keep the team on track. We use a Team Charter to fix this – a simple document that gives direction and purpose. We’d recommend spending a little bit of time upfront getting the team charter in place to reduce team tension and confusion. Turn it into a poster, put it on the wall, think of it as rules of engagement:

• The mission - What this team is going to accomplish and why.

• Scope - What is IN SCOPE and what is OUT OF SCOPE.

• Team Roles - Who...

Delivering complex product to market means working with multiple teams across multiple regions. It requires clear communication to keep the team on track. We use a Team Charter to fix this – a simple document that gives direction and purpose. We’d recommend spending a little bit of time upfront getting the team charter in place to reduce team tension and confusion. Turn it into a poster, put it on the wall, think of it as rules of engagement:

• The mission - What this team is going to accomplish and why.

• Scope - What is IN SCOPE and what is OUT OF SCOPE.

• Team Roles - Who’s on the team and what are their roles.

• High Level Milestones - What does progress look like.

• Finances - Are there funding requirements.

• Dependencies - List key inter-dependencies which need to be taken into account

• Risks - List key risks (e.g. Regulatory, Legal, Brand, Financial, etc.)

Drop us a note on info@tarigo.co.uk and we’ll send you our team charter template

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Vision, Product, Delivery

Have you been asked to build out your road-map? First thing to remember, there really isn’t really one road-map, there’s three:

VISION – Your destination
It describes where we want your product to be. Think about:
• Market trends
• Technology developments
• Competitor strategy
• Business goals
• A 3 – 5 year planning horizon

PRODUCT – Your stopover points on the way
It describes the value you’ll deliver on the journey to reaching your vision. Think about:
• Target customer per road-map element
• Value propositions per road-map element
• Delivery date...

Have you been asked to build out your road-map? First thing to remember, there really isn’t really one road-map, there’s three:

VISION – Your destination
It describes where we want your product to be. Think about:
• Market trends
• Technology developments
• Competitor strategy
• Business goals
• A 3 – 5 year planning horizon

PRODUCT – Your stopover points on the way
It describes the value you’ll deliver on the journey to reaching your vision. Think about:
• Target customer per road-map element
• Value propositions per road-map element
• Delivery date windows

DELIVERY – Your map
It describes your plan to deliver the product road-map. Think about
• The complete set of deliverables (not just the product)
• Inter dependencies
• Precise delivery dates

You should lead with vision and the go into product and delivery – imagine planning a journey without a sense of where you want to go!

Oh, and the best tool for road-mapping by a significant margin is aha!

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The MVP

The minimum viable product (MVP) concept has been with us for decades. On the surface it makes sense; get to market quickly with a skinny version of your product that you can build on. But in reality it often fails – the MVP turns into a cheap and cheerless offer that doesn’t gain traction and doesn’t get updated. The problem is often simple – we’re trying to satisfy too many customer types with our MVP. Here’s a model we use to help with MVP thinking.

1. START WITH PERSONAS
Find a primary market and focus exclusively on that

2. PRIORITISE USER STORIES FOR THE PRIMARY MARKE...

The minimum viable product (MVP) concept has been with us for decades. On the surface it makes sense; get to market quickly with a skinny version of your product that you can build on. But in reality it often fails – the MVP turns into a cheap and cheerless offer that doesn’t gain traction and doesn’t get updated. The problem is often simple – we’re trying to satisfy too many customer types with our MVP. Here’s a model we use to help with MVP thinking.

1. START WITH PERSONAS
Find a primary market and focus exclusively on that

2. PRIORITISE USER STORIES FOR THE PRIMARY MARKET
If you try and meet the needs of many markets with your MVP, you’ll end up satisfying none

3. CROSS THE CHASM WITH REFERENCE
Use your primary market as a reference base for you next market

4. OPEN A SECONDARY MARKET
Build out for your offer for your secondary market, using your primary market reference base

5. RINSE AND REPEAT
Continue for additional markets

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Agile

Does agile development require agile marketing?

Over the past few years, agile processes have become the dominant process-type in the development and delivery of technology. Promising a level of responsiveness and customer focus. Variants of this core agile method are now commonly used for developing product across the board.

But whilst product teams have embraced the brave new world of agile, their colleagues in marketing, support, finance and other functions have not seen the relevance to them. The net result? A fragmented response.

Technology is delivered through regular sprint ite...

Does agile development require agile marketing?

Over the past few years, agile processes have become the dominant process-type in the development and delivery of technology. Promising a level of responsiveness and customer focus. Variants of this core agile method are now commonly used for developing product across the board.

But whilst product teams have embraced the brave new world of agile, their colleagues in marketing, support, finance and other functions have not seen the relevance to them. The net result? A fragmented response.

Technology is delivered through regular sprint iterations whilst messaging, marketing, support and other deliverables follow a much more static or traditional delivery path. Failing to match the agility of development processes that are in place.

What do you think? Does marketing need to be as dynamic and responsive as development when dev teams use agile methods?

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Business case maintenance

How many of us build out a business case to get our product funded and then simply forget it?

It is worth remembering that the business case changes as conditions change; customers, markets, competition, risks, numbers, etc all can change. To build the business case once and then forget it is to neglect this fundamental of change. And if we build the business case and forget it, we’re building a product for historical market conditions – what our markets used to look like.

Simple product management tip – make a habit of reviewing your business case and updating it – 15 minutes p...

How many of us build out a business case to get our product funded and then simply forget it?

It is worth remembering that the business case changes as conditions change; customers, markets, competition, risks, numbers, etc all can change. To build the business case once and then forget it is to neglect this fundamental of change. And if we build the business case and forget it, we’re building a product for historical market conditions – what our markets used to look like.

Simple product management tip – make a habit of reviewing your business case and updating it – 15 minutes per week where you record any new information that you’ve uncovered over the last 7 days so you always have an up-to-date record.

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Retirement canvas

Is it even important to have a strategy when you’re pulling the product, why worry? Two reasons:

? Customers - Do it badly and customers aren’t going to be knocking at your door for your next product. You lost their trust.

? Competition - Get it wrong and you leave the door wide open for competitors to enter and build their position.

Think of retirement as the mirror of market entry - do your research, build your plan, and communicate your position clearly and frequently.

We have a tool to help you decide whether retirement is the best option for your product. Step through the ...

Is it even important to have a strategy when you’re pulling the product, why worry? Two reasons:

? Customers - Do it badly and customers aren’t going to be knocking at your door for your next product. You lost their trust.

? Competition - Get it wrong and you leave the door wide open for competitors to enter and build their position.

Think of retirement as the mirror of market entry - do your research, build your plan, and communicate your position clearly and frequently.

We have a tool to help you decide whether retirement is the best option for your product. Step through the Retirement Canvas, question by question, and determine the next steps for your product.

The result? You gain a clear picture of your market, how retirement may affect the market and whether you should plan to replace the product you are looking to retire!

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The perfect Product Manager.

What do you look for in a product manager?

We often get asked to assess a potential PM candidate. Outside of their PM knowledge, these are the attributes that I look for...

What do you look for in the perfect product manager?

What do you look for in a product manager?

We often get asked to assess a potential PM candidate. Outside of their PM knowledge, these are the attributes that I look for...

What do you look for in the perfect product manager?

Market Problem

Where do you find that next, great breakthrough product? One way is to turn your mindset from product innovation to problem validation. Think about it – we are all motivated to fix problems that stress us. Your customers are no different. The bigger the stress, the more motivated we are to find the fix. So step into your customers shoes and think about what keeps them awake at night. 3am problems generate successful products.

Where do you find that next, great breakthrough product? One way is to turn your mindset from product innovation to problem validation. Think about it – we are all motivated to fix problems that stress us. Your customers are no different. The bigger the stress, the more motivated we are to find the fix. So step into your customers shoes and think about what keeps them awake at night. 3am problems generate successful products.

Opportunities

When is a good opportunity NOT a good opportunity?

When it doesn’t match capability. It’s easy for Product Managers to get carried away with an idea and forget to look into their business. That knock-out opportunity you’ve identified might simply not match your organisation. Think of it as a capability review. Does your business have the funds, technical skills, market access, reputation, reach, scale and strategy intent to address the opportunity. If not, that great new product idea has the potential to sink your business.

When is a good opportunity NOT a good opportunity?

When it doesn’t match capability. It’s easy for Product Managers to get carried away with an idea and forget to look into their business. That knock-out opportunity you’ve identified might simply not match your organisation. Think of it as a capability review. Does your business have the funds, technical skills, market access, reputation, reach, scale and strategy intent to address the opportunity. If not, that great new product idea has the potential to sink your business.

Product Communication in my team

Leaders of Product Management often ask how to get their team to be better product communicators - to be able to get their message across well. My response is to ask one simple question “When did you last ask the team about value propositions?”. Here are some simple tips to drive better product communications:

1. Be value proposition obsessed

Test the team regularly by getting them to present the following:

• Elevator pitch
• Five minute overview
• Product vision
• Value proposition
• Objection handling

2. Measure communications effectiveness

• E.g. does the ...

Leaders of Product Management often ask how to get their team to be better product communicators - to be able to get their message across well. My response is to ask one simple question “When did you last ask the team about value propositions?”. Here are some simple tips to drive better product communications:

1. Be value proposition obsessed

Test the team regularly by getting them to present the following:

• Elevator pitch
• Five minute overview
• Product vision
• Value proposition
• Objection handling

2. Measure communications effectiveness

• E.g. does the sales team know the message

3. Coach on multi-channel delivery

• Face to face
• Audio
• Video
• Written

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Balancing customer needs.

We run a product clinic with one of our customers every week. Question of the week was this “How do I balance the needs of the loudest customers against the many?”. It’s a common issue, and here are my top tips

1. Have a compelling road-map and you’ll get fewer ad-hoc requests.

Customers will want to join you on your exciting journey rather than make up their own.

2. Translate needs into problem statements so you understand what really needs attention.

Always understand the problem they’re trying to solve and the scale of the problem in your market.

3. Be quick and cle...

We run a product clinic with one of our customers every week. Question of the week was this “How do I balance the needs of the loudest customers against the many?”. It’s a common issue, and here are my top tips

1. Have a compelling road-map and you’ll get fewer ad-hoc requests.

Customers will want to join you on your exciting journey rather than make up their own.

2. Translate needs into problem statements so you understand what really needs attention.

Always understand the problem they’re trying to solve and the scale of the problem in your market.

3. Be quick and clear with feedback so that no-one’s left hanging

Feedback in days on all customer requests and be clear on your rationale

4. Its OK to say no because you can’t meet the needs of one at the expense of the many.

Saying ‘no’ is always better done quickly, and with clear reasoning.

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Don’t overload you presentation

I’ve just sat through presentation torture – a product manager with slides full of 10 point font! It was an hour of staring at the back of a the persons head as they read their own slides. I understand why this happens - nervousness. They think “I’ll never remember everything I need to say so I’ll write in it the deck as support”. But the problem when they present is that either the audience just read the slides or the presenter reads for them - both are pretty dull and completely un-engaging.

Remember, slide decks are a presentation aid, they do not tell the full story and prob...

I’ve just sat through presentation torture – a product manager with slides full of 10 point font! It was an hour of staring at the back of a the persons head as they read their own slides. I understand why this happens - nervousness. They think “I’ll never remember everything I need to say so I’ll write in it the deck as support”. But the problem when they present is that either the audience just read the slides or the presenter reads for them - both are pretty dull and completely un-engaging.

Remember, slide decks are a presentation aid, they do not tell the full story and probably make little sense without the presenter. So use them as an aid – three or four big statements per slide that gives your presentation structure and direction

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Focus

Product, Problem or Solution managers?

I was in conversation with some sales people yesterday and we got on to one of the regular hot topics - product managers talk too much about product. It can sound a little weird - surely a product manager should talk about the product? But too much product focus is wrong because customers don’t really buy products. Think of it like this; the old saying in sales that ‘people buy from people’ has a product management equivalent. “People don’t buy products they buy solutions to problems”. Help sales team sell by ensuring they have clarity on t...

Product, Problem or Solution managers?

I was in conversation with some sales people yesterday and we got on to one of the regular hot topics - product managers talk too much about product. It can sound a little weird - surely a product manager should talk about the product? But too much product focus is wrong because customers don’t really buy products. Think of it like this; the old saying in sales that ‘people buy from people’ has a product management equivalent. “People don’t buy products they buy solutions to problems”. Help sales team sell by ensuring they have clarity on the issues that are front of mind for your customers rather than a dry list of features. Develop a problem and solution focus.

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Being Prepared

Luck has no place in successful product management, right?

Taking a product to market is about skills – research skills, analytical skills, communication skills, development skills, financial skills, etc, etc. There’s nothing lucky about it…… except….. sure, it takes skills to get to market, but a good product manager must make sure his team are ready to ride a lucky wave. Think of it like this - the CEO of your biggest target customer is about to pick up the phone and call one of your sales team to find out more about your new product. It’s your lucky day! But only if your tea...

Luck has no place in successful product management, right?

Taking a product to market is about skills – research skills, analytical skills, communication skills, development skills, financial skills, etc, etc. There’s nothing lucky about it…… except….. sure, it takes skills to get to market, but a good product manager must make sure his team are ready to ride a lucky wave. Think of it like this - the CEO of your biggest target customer is about to pick up the phone and call one of your sales team to find out more about your new product. It’s your lucky day! But only if your team are prepared. Every business gets lucky breaks, successful businesses are prepared for it.

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9 steps

Want to generate more new product ideas across your business? It’s about building a culture where innovation thrives.

Here’s our 9 steps:

1. Identify your creativity clusters – focus your energies on the right groups in your organisation.

2. Change the thinking from product to problem – get them thinking “what problems do our customers have that we can try and address?”

3. Guide the thinking – Share market and customer trends to inspire them

4. Make it friction-less – Make it super easy to get ideas to you. A chat forum or web app perhaps. Remove all barriers

...

Want to generate more new product ideas across your business? It’s about building a culture where innovation thrives.

Here’s our 9 steps:

1. Identify your creativity clusters – focus your energies on the right groups in your organisation.

2. Change the thinking from product to problem – get them thinking “what problems do our customers have that we can try and address?”

3. Guide the thinking – Share market and customer trends to inspire them

4. Make it friction-less – Make it super easy to get ideas to you. A chat forum or web app perhaps. Remove all barriers

5. Make it a habit – How about a weekly innovation blog so it stays front of mind

6. Be positive – All ideas are great

7. Be urgent – give feedback on ideas asap

8. Be structured – have visible review process

9. Reward the right behavior – CEO awards, recognition

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Driving a Product

We have arrived at market with momentum and successfully launched our new product, but what’s next?

Managing a product post launch is big task, we have to consider a few things:

• Which phase of the life-cycle our product sits in?

• How our product is performing in market?

• With a fully launched product, what new markets and target customers can we start to target?

There are a few things that we can do in order to drive our product.

Use marginal gains thinking to make incremental product improvements – We make lots of small improvements to our offering, be that pro...

We have arrived at market with momentum and successfully launched our new product, but what’s next?

Managing a product post launch is big task, we have to consider a few things:

• Which phase of the life-cycle our product sits in?

• How our product is performing in market?

• With a fully launched product, what new markets and target customers can we start to target?

There are a few things that we can do in order to drive our product.

Use marginal gains thinking to make incremental product improvements – We make lots of small improvements to our offering, be that product features, support or the overall product offering. Over time these small improvements add together to give our product serious gain in value to our target customers.

To gain useful research information to guide our product decisions, we look at win/loss reporting to analyse why we are winning or losing with customers over our competition. Doing this with many potential and real customers helps us build up a repository of information that we can use to guide our product improvements.

Combining win/loss reporting with marginal gain product improvements is a great way to move toward building out a world class product offering, driving growth for as long as possible.

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Sales Battlecard

Having our product communicated to the customer correctly is vital in generating real interest and potential revenue. It’s up to the sales team to sell the product, but if they haven’t been armed with the correct tools to communicate our product successfully we aren’t going to get the best possible results when we take our product to market.

One of the most effective tools of delivering a clear and consistent message to all our potential customers is the sales battle-card. A clear one-pager that provides the sales team with the headline information, positioned to sell and present the ...

Having our product communicated to the customer correctly is vital in generating real interest and potential revenue. It’s up to the sales team to sell the product, but if they haven’t been armed with the correct tools to communicate our product successfully we aren’t going to get the best possible results when we take our product to market.

One of the most effective tools of delivering a clear and consistent message to all our potential customers is the sales battle-card. A clear one-pager that provides the sales team with the headline information, positioned to sell and present the value of the product.

The Tarigo Sales battle-card looks something like this and has 9 sections to assist the sales persons provide all of the most up-to-date and accurate information available.

These sections include:

• Solution overview
• Key features
• FAQ’s
• Audience
• Value curve comparison
• Additional resources
• Pain points
• Value proposition statement
• On boarding

If you’re interested in giving the sales battle-card a try or want more information on this tool, email us at – info@tarigo.co.uk

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Market Readiness

How do you get ready for market? Too many product managers treat it as an afterthought – they focus on building the product and think about everything else later. And remember, we can define and build a world beating product, but it’s for nothing if the product is not “market ready”; which means taking care of naming, pricing, training, regulation, and support, etc. To fix this, we recommend using a market readiness tool and following a simple process:

1. Build the product delivery team. Invite stakeholders from across the business who have a role in the launch such as, customer del...

How do you get ready for market? Too many product managers treat it as an afterthought – they focus on building the product and think about everything else later. And remember, we can define and build a world beating product, but it’s for nothing if the product is not “market ready”; which means taking care of naming, pricing, training, regulation, and support, etc. To fix this, we recommend using a market readiness tool and following a simple process:

1. Build the product delivery team. Invite stakeholders from across the business who have a role in the launch such as, customer delivery, legal, regional product and marketing. This ensures the right teams and people are on-board to support the build and launch of the product. It’s best to do this months in advance.

2. Review the Market Readiness tool. Step through the document and work out what needs to be in place for a successful launch.

3. Assign responsibility. Work out who in the team owns each task.

4. The Track your progress. Get the team together every thirty days to review progress versus plan.

Combining this process with our Market Readiness tool gives you the best opportunity to achieve product success.

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Product Plan

Managing a product is complex. We need to understand our customers, markets, competition, regulation, and more. That’s a lot to remember! To fix this, product managers keep a product plan – a document that overviews our products & markets. What does it contain?

Product - what it is and what it offers the market

Vision - how the product will develop over the next 1 to 3 years

Customers - their needs, likes & dislikes, the problems & opportunities they have

Competition – how can we differentiate our product

Financials - Scale of the market , P&L model & pricing

Risks - wi...

Managing a product is complex. We need to understand our customers, markets, competition, regulation, and more. That’s a lot to remember! To fix this, product managers keep a product plan – a document that overviews our products & markets. What does it contain?

Product - what it is and what it offers the market

Vision - how the product will develop over the next 1 to 3 years

Customers - their needs, likes & dislikes, the problems & opportunities they have

Competition – how can we differentiate our product

Financials - Scale of the market , P&L model & pricing

Risks - with mitigation

Execution plan

It’s up to the product manager, guided by their leadership team to build an appropriate level of depth & detail into the document. So a product plan is written by product management before a product is built, but what about once the product is launched? We know market conditions will change, so we keep the product plan updated. The best practice is to make small but regular updates to the plan. Put aside 15 minutes per week, and ask yourself “What have I learnt about my products and markets over the last 7 days ”. Using this technique, the product plan is always up to date, and the amount of time & effort required to keep it updated is small.

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Who do you compete against?

When asked, most Product Managers name other companies that are similar to them. But that’s not really the full picture. When reviewing competitive threats think about it on three levels:

1. DIRECT
These are the competitors that look a lot like your company, with similar products. Think BMW vs Mercedes vs VW/Audi – all occupy a similar space in the market with similar brand profiles, therefore, directly compete with each other in the car market.

2. INDIRECT
Sometimes the competition is less obvious. It’s more about other ways that our customers can solve their problems. These are...

When asked, most Product Managers name other companies that are similar to them. But that’s not really the full picture. When reviewing competitive threats think about it on three levels:

1. DIRECT
These are the competitors that look a lot like your company, with similar products. Think BMW vs Mercedes vs VW/Audi – all occupy a similar space in the market with similar brand profiles, therefore, directly compete with each other in the car market.

2. INDIRECT
Sometimes the competition is less obvious. It’s more about other ways that our customers can solve their problems. These are indirect competitive threats . For example, Sage might DIRECTLY compete with Quickbooks, but INDIRECTLY compete with MS Excel in the micro sector

3. NO COMPETITION
Occasionally we see products with no competition, but is this as great as it sounds? It might mean you’re first to market, but it might equally be that there is no market. Even being first to market is no guarantee of success. Remember Palm Pilots or Betamax or Atari? All three were first to market. All three failed to capitalise on first mover advantage.

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Mega Trend Road mapping

When did you last think about the long term direction of your product? Many of us get so caught up in the day-to-day that we forget to look up. The risk is our product might become irrelevant as trends change market needs. So spend a few minutes thinking:

• What trends are heading towards my market that may impact what we deliver?

• How would our current product suite cope?

• What small technology, communications and regulatory steps should I take to keep my product relevant.

Remember, taking many small steps forward is easier and less risky than one giant leap. But it often ...

When did you last think about the long term direction of your product? Many of us get so caught up in the day-to-day that we forget to look up. The risk is our product might become irrelevant as trends change market needs. So spend a few minutes thinking:

• What trends are heading towards my market that may impact what we deliver?

• How would our current product suite cope?

• What small technology, communications and regulatory steps should I take to keep my product relevant.

Remember, taking many small steps forward is easier and less risky than one giant leap. But it often gets you to the same place.

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Skill Set

I often describe product management as a multi-disciplinary role. To make the point here is our list of the 44 activities product managers are likely to engage in. Some daily, some rarely. Print it off, stick it on the wall and see how many you tick off. And see where the gaps in your product management skillset are.

I often describe product management as a multi-disciplinary role. To make the point here is our list of the 44 activities product managers are likely to engage in. Some daily, some rarely. Print it off, stick it on the wall and see how many you tick off. And see where the gaps in your product management skillset are.

Skill Set

I often describe product management as a multi-disciplinary role. To make the point here is our list of the 44 activities product managers are likely to engage in. Some daily, some rarely. Print it off, stick it on the wall and see how many you tick off. And see where the gaps in your product management skillset are.

I often describe product management as a multi-disciplinary role. To make the point here is our list of the 44 activities product managers are likely to engage in. Some daily, some rarely. Print it off, stick it on the wall and see how many you tick off. And see where the gaps in your product management skillset are.

Skill Set

I often describe product management as a multi-disciplinary role. To make the point here is our list of the 44 activities product managers are likely to engage in. Some daily, some rarely. Print it off, stick it on the wall and see how many you tick off. And see where the gaps in your product management skillset are.

I often describe product management as a multi-disciplinary role. To make the point here is our list of the 44 activities product managers are likely to engage in. Some daily, some rarely. Print it off, stick it on the wall and see how many you tick off. And see where the gaps in your product management skillset are.

Product Lifecycle

Product retirement is a misused term. Most teams I work with don't retire products, they replace them. They try to transition their customers from product A to Product B. By missing this point, they don’t take a joined-up view and end up unbalanced – the old product often still in market with the new one struggling for traction. Here are five steps to manage a product transition.

1. Understand why.
Make sure you know exactly why a product is planned for retirement. Validate with customer and market feedback. List these issues as problem statements

2. Define replacement offer.
If yo...

Product retirement is a misused term. Most teams I work with don't retire products, they replace them. They try to transition their customers from product A to Product B. By missing this point, they don’t take a joined-up view and end up unbalanced – the old product often still in market with the new one struggling for traction. Here are five steps to manage a product transition.

1. Understand why.
Make sure you know exactly why a product is planned for retirement. Validate with customer and market feedback. List these issues as problem statements

2. Define replacement offer.
If you want customers to transition, you’ll need a product for them to transition to, so define it. Does it address the problem statements from point 1? If not, start again!

3. Find points of difference.
Treat your old product as a direct competitor. Define clear points of difference with it. If you can’t, go back to step 2.

4. Build exit and entry value propositions
Your sales teams need to clearly describe why the old product is retiring and what the one will offer. Build value propositions for both

5. Define exit and entry pricing models.
Pricing drives demand to some degree – as prices increase, demand falls. Think about the pricing strategy of old and new offer to drive to your desired outcome

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proto personas

We can’t develop a relationship with every single one of our customers, but we still need a way of understanding them. Grouping together customers with similar problems, needs, wants or desires helps us define them.

I find this tool helpful when I’m trying to build out a persona suite for a product or service. Its helps me build proto personas (i.e. unvalidated), that I can then test against real people.

It’s a simple model:

1. Start with their wants and needs

2. Then describe how they think and feel based on those wants and needs

3. Next, what do they do about the situati...

We can’t develop a relationship with every single one of our customers, but we still need a way of understanding them. Grouping together customers with similar problems, needs, wants or desires helps us define them.

I find this tool helpful when I’m trying to build out a persona suite for a product or service. Its helps me build proto personas (i.e. unvalidated), that I can then test against real people.

It’s a simple model:

1. Start with their wants and needs

2. Then describe how they think and feel based on those wants and needs

3. Next, what do they do about the situation

4. Finally, knowing more about their situation we can create a problem statement around their pain points

You can use your knowledge and make assumptions to create proto-personas that you then go and validate.

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proto personas

We can’t develop a relationship with every single one of our customers, but we still need a way of understanding them. Grouping together customers with similar problems, needs, wants or desires helps us define them.

I find this tool helpful when I’m trying to build out a persona suite for a product or service. Its helps me build proto personas (i.e. unvalidated), that I can then test against real people.

It’s a simple model:

1. Start with their wants and needs

2. Then describe how they think and feel based on those wants and needs

3. Next, what do they do about the situati...

We can’t develop a relationship with every single one of our customers, but we still need a way of understanding them. Grouping together customers with similar problems, needs, wants or desires helps us define them.

I find this tool helpful when I’m trying to build out a persona suite for a product or service. Its helps me build proto personas (i.e. unvalidated), that I can then test against real people.

It’s a simple model:

1. Start with their wants and needs

2. Then describe how they think and feel based on those wants and needs

3. Next, what do they do about the situation

4. Finally, knowing more about their situation we can create a problem statement around their pain points

You can use your knowledge and make assumptions to create proto-personas that you then go and validate.

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Churn or retention

Ever tried to fill a sink with the plug out? Thought not. Trying to grow a business with a high churn rate is similar – every good thing you do to grow with new product and service is negated by customers leaving.

Something every product manager should sweat about are their churn or retention stats. Here are two things to do to reduce churn:

1. Know your customer behaviour and lifecycle

Customers who churn typically show pre-churn behaviour (lack of use, complaints, etc) or are date driven (contract renewal). Work out the signs and timing and build intervention strategies

2. Make...

Ever tried to fill a sink with the plug out? Thought not. Trying to grow a business with a high churn rate is similar – every good thing you do to grow with new product and service is negated by customers leaving.

Something every product manager should sweat about are their churn or retention stats. Here are two things to do to reduce churn:

1. Know your customer behaviour and lifecycle

Customers who churn typically show pre-churn behaviour (lack of use, complaints, etc) or are date driven (contract renewal). Work out the signs and timing and build intervention strategies

2. Make your product frictionless

The more barriers you put in the way of usage, the lower the usage (and therefore retention). Something as simple as a complex login process can kill a product. Think of amazon one click as properly frictionless and try to away the barriers to using your product.

Hard work I know, but think about the results – a two percent reduction in churn equates to more than a 10% revenue increase over a 5 year window. It’s worth the effort

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Churn or retention

Ever tried to fill a sink with the plug out? Thought not. Trying to grow a business with a high churn rate is similar – every good thing you do to grow with new product and service is negated by customers leaving.

Something every product manager should sweat about are their churn or retention stats. Here are two things to do to reduce churn:

1. Know your customer behaviour and lifecycle

Customers who churn typically show pre-churn behaviour (lack of use, complaints, etc) or are date driven (contract renewal). Work out the signs and timing and build intervention strategies

2. Make...

Ever tried to fill a sink with the plug out? Thought not. Trying to grow a business with a high churn rate is similar – every good thing you do to grow with new product and service is negated by customers leaving.

Something every product manager should sweat about are their churn or retention stats. Here are two things to do to reduce churn:

1. Know your customer behaviour and lifecycle

Customers who churn typically show pre-churn behaviour (lack of use, complaints, etc) or are date driven (contract renewal). Work out the signs and timing and build intervention strategies

2. Make your product frictionless

The more barriers you put in the way of usage, the lower the usage (and therefore retention). Something as simple as a complex login process can kill a product. Think of amazon one click as properly frictionless and try to away the barriers to using your product.

Hard work I know, but think about the results – a two percent reduction in churn equates to more than a 10% revenue increase over a 5 year window. It’s worth the effort

Read more

Churn or retention

Ever tried to fill a sink with the plug out? Thought not. Trying to grow a business with a high churn rate is similar – every good thing you do to grow with new product and service is negated by customers leaving.

Something every product manager should sweat about are their churn or retention stats. Here are two things to do to reduce churn:

1. Know your customer behaviour and lifecycle

Customers who churn typically show pre-churn behaviour (lack of use, complaints, etc) or are date driven (contract renewal). Work out the signs and timing and build intervention strategies

2. Make...

Ever tried to fill a sink with the plug out? Thought not. Trying to grow a business with a high churn rate is similar – every good thing you do to grow with new product and service is negated by customers leaving.

Something every product manager should sweat about are their churn or retention stats. Here are two things to do to reduce churn:

1. Know your customer behaviour and lifecycle

Customers who churn typically show pre-churn behaviour (lack of use, complaints, etc) or are date driven (contract renewal). Work out the signs and timing and build intervention strategies

2. Make your product frictionless

The more barriers you put in the way of usage, the lower the usage (and therefore retention). Something as simple as a complex login process can kill a product. Think of amazon one click as properly frictionless and try to away the barriers to using your product.

Hard work I know, but think about the results – a two percent reduction in churn equates to more than a 10% revenue increase over a 5 year window. It’s worth the effort

Read more

Capability in the Team

How capable is your product management team?

We’ve worked with many product teams over the last twelve months, and I thought it was worth sharing what ‘normal’ looks likes. The graphic below shows the average capability assessment of about 1,500 product managers. We take a look at 18 skills (E.g. Economic Management assesses whether the team have the skills and tools to deliver robust economic data to their leadership team. This includes forecasting costs and demand, reviewing P&L, and presenting the information) and rate the individual and the team. Our most common findings are that ...

How capable is your product management team?

We’ve worked with many product teams over the last twelve months, and I thought it was worth sharing what ‘normal’ looks likes. The graphic below shows the average capability assessment of about 1,500 product managers. We take a look at 18 skills (E.g. Economic Management assesses whether the team have the skills and tools to deliver robust economic data to their leadership team. This includes forecasting costs and demand, reviewing P&L, and presenting the information) and rate the individual and the team. Our most common findings are that PMs have technical competencies, but are often missing some commercial strength (e.g. pricing ), strategic capability (e.g. Vision setting), and communication depth (e.g. narrative building). We can then figure out the best program to plug those skills gaps.

Drop a note to Info@tarigo.co.uk if you’d like capability template that sits behind this so you can reflect where you and your team are in terms of core capability

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Art or Science

Is product management art or science?

I’m helping an organisation build out their product management team. We’ve looked at their needs, built a skills gap canvas and identified what they require in terms of hard skills. Even with all that in place, the stand out skill that I’m always looking for is an ability to balance art and science. You can describe this in a number of ways; creativity and structure, ingenuity and discipline. Great product managers have enough creativity to define a truly compelling proposition and enough structure to get a complex product to launch without droppi...

Is product management art or science?

I’m helping an organisation build out their product management team. We’ve looked at their needs, built a skills gap canvas and identified what they require in terms of hard skills. Even with all that in place, the stand out skill that I’m always looking for is an ability to balance art and science. You can describe this in a number of ways; creativity and structure, ingenuity and discipline. Great product managers have enough creativity to define a truly compelling proposition and enough structure to get a complex product to launch without dropping a major component. It’s a mix of skills that is makes the role pretty special and it’s difficult to find discipline and creativity in the same person.

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Tribes and Squads

The concept of Tribes and Squads seems to be really gaining attention in our customer base. We’re working with customers and trying to help them build models that work for their markets, people and products. Thought it was worth sharing this – our view of how Tribes and Squads could structure in large B2b teams.

1. Market-focused teams gather customer and market feedback. They build business cases in the form of commercial propositions

2. Portfolio owners (Tribe leader with P&L responsibility for a product range) reviews the propositions and accepts or rejects them

3. Squads (smal...

The concept of Tribes and Squads seems to be really gaining attention in our customer base. We’re working with customers and trying to help them build models that work for their markets, people and products. Thought it was worth sharing this – our view of how Tribes and Squads could structure in large B2b teams.

1. Market-focused teams gather customer and market feedback. They build business cases in the form of commercial propositions

2. Portfolio owners (Tribe leader with P&L responsibility for a product range) reviews the propositions and accepts or rejects them

3. Squads (small cross function teams) deliver the work

4. Chapters own the resource

The benefit is the dynamic team structure – rather than the traditional world where a static team need to be kept busy, this model gives flexibility – Tribes and squads grow and shrink, form and fracture according to market demand.

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Key Characteristics of a Good PM

It’s a question we face all the time. Mostly, when we’re helping businesses build a product management function. When recruiting experienced Product Managers, you might look for certain skills; launch skills, research skills, pricing skills, etc.

Why not look internally for those who are looking for a new challenge? They might not have the experience or skill set just yet, but do they have the core capability?

Try our quick checklist for working out if they have PM potential:

Curiosity – Do they demonstrate intellectual interest? Are they eager to learn?

Drive – Do they s...

It’s a question we face all the time. Mostly, when we’re helping businesses build a product management function. When recruiting experienced Product Managers, you might look for certain skills; launch skills, research skills, pricing skills, etc.

Why not look internally for those who are looking for a new challenge? They might not have the experience or skill set just yet, but do they have the core capability?

Try our quick checklist for working out if they have PM potential:

Curiosity – Do they demonstrate intellectual interest? Are they eager to learn?

Drive – Do they show ambition?

Discipline – Are the organised?

People skills – Can they get people to listen to them. Can they take people with them? Are they charismatic?

Communication – Can they get their point across clearly and quickly?

Thought leadership – Do they have vision? Are they a creative problem solver?

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MVP

Why Do We Use It?
Answering this question allows us to really pin point the value of our product, why do customers buy in and use the product, what is it that seals the deal for them?

The MVP approach helps us to identify & prioritize our:
• Addressable market.
• Market segments.
• Personas in that segment.
• User stories for our personas.
Building the final product; takes a long time, is expensive and high risk. Rather than trying to deliver a fully rounded product, that is all things to all segments, at the outset; we use the MVP approach to help us prioritize our developme...

Why Do We Use It?
Answering this question allows us to really pin point the value of our product, why do customers buy in and use the product, what is it that seals the deal for them?

The MVP approach helps us to identify & prioritize our:
• Addressable market.
• Market segments.
• Personas in that segment.
• User stories for our personas.
Building the final product; takes a long time, is expensive and high risk. Rather than trying to deliver a fully rounded product, that is all things to all segments, at the outset; we use the MVP approach to help us prioritize our development roadmap.

Careful prioritisation means we can manage the capacity of our development team while still meeting the needs of our customers.
Some recent high-profile success stories include Dropbox, Airbnb, Groupon, Spotify and Twitter.
So before development:
- We prioritize our markets.
- Then we prioritise our personas.
- Followed by the features.
- Then we develop user stories
And we do all of this so that we can develop our product in a controlled and carefully prioritized sequence, meaning we deliver what is of highest value to our prioritised customer base and start generating revenue early. This also gives us a plan for updates a developments to improve the product, post launch.

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Big Business vs Small Business

We train product management in some of the biggest and smallest companies globally.

Last year our biggest client employed over 4,000 people in product roles and our smallest had a product management team of one. Clearly there is going to be some change to the PM role depending on the size of the business and the product team, so what is the difference?

What does product management look like at these extremes? I’d characterise it like this – GLUING VS DOING.
In a big team, the product manager has marketers, pricing experts, launch managers, research teams, etc. Their job is to us...

We train product management in some of the biggest and smallest companies globally.

Last year our biggest client employed over 4,000 people in product roles and our smallest had a product management team of one. Clearly there is going to be some change to the PM role depending on the size of the business and the product team, so what is the difference?

What does product management look like at these extremes? I’d characterise it like this – GLUING VS DOING.
In a big team, the product manager has marketers, pricing experts, launch managers, research teams, etc. Their job is to use those extensive resources to build out the perfect product. They GLUE.

In a small team, the product manager doesn’t have the same extensive team and resources available, therefore they need to figure out most of the detail for themselves. They DO.

The core discipline remains the same but the daily actions can look very different. When we train teams we pay attention to this because we are aware of the differences – it’s one of the ways we can be effective in very big and very small teams.

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The End User

Who is your customer?

We often think of our customer as the person or business that uses our product – the end user. But it’s often more complex than that, and as a Product Manager we need to define and communicate these complexities.

Reaching that end user often means working with other teams – sales, support, third party resellers, etc. The point is this; If those intermediary teams do not see the value in your product, you’ll never get to the end user. Think of this as a value chain – you’re at one end, the end user is at the other. The chain is only as strong as its weake...

Who is your customer?

We often think of our customer as the person or business that uses our product – the end user. But it’s often more complex than that, and as a Product Manager we need to define and communicate these complexities.

Reaching that end user often means working with other teams – sales, support, third party resellers, etc. The point is this; If those intermediary teams do not see the value in your product, you’ll never get to the end user. Think of this as a value chain – you’re at one end, the end user is at the other. The chain is only as strong as its weakest link; if the sales team don’t understand your product, or the third party reseller wont stock it then the end user won’t even see your product.

So who is your customer? Everyone in the value chain. Try and address ALL their needs and motivations along the way. The chain will be strong and more likely to reach the final link – the end user.

Gee – problem you’ve got, is your pictures are so good, I want you to make this in to a blog pic as well…. It’s your own felt for being too sick!

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Continuous Improvement

What does a Product Manager do?

Our role can be complex and difficult to describe, and product culture within company can influence our definition massively. If we don’t have a clear purpose then we run the risk of being misplaced in our business, step forward all those Product Managers who really act as sales support or project managers...

So we define the Product Management role in this way.

“Product Managers reduce the risk of launching a product flop and increase the success of products in market”.

So what does that mean? Well, product failure occurs in every sector. By u...

What does a Product Manager do?

Our role can be complex and difficult to describe, and product culture within company can influence our definition massively. If we don’t have a clear purpose then we run the risk of being misplaced in our business, step forward all those Product Managers who really act as sales support or project managers...

So we define the Product Management role in this way.

“Product Managers reduce the risk of launching a product flop and increase the success of products in market”.

So what does that mean? Well, product failure occurs in every sector. By using a professional PM framework a Product Manager reduces the risk of a potential product flop getting to market (we assess before we launch). Then, by using the same PM framework, they ensure that existing products remain successful for longer (we continuously improve products). If there’s a 25% product failure rate in your industry and your PM skills reduce that to 5% in your business then that’s great product management.

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Product Life-cycle

Managing Through Product Life-cycle

Product management and innovation are intimately connected processes that require skilful interventions to maximise returns at every stage.

Milestone phases that are tackled as products move from their birth to infancy and ultimately to their maturity include:

- The Product Lifecycle,

- Crossing the Chasm,

- Entering the Tornado,

- Sustaining and Disruptive innovation theories

Familiarity with these theories is critical for product management success. The 7Ps of the marketing mix also provides a framework for different actions that can b...

Managing Through Product Life-cycle

Product management and innovation are intimately connected processes that require skilful interventions to maximise returns at every stage.

Milestone phases that are tackled as products move from their birth to infancy and ultimately to their maturity include:

- The Product Lifecycle,

- Crossing the Chasm,

- Entering the Tornado,

- Sustaining and Disruptive innovation theories

Familiarity with these theories is critical for product management success. The 7Ps of the marketing mix also provides a framework for different actions that can be taken across the lifecycle.

In order to maximise profit, product managers need to firstly understand at which stage the market is at. If the product is new for a brand-new market then disruptive innovation and its techniques are required to move through introduction and growth. If the market is already in the growth/maturity phases or beyond then sustaining innovation techniques are essential.

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Trusting Product Features

An IP rating on a phone informs you, officially, what a phone is capable of handling in terms of its exposure to water. But it cost a company money to put any product through this testing and receive the official IP certification. Making a product more expensive in order to ‘officially’ reiterate the work the company has already done during product’s research and development.

OnePlus, a Chinese tech company known for their smart phones, have seen an opportunity here and instead of paying to have their OnePlus 6 & 7 Phones rated officially on their waterproofing capabilities, they have...

An IP rating on a phone informs you, officially, what a phone is capable of handling in terms of its exposure to water. But it cost a company money to put any product through this testing and receive the official IP certification. Making a product more expensive in order to ‘officially’ reiterate the work the company has already done during product’s research and development.

OnePlus, a Chinese tech company known for their smart phones, have seen an opportunity here and instead of paying to have their OnePlus 6 & 7 Phones rated officially on their waterproofing capabilities, they have saved the time and money and just shown the customer exactly what the phone is capable of.

The reason its paid off… they have advertised the waterproof capabilities of the phones in a very honest way.

This has created an admirable amount of trust within the OnePlus community, with the consumer trusting the business, and helping to keep the price point much lower than the flagship equivalents.

This is a great cost saving method and the benefit can be passed onto the customer in a very visible way. Helping you to build customer loyalty and trust, though the method may not be as effective in heavily regulated markets, or B2B.

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PM VS PM

Product Owner & Product Manger

Plenty of teams with have experienced this issue, how do you structure Product Owners and Product Managers in a team?

It’s a dilemma for many – we often work with teams where there is no role clarity, and often, one person ends up doing both jobs.

Typically, the urgency of Product Owner duties overwhelm the importance of Product Management duties. The net result of this is very little commercial and strategic thinking taking place – the individual becomes technical, tactical and faces into the organisation.

Short term thinking isn’t a problem,...

Product Owner & Product Manger

Plenty of teams with have experienced this issue, how do you structure Product Owners and Product Managers in a team?

It’s a dilemma for many – we often work with teams where there is no role clarity, and often, one person ends up doing both jobs.

Typically, the urgency of Product Owner duties overwhelm the importance of Product Management duties. The net result of this is very little commercial and strategic thinking taking place – the individual becomes technical, tactical and faces into the organisation.

Short term thinking isn’t a problem, but look out over a longer timeline and the impact could be huge; limited vision, little market connection, and incremental product enhancement that exposes the business to risks from disruptive technology.

Product Managers need time to be strategic, commercial, outward facing and market-connected. Having Product Owners work well, alongside, Product Mangers can be difficult to balance but it can pay off when you get it right.

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5 tips for delivering bad news

There are times in every Product Managers career where we have to deliver bad news – a late product, a missing feature, a metric not achieved. It’s never easy, but here are my tips for delivering bad news:

Never delay - Bad news doesn’t get better with time.

Have clear reasons - You need to explain why. Be specific

Bring options and solutions - You need to show an action plan that solves or at the very least mitigates the problem as much as possible.

Write it down - Conversations can get misinterpreted.

Follow through - Track actions and keep everyone informed

There are times in every Product Managers career where we have to deliver bad news – a late product, a missing feature, a metric not achieved. It’s never easy, but here are my tips for delivering bad news:

Never delay - Bad news doesn’t get better with time.

Have clear reasons - You need to explain why. Be specific

Bring options and solutions - You need to show an action plan that solves or at the very least mitigates the problem as much as possible.

Write it down - Conversations can get misinterpreted.

Follow through - Track actions and keep everyone informed

Measure with your Product

Knowing where you’ve come from is interesting, knowing where you’re going is critical.

Most Product Management teams I work with have some form of metric set in place – they recognise the importance of tracking product success. But I’d estimate in 80% of cases those metrics are ones that look backwards. They tell you what HAS happened and give no clue as to what might happen next – they measure things like profit, usage & revenue. This is akin to a satnav giving you numerous stats on your journey so far, but not mentioning the road ahead is closed.

We know it’s impossible to ...

Knowing where you’ve come from is interesting, knowing where you’re going is critical.

Most Product Management teams I work with have some form of metric set in place – they recognise the importance of tracking product success. But I’d estimate in 80% of cases those metrics are ones that look backwards. They tell you what HAS happened and give no clue as to what might happen next – they measure things like profit, usage & revenue. This is akin to a satnav giving you numerous stats on your journey so far, but not mentioning the road ahead is closed.

We know it’s impossible to predict the future, but decent metrics give the opportunity to at least estimate it - tracking metrics on regulation, competitive landscape, tech trends, customer satisfaction & forecast financials make it a little less likely that your product hits a roadblock.

So what do you measure with your product?

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What's in a name?

I always tell product managers that a good start is to make the name descriptive - it helps customers to understand your offer quickly. In the UK, think of WeBuyAnyCar.com - if you've never heard of them I'm betting you can guess roughly what they do by their name.

But walking through London last week it struck me that the name also had to be realistic. Take a look at this café I walked past- it certainly looks like it's seen plenty of battles, perhaps not so many victories. As names go, it's sailed past 'ambitious' and landed firmly in 'delusional'. Any examples of really good or really b...

I always tell product managers that a good start is to make the name descriptive - it helps customers to understand your offer quickly. In the UK, think of WeBuyAnyCar.com - if you've never heard of them I'm betting you can guess roughly what they do by their name.

But walking through London last week it struck me that the name also had to be realistic. Take a look at this café I walked past- it certainly looks like it's seen plenty of battles, perhaps not so many victories. As names go, it's sailed past 'ambitious' and landed firmly in 'delusional'. Any examples of really good or really bad product or business names? A prize awaits the winner - an all-you-can-eat breakfast at the Victory Café!

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Tribes, Squads, Prod Mgnt

Tribes and squads and product management

We’re all aware that waterfall is last century and agile is the way to go. But many of us are also aware that our whilst our business proclaims to be agile, it really isn’t - using scrum et al to deliver product does not make a business agile. Often we see a waterfall business and an agile dev team working to a horribly compromised Wagile model. A way through this? Take a look at Spotify with its squads and tribes model. Essentially the organisation completely embraces agile and has small, empowered, intact teams that don’t just think about the...

Tribes and squads and product management

We’re all aware that waterfall is last century and agile is the way to go. But many of us are also aware that our whilst our business proclaims to be agile, it really isn’t - using scrum et al to deliver product does not make a business agile. Often we see a waterfall business and an agile dev team working to a horribly compromised Wagile model. A way through this? Take a look at Spotify with its squads and tribes model. Essentially the organisation completely embraces agile and has small, empowered, intact teams that don’t just think about the tech product, but the complete customer solution.

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Prepare to Interview

Recruiting and employment is a minefield of matching skill sets and personalities, finding the right people to fit into your current team or disruptive individuals that promote change.

It is difficult to find the right balance.

Finding the right fit is hard to do from looking at CV’s, and interviews don’t help to much either… ‘On my best behaviour with my best foot forward’.

You can get a sense of their skills from the CV, but this isn’t going to be a fully accurate representation of what they can provide. Really, an interview needs to realise candidates’ attitudes and p...

Recruiting and employment is a minefield of matching skill sets and personalities, finding the right people to fit into your current team or disruptive individuals that promote change.

It is difficult to find the right balance.

Finding the right fit is hard to do from looking at CV’s, and interviews don’t help to much either… ‘On my best behaviour with my best foot forward’.

You can get a sense of their skills from the CV, but this isn’t going to be a fully accurate representation of what they can provide. Really, an interview needs to realise candidates’ attitudes and personality traits in order to identify if they are going to fit into the role or gap that you are trying to fill.

In order to do so you should understand a few things about what you would like the net result of their employment to look like:

? Should they disrupt and become the catalyst for change?

? Should they be a team player that helps spreads workload?

? What is key to being successful in this role?

? How will the role impact the company over the next 12/24/36 months?

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levels of competition.

I was talking to a team who describe their product as having “no competition”. Great news? Perhaps, but think about it like this.

We should think about levels of competition.

1. We might face products similar to ours from competitors that look a lot like us. These are direct competitive threats - think Audi vs BMW vs Mercedes.

2. Sometimes the competition is less obvious. Its other ways that our customers can solve the problem that we help them solve. These are indirect competitive threats – think car vs plane vs video conferencing

3. Occasionally we see our product having no...

I was talking to a team who describe their product as having “no competition”. Great news? Perhaps, but think about it like this.

We should think about levels of competition.

1. We might face products similar to ours from competitors that look a lot like us. These are direct competitive threats - think Audi vs BMW vs Mercedes.

2. Sometimes the competition is less obvious. Its other ways that our customers can solve the problem that we help them solve. These are indirect competitive threats – think car vs plane vs video conferencing

3. Occasionally we see our product having no competition. This sounds great, but we should be cautious. No competition might mean you’re first to market, but it might also mean that there really no market. Even being first to market isn’t without risk. History is littered with examples of products and businesses that got there first, but didn’t thrive – think Palm in the PDA market, the Beta max format in the video market or Atari in the games console market. All three were first to market. All three failed to capitalise on first mover advantage.

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Innovation vs Maintenance

Maintenance vs innovation



How do product managers balance the needs of their current product versus investing in new ideas? We’re working with a company where about 80% of development effort is directed towards product maintenance, some towards enhancements and the little bit that’s left goes to innovation. The result? A very frustrated senior management team who see a huge spend and nothing new to sell. There can be many reasons behind this (badly architected product, fixed sized dev teams, etc) but it clearly cant be sustained. Our fix? Set a target maintenance spend (say 20%) and...

Maintenance vs innovation



How do product managers balance the needs of their current product versus investing in new ideas? We’re working with a company where about 80% of development effort is directed towards product maintenance, some towards enhancements and the little bit that’s left goes to innovation. The result? A very frustrated senior management team who see a huge spend and nothing new to sell. There can be many reasons behind this (badly architected product, fixed sized dev teams, etc) but it clearly cant be sustained. Our fix? Set a target maintenance spend (say 20%) and a target date to hit that spend (say 3 years) and then ratchet spend down each quarter. This gives teams the time to address the fundamentals, get a plan in place and move towards a more appropriate spending level.

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Engaging with the audience

Communication is a vital skill for a product manager. It might be a 5 minute elevator pitch or a full technical review. Either way you need to keep your audience engaged and interested in what you saying. Here are a few tips :

1. Tell the audience why they are there

2. Pick three major points you want to talk about and focus on those.

3. Don't overload your presentation with text and pictures.

4. Keep an eye on time. Use a parking lot to collect points that can be answered later.

5. Don't just deliver dry facts.

6. Deliver with passion.

7. Banish your nerves.

Communication is a vital skill for a product manager. It might be a 5 minute elevator pitch or a full technical review. Either way you need to keep your audience engaged and interested in what you saying. Here are a few tips :

1. Tell the audience why they are there

2. Pick three major points you want to talk about and focus on those.

3. Don't overload your presentation with text and pictures.

4. Keep an eye on time. Use a parking lot to collect points that can be answered later.

5. Don't just deliver dry facts.

6. Deliver with passion.

7. Banish your nerves.

Mega Trends

Mega trends are substantial changes that can impact any aspect of our business. Once upon a time the internet was a potential mega trend, out on the horizon, gathering strength. Some businesses saw it, built or modified their products to accommodate it, and rode the internet wave. Others weren’t so visionary and floundered as the world moved online.

How do we identify mega trends? product managers must constantly look for trends in four broad categories:

· Technology – today we see trends such as A.I or the Internet of Things gathering momentum.

· Social – think of trends such...

Mega trends are substantial changes that can impact any aspect of our business. Once upon a time the internet was a potential mega trend, out on the horizon, gathering strength. Some businesses saw it, built or modified their products to accommodate it, and rode the internet wave. Others weren’t so visionary and floundered as the world moved online.

How do we identify mega trends? product managers must constantly look for trends in four broad categories:

· Technology – today we see trends such as A.I or the Internet of Things gathering momentum.

· Social – think of trends such as the ageing population or urbanization

· Economic – the gig economy and peer-to-peer networks are relevant examples

· Political – trends could be border security or environmental controls.

Once we’ve identified the trends, we need to think of what they mean to our business. For example, IoT presents risk and opportunity around cybersecurity. There will be an estimated 26 billion connected devices by 2020 – some sharing sensitive data and payment information. Hacking into that network could cause widespread disruption.

So what mega trends present opportunity or risk to your product? Product Managers should be thinking about this regularly.

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Themed Roadmap

A themed roadmap is the perfect framework to manage your product along strategic lines. It enables long term objectives & product deliverables to be realised but can flex to meet shorter term demands or agreed variations on the importance of each product strategy.

Moreover, a Themed Roadmap is a single "view" of product strategies and deliverables that can be used in all discussion with major stakeholders as you seek to gain alignment and agreement on a complex set of future product deliverables.

A themed roadmap is the perfect framework to manage your product along strategic lines. It enables long term objectives & product deliverables to be realised but can flex to meet shorter term demands or agreed variations on the importance of each product strategy.

Moreover, a Themed Roadmap is a single "view" of product strategies and deliverables that can be used in all discussion with major stakeholders as you seek to gain alignment and agreement on a complex set of future product deliverables.

Losing a deal

How do you react to losing a deal?

I’ll admit that I react badly, but how should a Product Manager really react? After a couple of months of not putting a wrong (we’ve just recorded our best month and will record our best quarter – go team!) we missed a deal. We’ll deal with this using GRIT.

Grieve – In my opinion good losers tend to be infrequent winners so don’t feel bad about feeling bad. Go for a run, beat a punch bag, relax in a hot bath. Whatever your way of dealing with it, give yourself a bit of time to get it out of your system.

Research - Gather as much data as y...

How do you react to losing a deal?

I’ll admit that I react badly, but how should a Product Manager really react? After a couple of months of not putting a wrong (we’ve just recorded our best month and will record our best quarter – go team!) we missed a deal. We’ll deal with this using GRIT.

Grieve – In my opinion good losers tend to be infrequent winners so don’t feel bad about feeling bad. Go for a run, beat a punch bag, relax in a hot bath. Whatever your way of dealing with it, give yourself a bit of time to get it out of your system.

Research - Gather as much data as you can. Gather from all sources and gather without filter or preconception.

Identify - Work out what went wrong. It’s easy to make price or product assumptions, but discount nothing. I recall a deal lost years ago where we worked out that the customer had not even read our proposal. Be aware that the answer might be that the deal was never in your sights.

Translate - Make changes so that you don’t repeat the same mistakes. Remember the lesson of marginal gain - small changes can deliver significant results.

So I need to go and give my punch bag 30 minutes of hell.

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What does a PM do?

What does a product manager do?

Our role can be quite complex and difficult to describe. But if we don’t have a clear purpose then we run the risk of being misplaced in our business (step forward all those product managers who are really sales support or project managers, ....).

Here’s a definition that might help. “Product managers reduce the risk of launching a product flop and increase the success of products in market”. So what does that mean? Well, product failure occurs in every sector. By using a professional pm framework a product manager reduces the risk of a potential p...

What does a product manager do?

Our role can be quite complex and difficult to describe. But if we don’t have a clear purpose then we run the risk of being misplaced in our business (step forward all those product managers who are really sales support or project managers, ....).

Here’s a definition that might help. “Product managers reduce the risk of launching a product flop and increase the success of products in market”. So what does that mean? Well, product failure occurs in every sector. By using a professional pm framework a product manager reduces the risk of a potential product flop getting to market (we assess before we launch) and then by using the same pm framework, they ensure that existing products remain successful for longer (we continuously improve products). If there’s a 25% product failure rate in your industry and your pm skills have reduced that to 5% in your business then that’s great product management.

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Dealing with obstacles

Navigating obstacles is a daily part of Product Management – dealing with product issues, pressures from other teams, workload, worrying about product performance…..

Some Product Managers become so overwhelmed that they can’t see anything but obstacles. Their performance suffers, their product suffers, they suffer! Here’s a tip from the world of cycling; instead of looking at the obstacles, look beyond them at where you want to go. Look through the trees and around the rocks. By focusing on where you want to go instead of what you want to miss, the obstacles shrink and that good pat...

Navigating obstacles is a daily part of Product Management – dealing with product issues, pressures from other teams, workload, worrying about product performance…..

Some Product Managers become so overwhelmed that they can’t see anything but obstacles. Their performance suffers, their product suffers, they suffer! Here’s a tip from the world of cycling; instead of looking at the obstacles, look beyond them at where you want to go. Look through the trees and around the rocks. By focusing on where you want to go instead of what you want to miss, the obstacles shrink and that good path becomes clear.

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Market research

What does a great market research session look like?

I was reminded of this with a team I’m working with. They’re in a B2B market and are conducting early stage research on a new concept. A couple of product managers reported back that their customer visit had gone well. A deeper dive and it was clear that what they really meant was that the customer hadn’t asked any tough questions and so the meeting had been a breeze. This is bad news for the product; interested customers always ask difficult questions (date, price, detail). Think of these as buying signals – if they don’t ask �...

What does a great market research session look like?

I was reminded of this with a team I’m working with. They’re in a B2B market and are conducting early stage research on a new concept. A couple of product managers reported back that their customer visit had gone well. A deeper dive and it was clear that what they really meant was that the customer hadn’t asked any tough questions and so the meeting had been a breeze. This is bad news for the product; interested customers always ask difficult questions (date, price, detail). Think of these as buying signals – if they don’t ask “how much” or “when” they’re really not that interested.

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A new product or service

Forecasting for a new product or service is challenging with no historic or foundation data to work from. Challenging, but critical! Scope it right and you’ll align costs with opportunity to deliver a profitable proposition We use a seven step process:

1.Find the total available market – How many could buy or use your service?

2. Understand the stage of lifecycle your market is in – For example, is the market in growth or maturity phase? This will dictate how much of your available market is ready to adopt.

3.Identify key segments to do your research – Do quality research in a...

Forecasting for a new product or service is challenging with no historic or foundation data to work from. Challenging, but critical! Scope it right and you’ll align costs with opportunity to deliver a profitable proposition We use a seven step process:

1.Find the total available market – How many could buy or use your service?

2. Understand the stage of lifecycle your market is in – For example, is the market in growth or maturity phase? This will dictate how much of your available market is ready to adopt.

3.Identify key segments to do your research – Do quality research in a core market rather than spreading you research too thin

4.Triangulate your qualitative research – It’s not research if you only talk to one customer!

5.Underpin with quantitative research – Use surveys to check the opinions expressed in qualitative research are supported in larger numbers

6. Use ratio modelling to build a global view – if you’ve sized the US market, then use stats around population size, GDP, or more focused market factors to estimate adjacent markets

7.Build an estimate – Use error bars to give an forecast range.

One of the harder aspects of product management, but a very valuable skill.

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good development, bad product

A good development process doesn’t make a good product

Many teams seem to turn to agile models in the hope that it will fix product problems. And although agile processes are great, they don’t generate great products in isolation.

Two points:

1. A bad idea stays a bad idea no matter how well it’s developed - it’s just a well executed bad idea.

2. Product is more than technology - think naming, pricing, positioning,

etc. Agile gives you only a small part of what you need for product success.

The product management lesson? Agile won’t fix your world. It might make one...

A good development process doesn’t make a good product

Many teams seem to turn to agile models in the hope that it will fix product problems. And although agile processes are great, they don’t generate great products in isolation.

Two points:

1. A bad idea stays a bad idea no matter how well it’s developed - it’s just a well executed bad idea.

2. Product is more than technology - think naming, pricing, positioning,

etc. Agile gives you only a small part of what you need for product success.

The product management lesson? Agile won’t fix your world. It might make one small part a bit more predictable.

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Finding the innovator

Driver-less cars. Love them or hate them, it feels like we are moving towards a future where automation will at the very least reduce driver engagement. But how will this market grow and form? It’s easy to get caught in the hype at the consumer end of the driver-less revolution and envisage the everyday commuter ‘driving’ to work eating breakfast, shaving, reading email. But as product managers we know that most markets form around innovators with big problems to solve.

Q: Who has the biggest problem that driver-less technology can solve?

A: Logistics companies spending a huge amou...

Driver-less cars. Love them or hate them, it feels like we are moving towards a future where automation will at the very least reduce driver engagement. But how will this market grow and form? It’s easy to get caught in the hype at the consumer end of the driver-less revolution and envisage the everyday commuter ‘driving’ to work eating breakfast, shaving, reading email. But as product managers we know that most markets form around innovators with big problems to solve.

Q: Who has the biggest problem that driver-less technology can solve?

A: Logistics companies spending a huge amount on drivers.

But what does that mean?

The driver-less market will hit the freight sector first and us commuters might have to wait longer than expected before jumping in the passenger seat. The product manager lesson: an innovator nearly always has more pain around the problem you solve.

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Product Portfolio

Managing a product portfolio

How do Product Managers make the right investment decisions so that the portfolio is performing well today and will continue to perform well in the future?

We use a dashboard so that Product Managers can make sure the tactical balance is correct (The BCG matrix), the Lifecycle mix is right (ideally we don’t want a portfolio all at the same stage of Lifecycle) , and the fit to longer term strategy is correct (the GE tool)

This gives a balanced view of portfolio.

Managing a product portfolio

How do Product Managers make the right investment decisions so that the portfolio is performing well today and will continue to perform well in the future?

We use a dashboard so that Product Managers can make sure the tactical balance is correct (The BCG matrix), the Lifecycle mix is right (ideally we don’t want a portfolio all at the same stage of Lifecycle) , and the fit to longer term strategy is correct (the GE tool)

This gives a balanced view of portfolio.

Is your price right?

We know that setting a price for a new product in a new market is based upon perceived or actual value, but what about price points when you’re taking upgrades into existing markets?

Here’s a five step process to check if your price point makes sense:

Product Name:
1. Target - Write down the target price point
2. Expectation - How does the target price point compare with pricing over the last three years in the market?
3. Difference – What does your product or service offer as a point of difference? Are these differences tangible and valuable to your target market?
4. Bran...

We know that setting a price for a new product in a new market is based upon perceived or actual value, but what about price points when you’re taking upgrades into existing markets?

Here’s a five step process to check if your price point makes sense:

Product Name:
1. Target - Write down the target price point
2. Expectation - How does the target price point compare with pricing over the last three years in the market?
3. Difference – What does your product or service offer as a point of difference? Are these differences tangible and valuable to your target market?
4. Brand – How does your brand impact perceived value? Don’t dismiss the power of the brand!
5. Costs – Does the price point deliver against financial goals
Evidence : Describe where you gathered your evidence

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Who is your customer?

As product managers, we often think of our customer as the person or business that uses our product – the end user. But it’s often more complex than that. Reaching that end user often means working with other teams – sales, support, third party re sellers, etc. The point is this; If those intermediary teams do not see the value in your product, you’ll never get to the end user. It’s best considered as a value chain – you’re at one end, the end user is at the other. The chain is only as strong as its weakest link. If the sales team don’t understand it or the third party re selle...

As product managers, we often think of our customer as the person or business that uses our product – the end user. But it’s often more complex than that. Reaching that end user often means working with other teams – sales, support, third party re sellers, etc. The point is this; If those intermediary teams do not see the value in your product, you’ll never get to the end user. It’s best considered as a value chain – you’re at one end, the end user is at the other. The chain is only as strong as its weakest link. If the sales team don’t understand it or the third party re seller wont stock it then the end user won’t even see your product.

So who is your customer? Every one in the value chain. Try and address their needs and motivations, and the chain will be strong.

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Pricing - in the right ball park

Want to quickly check if your pricing is in the right ball park? Then answer three questions:

1. Is the price higher than the unit cost – we don’t want to lose money every time we sell

2. Is the price lower that the (perceived or tangible) delivered customer value – customers won’t buy if your product doesn’t represent fair value

3. Is the price broadly equivalent to comparable offers in the market – if price expectations are already set, customers will be unwilling to move far from that price

For the mathematically inclined, this turns into a simple model for sanity ch...

Want to quickly check if your pricing is in the right ball park? Then answer three questions:

1. Is the price higher than the unit cost – we don’t want to lose money every time we sell

2. Is the price lower that the (perceived or tangible) delivered customer value – customers won’t buy if your product doesn’t represent fair value

3. Is the price broadly equivalent to comparable offers in the market – if price expectations are already set, customers will be unwilling to move far from that price

For the mathematically inclined, this turns into a simple model for sanity checking a price point.

P = Selling price
U = Unit cost
V = Customer value
C = Comparable solution price

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Getting the message right

When should product managers engage with marketing to get the message right?

All too often, product marketing is an afterthought; we see many cases where teams don’t engage with marketing until late in a delivery cycle. And then they’re disappointed when the collateral, the positioning, the imagery and the core message don’t hit the mark.

My advice? Engage early. Really early. Get the marketing team involved at the ideation stage – at the very least they can help identify USPs, more likely they’ll add real value to the discussion and ultimately help drive a better product to m...

When should product managers engage with marketing to get the message right?

All too often, product marketing is an afterthought; we see many cases where teams don’t engage with marketing until late in a delivery cycle. And then they’re disappointed when the collateral, the positioning, the imagery and the core message don’t hit the mark.

My advice? Engage early. Really early. Get the marketing team involved at the ideation stage – at the very least they can help identify USPs, more likely they’ll add real value to the discussion and ultimately help drive a better product to market. Remember, Product Management is a team sport.

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Getting a product wrong

The impact of getting a product wrong

You can get a product wrong in many ways - badly designed, poorly build, doesn’t solve any specific need, too expensive etc....

We often think of the cost of the mistake in relation to the product - x million in development effort has been wasted, but the cost is much bigger than that. Think of it from a brand perspective. If a company delivers a bad product then customers don’t just reject the product, but they become wary of brand. An example from two brands- Alfa Romeo and Porsche; Alfa have a history of highs and lows. Sometimes they delight,...

The impact of getting a product wrong

You can get a product wrong in many ways - badly designed, poorly build, doesn’t solve any specific need, too expensive etc....

We often think of the cost of the mistake in relation to the product - x million in development effort has been wasted, but the cost is much bigger than that. Think of it from a brand perspective. If a company delivers a bad product then customers don’t just reject the product, but they become wary of brand. An example from two brands- Alfa Romeo and Porsche; Alfa have a history of highs and lows. Sometimes they delight, sometimes not. Porsche have consistency. Now imagine both companies announce a new sports car for 2019 that you can place a deposit on today. Guess who would have the fuller order book? Brand confidence is a war that products battle to win.

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Marginal Gain

Marginal gain can lead to market dominance

The product managers I meet are an ambitious bunch, often looking for ways to drive huge growth and dominate their market. My response sometimes surprises them “Huge product success often lies in the tiny detail”. Let me explain. In many markets the difference between product offers is pretty small. Winning in these markets can often be about tiny detail – a slightly better interface, a small feature, a better sales pitch or even a quicker response to a customer email. The point is that in competitive markets the detail counts. Rather than th...

Marginal gain can lead to market dominance

The product managers I meet are an ambitious bunch, often looking for ways to drive huge growth and dominate their market. My response sometimes surprises them “Huge product success often lies in the tiny detail”. Let me explain. In many markets the difference between product offers is pretty small. Winning in these markets can often be about tiny detail – a slightly better interface, a small feature, a better sales pitch or even a quicker response to a customer email. The point is that in competitive markets the detail counts. Rather than thinking about wholesale reinvention, many product managers should think of marginal gain – small scale improvements that in isolation mean nothing, but in aggregate can help you win. Market dominance can be achieved by being slightly better than your competitor most of the time. So what could you do today to slightly improve your product offer?

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Simplicity is Key

I’m going to get this printed on a t-shirt and give it to the next product manager who starts by telling me their product is complex to explain! Part of the art of great product management is making the complex as simple to understand as possible. Want to test you or your team on simplicity? Then try this; describe your new product offer/feature in 30 seconds or less to a group who are in your market. Wait 10 minutes and the ask them to describe your product offer. Did they remember it? If not, that’s your problem, not theirs.

I’m going to get this printed on a t-shirt and give it to the next product manager who starts by telling me their product is complex to explain! Part of the art of great product management is making the complex as simple to understand as possible. Want to test you or your team on simplicity? Then try this; describe your new product offer/feature in 30 seconds or less to a group who are in your market. Wait 10 minutes and the ask them to describe your product offer. Did they remember it? If not, that’s your problem, not theirs.

What to look for - Prod Manager

What to look for in a Product Manager

I was asked recently to define the qualities or attributes of my best Product Manager hires. This is my list, what is yours?

• You’re curious – You have a natural born curiosity and are eager to learn and understand. You always ask ‘Why?’.

• You have great people skills – You can influence and inspire through your passion, drive and credibility. People want to work with you.

• You make things happen – You’re a doer as well as a thinker. You solve problems. ‘Proactive’ defines you because you want to a difference

• Y...

What to look for in a Product Manager

I was asked recently to define the qualities or attributes of my best Product Manager hires. This is my list, what is yours?

• You’re curious – You have a natural born curiosity and are eager to learn and understand. You always ask ‘Why?’.

• You have great people skills – You can influence and inspire through your passion, drive and credibility. People want to work with you.

• You make things happen – You’re a doer as well as a thinker. You solve problems. ‘Proactive’ defines you because you want to a difference

• You’re disciplined – You are structured in your approach and utilise processes and tools effectively to get the job done consistently.

• You’re a thought leader - You are able to distil complex information down into an insightful and compelling narrative. You use insight and evidence to make recommendations.

• You get your message across – You are clear, concise and credible in your communication, being able to deliver a message in a few words with complete clarity

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Presentation Skills

Yesterday I delivered a webinar on communicating with clarity.

For a product manager, being able to present with clarity and conviction is a skill worth working on. Your bright new product idea could fall at the first hurdle if the review team simply don’t understand it or pay enough attention because of how you present. Sometimes a presentation unravels from slide one as they fail to get the introduction right.

So how should your presentation start? The key is structure; your audience want to know some basics. “Why am I here?”, “How long will I be here?”, “What decisions wil...

Yesterday I delivered a webinar on communicating with clarity.

For a product manager, being able to present with clarity and conviction is a skill worth working on. Your bright new product idea could fall at the first hurdle if the review team simply don’t understand it or pay enough attention because of how you present. Sometimes a presentation unravels from slide one as they fail to get the introduction right.

So how should your presentation start? The key is structure; your audience want to know some basics. “Why am I here?”, “How long will I be here?”, “What decisions will I need to make?” So tell them! Whoever the audience, take the lead from word one, slide one. You give the audience confidence that you’re in control.

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How do you prioritise features?

A common issue for Product Managers – they have a list of features and they need to make the call about which gets built first. The issue being that each feature is important to some customers.

Here’s a simple tool to help. Don’t start with the feature, start at the market end – prioritise your segments from most to least important (this could be based on value, growth , access, profits, etc). Then prioritise the people in those markets (for example, who controls the budget, or acts as the technical gatekeeper). Only when you’ve done this do you think about the features - what doe...

A common issue for Product Managers – they have a list of features and they need to make the call about which gets built first. The issue being that each feature is important to some customers.

Here’s a simple tool to help. Don’t start with the feature, start at the market end – prioritise your segments from most to least important (this could be based on value, growth , access, profits, etc). Then prioritise the people in those markets (for example, who controls the budget, or acts as the technical gatekeeper). Only when you’ve done this do you think about the features - what does you most important persona in your most important market value from the feature list?

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A Product plan

A Product plan is the nucleus of your product! It takes a lot of work to complete but it helps to align cross-functional teams and provides all the information available about your product, from hard market research to detailed financial models.

It’s time to present your product plan in order to bring teams in-line with your product. And all that hard work could be for nothing if you get this wrong and fail to communicate your message clearly. You have to be sure that the review team are going to understand, the product, the vision and all the key ancillaries that surround your product.
...

A Product plan is the nucleus of your product! It takes a lot of work to complete but it helps to align cross-functional teams and provides all the information available about your product, from hard market research to detailed financial models.

It’s time to present your product plan in order to bring teams in-line with your product. And all that hard work could be for nothing if you get this wrong and fail to communicate your message clearly. You have to be sure that the review team are going to understand, the product, the vision and all the key ancillaries that surround your product.



This requires a presentation that has clarity and conviction, a critical skill that all Product Managers should master. Communicating with clarity, during presentations or any cross-team activity is key to building the right foundations and setting your product on the right course!

Learn more about Communicating with Clarity in our Webinar session tomorrow, sign up here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XVIik3g6R-SSUTEFN2InqA

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Agile Updates and Delivery

Agile delivery of product requirements and updates allows teams to maintain momentum and focus. Each sprint cycle within the agile world gives you a package update that is customer ready every 30 days, great!

But just because we work agile within the company setting doesn’t mean our customers want these updates delivered at the same rate.

We have to think about our customer base and the types of customers we deliver our product to, if we have customers working in a highly regulated sector then we have to be very considerate as to the frequency of updates to products and solutions that ...

Agile delivery of product requirements and updates allows teams to maintain momentum and focus. Each sprint cycle within the agile world gives you a package update that is customer ready every 30 days, great!

But just because we work agile within the company setting doesn’t mean our customers want these updates delivered at the same rate.

We have to think about our customer base and the types of customers we deliver our product to, if we have customers working in a highly regulated sector then we have to be very considerate as to the frequency of updates to products and solutions that those customers use. Whereas public consumers are less likely to be upset or irritated if they receive updates more regularly.

Even with that in mind, we don’t have software updates for our smart phones every month, that would become tedious to most! Instead updates are delivered when there is a substantial package ready for consumer use!

Remember just because you can deliver an update every 30 days doesn’t mean that your customer types want to receive those updates at such frequency!

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Strategic Thinking

Don’t fall into the trap of spending all your time in back to back meetings. Product Managers need time to think of future trends in their markets, new regulation, changes in customer behaviour etc. They must develop a clear vision of where they want to take their product based on trends and market changes. If not the product becomes directionless. If we spend all our time making tactical changes that in aggregate mean nothing, eventually our product will become irrelevant. Think about what happened with HMV and blockbuster.

My advice? Diarise strategic thinking - 30 minutes during the w...

Don’t fall into the trap of spending all your time in back to back meetings. Product Managers need time to think of future trends in their markets, new regulation, changes in customer behaviour etc. They must develop a clear vision of where they want to take their product based on trends and market changes. If not the product becomes directionless. If we spend all our time making tactical changes that in aggregate mean nothing, eventually our product will become irrelevant. Think about what happened with HMV and blockbuster.

My advice? Diarise strategic thinking - 30 minutes during the week where you ask yourself “What are the trends and changes happening in my markets that could impact my product” Don't wait for the trend to hit - it’s too late then.

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Improving the user experience

A hotel I was in had tea and coffee making facilities in the room. But I couldn't get water in the kettle due to the shape of the sink. Not a great user experience! This type of niggle is common - many products and services have their equivalent of the hotel kettle - a feature that’s been included with good intent but not thought through in terms of customer interaction.

How do we fix this?

Product Managers should utilise user journeys, stepping through the customer experience to see how the feature works. It’s the difference between saying "We've put a kettle in the hotel room, jo...

A hotel I was in had tea and coffee making facilities in the room. But I couldn't get water in the kettle due to the shape of the sink. Not a great user experience! This type of niggle is common - many products and services have their equivalent of the hotel kettle - a feature that’s been included with good intent but not thought through in terms of customer interaction.

How do we fix this?

Product Managers should utilise user journeys, stepping through the customer experience to see how the feature works. It’s the difference between saying "We've put a kettle in the hotel room, job done" and "A guest arrives in the room for the first time and tries to make a drink. Let's step though that process".

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Thinking of product retirement

Many Product Managers spend very little time at the retirement end of the Product Management discipline. Consequently, it’s an area where many teams have limited process or procedure. But remember, a bad product withdrawal can impact future product introductions – would you buy a new product from a company that had let you down with a previous product retirement? As with many things PM, the key is to step back and think a little. If you have a product that you’re thinking of withdrawing or replacing or retiring, spend 15 minutes answering these six questions before diving into a retireme...

Many Product Managers spend very little time at the retirement end of the Product Management discipline. Consequently, it’s an area where many teams have limited process or procedure. But remember, a bad product withdrawal can impact future product introductions – would you buy a new product from a company that had let you down with a previous product retirement? As with many things PM, the key is to step back and think a little. If you have a product that you’re thinking of withdrawing or replacing or retiring, spend 15 minutes answering these six questions before diving into a retirement plan.

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Brand and Price

How do you price a product? There are many aspects to think about (the value it delivers, the competitive landscape, etc), but many Product Managers underestimate the impact of brand. Your brand sets parameters on the price points you can achieve (and therefore the products you can deliver). “Easyjet launches super premium business class service” is not a headline we’re likely to see – the product might make sense but not in the context of the Easyjet brand. And don’t think of this as exclusive to B2C products. Earlier in my career I managed a product that was white labelled and reso...

How do you price a product? There are many aspects to think about (the value it delivers, the competitive landscape, etc), but many Product Managers underestimate the impact of brand. Your brand sets parameters on the price points you can achieve (and therefore the products you can deliver). “Easyjet launches super premium business class service” is not a headline we’re likely to see – the product might make sense but not in the context of the Easyjet brand. And don’t think of this as exclusive to B2C products. Earlier in my career I managed a product that was white labelled and resold by Cisco. The Cisco team could achieve higher price points in the market because they were a known, trusted brand with relationships, history etc. A great example of how to do it can be seen in the VW/Audi group, who take a range of products to market from low cost to super high-end using the power of brand to distinguish their offers.

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How do you deal with new ideas?

“We have loads of news ideas!” Sounds like a great place to be, but for many Product Managers the stress of managing those ideas is formidable – ideas from sales teams “I can sell 100% more if you add these features” to managers “We need this new product to dominate market X”, to technical teams “We can build AI capability to enhance our product”, etc….

When the next person walks up to your desk with another great idea, whip out the innovation canvas. Fifteen minutes of effort, ten questions long, helps you understand what’s worth taking further and what should be drop...

“We have loads of news ideas!” Sounds like a great place to be, but for many Product Managers the stress of managing those ideas is formidable – ideas from sales teams “I can sell 100% more if you add these features” to managers “We need this new product to dominate market X”, to technical teams “We can build AI capability to enhance our product”, etc….

When the next person walks up to your desk with another great idea, whip out the innovation canvas. Fifteen minutes of effort, ten questions long, helps you understand what’s worth taking further and what should be dropped.

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The most common persona mistake?

The last few years has seen an increasing use of Personas and User Journeys across Product Management teams. They give us great insight and help us define products that truly meet customer needs. However, I see a common mistake; personas are so often focused solely on the end user. End users are important but they’re not the whole story – those end users won’t get to use your product if it does not make sense to the full value chain. Take a new credit card as an example; Banks would need to offer it and Merchants would need to accept it before consumers could access the value. The value ...

The last few years has seen an increasing use of Personas and User Journeys across Product Management teams. They give us great insight and help us define products that truly meet customer needs. However, I see a common mistake; personas are so often focused solely on the end user. End users are important but they’re not the whole story – those end users won’t get to use your product if it does not make sense to the full value chain. Take a new credit card as an example; Banks would need to offer it and Merchants would need to accept it before consumers could access the value. The value chain will break at its weakest point of value.

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Refining your PM Skills

We’re half way through the year- a good time to reflect on team performance. When thinking about the performance of a product management team it’s way too simple to describe it as great, or terrible, or somewhere in between. It’s better to break it down into skills – what do they do well and where do they need support. It’s even better to prioritise those skills around business need. We use the skills curve to do this – prioritise the skills the team need to have, review their capability per skill, build out the skills curve, then focus on closing the gaps around the skills that ...

We’re half way through the year- a good time to reflect on team performance. When thinking about the performance of a product management team it’s way too simple to describe it as great, or terrible, or somewhere in between. It’s better to break it down into skills – what do they do well and where do they need support. It’s even better to prioritise those skills around business need. We use the skills curve to do this – prioritise the skills the team need to have, review their capability per skill, build out the skills curve, then focus on closing the gaps around the skills that will make the biggest difference.

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What is a roadmap?

Product Managers are often requested to build out a roadmap. Our first response should be ‘Which Roadmap?’. We identify three roadmaps:

1. The Visionary Roadmap – A broad brush view of where your products need to go over the next 5/10 years based on market mega trends. It sets the direction of travel.

2. The Product Roadmap – It takes the vision and breaks it down into tangible customer deliveries . It defines how value will be delivered and identifies the major landmarks on our journey to our vision

3. The Technical Roadmap – It adds detail. It describes how we get to eac...

Product Managers are often requested to build out a roadmap. Our first response should be ‘Which Roadmap?’. We identify three roadmaps:

1. The Visionary Roadmap – A broad brush view of where your products need to go over the next 5/10 years based on market mega trends. It sets the direction of travel.

2. The Product Roadmap – It takes the vision and breaks it down into tangible customer deliveries . It defines how value will be delivered and identifies the major landmarks on our journey to our vision

3. The Technical Roadmap – It adds detail. It describes how we get to each major landmark identified in the Product Roadmap, the people involved, etc. It tells us how we’ll make our journey to vision.

All three clearly link together. We start with the Visionary Roadmap. Without it, our product direction can’t be set.

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Defining the product value curve

When you book a hotel room how do you decide which hotel to book? Price? Location? Points? Facilities? The likelihood is that you choose based on a number of reasons rather than just one. We can use this insight to help position our own products more effectively. The Value Curve is a tool that maps buying factors vs execution. Simply list the top 5 reasons customers choose a product in your market, work out how well you execute against that need and do the same for your competition. You can then see where to refine your offer.

When you book a hotel room how do you decide which hotel to book? Price? Location? Points? Facilities? The likelihood is that you choose based on a number of reasons rather than just one. We can use this insight to help position our own products more effectively. The Value Curve is a tool that maps buying factors vs execution. Simply list the top 5 reasons customers choose a product in your market, work out how well you execute against that need and do the same for your competition. You can then see where to refine your offer.

Defining product success

How would you define product success? Revenue? Profit? Volume? The point is this; product success comes in many flavours that do not always directly link to a simple financial metric. A product portfolio can often be thought of as a team, where products perform different roles. Think of HP – printers make ink sales possible. Or google; its search engine is an enabler for its AdWords business. Like a soccer team would not be great if it was made up of 11 strikers, a product portfolio needs balance.
So when looking at what constitutes product success, think about the role your product need...

How would you define product success? Revenue? Profit? Volume? The point is this; product success comes in many flavours that do not always directly link to a simple financial metric. A product portfolio can often be thought of as a team, where products perform different roles. Think of HP – printers make ink sales possible. Or google; its search engine is an enabler for its AdWords business. Like a soccer team would not be great if it was made up of 11 strikers, a product portfolio needs balance.
So when looking at what constitutes product success, think about the role your product needs to play in your product team.

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Skills Matrix

Welcome to the Tarigo Product Management Skills Matrix.
A useful & easy-to-use tool designed for Product Managers who would like to assess their current levels of knowledge, expertise and skills.
Once completed it can then be used to identify personal development plans and build a successful and rewarding career.
• Rate your personal competencies against those found in high performing product teams
• Identify your aspirations in terms of your competency targets and the associated gap analysis
• Put together a plan of action to develop yourself in order to meet your aspirations....

Welcome to the Tarigo Product Management Skills Matrix.
A useful & easy-to-use tool designed for Product Managers who would like to assess their current levels of knowledge, expertise and skills.
Once completed it can then be used to identify personal development plans and build a successful and rewarding career.
• Rate your personal competencies against those found in high performing product teams
• Identify your aspirations in terms of your competency targets and the associated gap analysis
• Put together a plan of action to develop yourself in order to meet your aspirations.

See the full paper on our website under resources.

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Revenue Forecasting

A question from a the head of a product team I’ve been training “Are there any quick tips for helping the team with revenue forecasting?” The background to this was a very frustrated leadership team who had been presented with revenue forecasts that turned out to be orders of magnitude different to actuals. My one quick tip would be this – DON’T FORGET LIFECYCLE STAGE! Most Product teams get the basics right in terms of understanding the available and serviceable market. The bit they miss is that they need to overlay the lifecyle stage to get a sense of adoption rates. For exampl...

A question from a the head of a product team I’ve been training “Are there any quick tips for helping the team with revenue forecasting?” The background to this was a very frustrated leadership team who had been presented with revenue forecasts that turned out to be orders of magnitude different to actuals. My one quick tip would be this – DON’T FORGET LIFECYCLE STAGE! Most Product teams get the basics right in terms of understanding the available and serviceable market. The bit they miss is that they need to overlay the lifecyle stage to get a sense of adoption rates. For example, take a market with £100M in revenue potential. At the innovator stage circa 2.5 – 5% of that market is likely to adopt. Think that sounds severe? Look at the plug-in electric car market and you’ll see a market share of 2.53% here in the UK.

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Marginal Gains

Marginal Gains – make them invisible!

Marginal Gains is a popular topic at Tarigo and in the product management world in and we want to hear your thoughts on the topic!

It’s a great model to teach and understand as there are plenty of success stories and examples that we can look at in the product world to help explain product success and why certain products always seem to beat competitors!

Team Sky publicly displayed their passion and focus on marginal gains and claimed it was the reason for much of their Olympic success. Well Olympian and Tour De France winner Sir Bradley Wig...

Marginal Gains – make them invisible!

Marginal Gains is a popular topic at Tarigo and in the product management world in and we want to hear your thoughts on the topic!

It’s a great model to teach and understand as there are plenty of success stories and examples that we can look at in the product world to help explain product success and why certain products always seem to beat competitors!

Team Sky publicly displayed their passion and focus on marginal gains and claimed it was the reason for much of their Olympic success. Well Olympian and Tour De France winner Sir Bradley Wiggins disagrees. ‘I just think you have got to get the fundamentals right: go ride your bike, put the work in, and you’re either good or you’re not good.’ He was involved in the GB squad during the Sir Dave Brailsford revolution. He also has a gold medal from the 2012 Olympics…

Is this a case of conflicting attitudes or were the marginal gain techniques employed by team GB so subtle that an athlete such as Wiggins didn’t even notice the positive impacts these marginal gains had on his performance.

What do you think?

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What’s your product value?

Product managers should be able to articulate the value of their product to the target market in a concise, coherent and compelling way. Here’s the value proposition template with Nespresso as an example. Simply replace the black words with your own to build your value statement.

Product managers should be able to articulate the value of their product to the target market in a concise, coherent and compelling way. Here’s the value proposition template with Nespresso as an example. Simply replace the black words with your own to build your value statement.

How fast is too fast?

The dev manager of a team I’m working with at the moment has proudly announced that their new dev model has enabled them to release new code daily. The whole organisation is wowed by this, but no-one seems to have asked the question ‘Why?. The point is this; these guys work in the highly regulated and security-conscious world of banking. To an IT director the idea of daily software updates is the stuff of nightmares. As always, with anything to do with product, know your customers and build solutions (including delivery models) that work for them.

The dev manager of a team I’m working with at the moment has proudly announced that their new dev model has enabled them to release new code daily. The whole organisation is wowed by this, but no-one seems to have asked the question ‘Why?. The point is this; these guys work in the highly regulated and security-conscious world of banking. To an IT director the idea of daily software updates is the stuff of nightmares. As always, with anything to do with product, know your customers and build solutions (including delivery models) that work for them.

Building the habit.

Want to change part of your life? If you do something for thirty days it becomes a habit. It can help people stop smoking, start exercising - break or make habits in your daily routine We use this to help Product Managers build the right discipline - thirty small tasks for the product manager to complete over 30 days. We deliver this as a card deck and once per day email. Want to try it? Drop us a note at info@tarigo.co.uk

Want to change part of your life? If you do something for thirty days it becomes a habit. It can help people stop smoking, start exercising - break or make habits in your daily routine We use this to help Product Managers build the right discipline - thirty small tasks for the product manager to complete over 30 days. We deliver this as a card deck and once per day email. Want to try it? Drop us a note at info@tarigo.co.uk

Metrics.

Over the next few days we’ll revue the key metrics that help you track and measure your product. We break these down into 5 categories:

• Product P&L
• Market
• New Business
• Customer
• Other

Starting with Product P&L, these are the key high level commercial and monetary metrics associated with managing your Product as a Business (PaaB). This could include revenues, costs, both direct and indirect and a resulting profitability measurement. These metrics are best worked out in collaboration with finance.

What metrics do you use to track and measure products?.

Over the next few days we’ll revue the key metrics that help you track and measure your product. We break these down into 5 categories:

• Product P&L
• Market
• New Business
• Customer
• Other

Starting with Product P&L, these are the key high level commercial and monetary metrics associated with managing your Product as a Business (PaaB). This could include revenues, costs, both direct and indirect and a resulting profitability measurement. These metrics are best worked out in collaboration with finance.

What metrics do you use to track and measure products?.

Portfolio Analysis

Here’s a tool we use for portfolio review. It enables you to look at your product portfolio through three lenses:

Tactically. We use a BCG matrix to assess whether our current product suite is in the right shape. For example, low-share products in no-growth markets are probably best removed.

Lifecyle. We plot our products in terms of stage of life cycle. For example, if your product suite clusters around late-stage growth you might be generating great profits today, but could feel portfolio-wide communication soon.

Strategically. Are the markets you are in likely to remain attractiv...

Here’s a tool we use for portfolio review. It enables you to look at your product portfolio through three lenses:

Tactically. We use a BCG matrix to assess whether our current product suite is in the right shape. For example, low-share products in no-growth markets are probably best removed.

Lifecyle. We plot our products in terms of stage of life cycle. For example, if your product suite clusters around late-stage growth you might be generating great profits today, but could feel portfolio-wide communication soon.

Strategically. Are the markets you are in likely to remain attractive and do you have capability to win in those markets. We use a multi-factorial matrix to answer this.

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Major Tasks

What are the major tasks for a Product Manager?

We’ve built this framework that describes what we need to think about throughout the product delivery process. The 5D process defines the point in the delivery cycle (From Direct, where we set product strategy, to Drive, where we use marginal gain to enhance our in-market product), and the blocks beneath describe the major activities. The framework is a useful tool to make sure you’re not missing anything major on your journey to Product Management Excellence!

What are the major tasks for a Product Manager?

We’ve built this framework that describes what we need to think about throughout the product delivery process. The 5D process defines the point in the delivery cycle (From Direct, where we set product strategy, to Drive, where we use marginal gain to enhance our in-market product), and the blocks beneath describe the major activities. The framework is a useful tool to make sure you’re not missing anything major on your journey to Product Management Excellence!

Product Narrative

What’s the narrative of your product?

We’ve had President Trump in the UK this week. I guess it’s fair to say he is a figure that generates a wide emotional response wherever he goes. But love him or hate him, he has a skill around messaging that serves him well. He’s a world-class narrative builder; Ask the question “What does Donald Trump stand for” and you get immediate response “Make America great again”, “Build the wall”, “Drain the swamp”. Ask the same question about his rival Hilary Clinton and the room goes quiet. You can love or hate the message, but he gets...

What’s the narrative of your product?

We’ve had President Trump in the UK this week. I guess it’s fair to say he is a figure that generates a wide emotional response wherever he goes. But love him or hate him, he has a skill around messaging that serves him well. He’s a world-class narrative builder; Ask the question “What does Donald Trump stand for” and you get immediate response “Make America great again”, “Build the wall”, “Drain the swamp”. Ask the same question about his rival Hilary Clinton and the room goes quiet. You can love or hate the message, but he gets it out there.

This translates into Product. What’s your product narrative? What do your customers think your product stands for?

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iTunes is dead.

Apple have announced that iTunes will be absorbed by the release of new and dedicated apps that will handle different media types separately – Apple Music, Apple Podcast, Apple TV.

From a product perspective, Does this make sense? & what considerations might have affected this change in direction?

Firstly, Apple music isn’t new. But it hasn’t been met with the same success that iTunes had when it was introduced. Perhaps this is the reason for dissolving iTunes – Apple music has traction already, but never matched up with its main competitor, Spotify. This move from Apple means th...

Apple have announced that iTunes will be absorbed by the release of new and dedicated apps that will handle different media types separately – Apple Music, Apple Podcast, Apple TV.

From a product perspective, Does this make sense? & what considerations might have affected this change in direction?

Firstly, Apple music isn’t new. But it hasn’t been met with the same success that iTunes had when it was introduced. Perhaps this is the reason for dissolving iTunes – Apple music has traction already, but never matched up with its main competitor, Spotify. This move from Apple means that they are able to better influence the on boarding of users by pushing them closer to the streaming platform.

The Apple TV and Apple Music names are newer and are already associated with products mores modern then that of iTunes and the decoupling of different media types feels like a brand update as well as a bit of a tidy up. Maybe this will allow there to be more focus on each platform, and therefore a better user experience!

Let us know what you think of this strategy from a product management perspective. Maybe we can come up with a better way to achieve the same goal!

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Revenue Forecast

Remember in school when you did a maths exam. You didn’t 100% for just getting the correct answer - you had to show your method and working. Same’s true in product management. When you build out your revenue forecast the answer can’t be a simple £100M! You need to show your working. Here’s our seven step model that helps put structure around forecasting.

Remember in school when you did a maths exam. You didn’t 100% for just getting the correct answer - you had to show your method and working. Same’s true in product management. When you build out your revenue forecast the answer can’t be a simple £100M! You need to show your working. Here’s our seven step model that helps put structure around forecasting.

Project vs Product Manager

Project manager and Product manager.
Our names are almost the same, so what’s the difference in these roles?
A project manager focuses on the project - making sure we deliver on time, on budget, on quality, etc.
A product manager focuses on the product - making sure the features and functions map to market needs.
We need each other to work well.

Project manager and Product manager.
Our names are almost the same, so what’s the difference in these roles?
A project manager focuses on the project - making sure we deliver on time, on budget, on quality, etc.
A product manager focuses on the product - making sure the features and functions map to market needs.
We need each other to work well.

Delivering value vs pain points

Delivering value vs addressing pain points

Sometimes the point of difference you have over a competitor has nothing to do with the product and all to do with an adjacent pain point you can address. Simple example, two companies supply house bricks to the construction industry. Their bricks are identical in every way. Which would the house builder choose? Conventional logic says “the cheapest” and both businesses would engage in a price war. But step away from the product and think about the bigger picture. House builders can have a real pain point around cash-flow – address that and y...

Delivering value vs addressing pain points

Sometimes the point of difference you have over a competitor has nothing to do with the product and all to do with an adjacent pain point you can address. Simple example, two companies supply house bricks to the construction industry. Their bricks are identical in every way. Which would the house builder choose? Conventional logic says “the cheapest” and both businesses would engage in a price war. But step away from the product and think about the bigger picture. House builders can have a real pain point around cash-flow – address that and you unlock a point of difference. Charging more per brick, but having payment terms that mean the house builder doesn’t pay until the property is sold is a potentially disruptive strategy

Even for Product Managers, it’s not always about the product.

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Disinter-mediation

Disinter-mediation is driving change

There’s a theme amongst many of our customers at the moment – when they look forward 5 years they see a radically different market as technology reduces the need for intermediaries between producers and consumers. This can be seen in many sectors; banking (p2p), legal (e-conveyancing) , finance (robotic accounting). Known generally as disinter-mediation, this trend generates risk and opportunity for Product Managers. But how should we react? The key is to understand who your customers are today and who they will be tomorrow – disinter-mediation doe...

Disinter-mediation is driving change

There’s a theme amongst many of our customers at the moment – when they look forward 5 years they see a radically different market as technology reduces the need for intermediaries between producers and consumers. This can be seen in many sectors; banking (p2p), legal (e-conveyancing) , finance (robotic accounting). Known generally as disinter-mediation, this trend generates risk and opportunity for Product Managers. But how should we react? The key is to understand who your customers are today and who they will be tomorrow – disinter-mediation does not necessarily remove the market need, but it can change the economic buyer. If your product is aimed at an intermediary its worth thinking about how disinter-mediation will impact your offer and how you need to change to appeal to those adjacent in the value chain.

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How should you retire a product?

Before starting a product retirement we use these six questions to check if retirement is something that should be considered – a set of basic checks to clarify why you’re retiring a product and what it will mean to you, your customers and your competition.

Before starting a product retirement we use these six questions to check if retirement is something that should be considered – a set of basic checks to clarify why you’re retiring a product and what it will mean to you, your customers and your competition.

PM health check

How do you review the maturity of a PM function? We use a 360 review:

• People

Without the right team in place it’s impossible to excel. We review the team through capability (Do they have the potential to be a great PM?), skills (Do they have the right PM experience?) and scale (Is there enough of them?)

• Processes

We review the full process, reporting, RACI, etc, viewing the process in terms of fit to your business (Risk vs reward vs scale vs speed vs certainty vs evidence vs innovation)

• Tools

Without standardisation, product managers use such a wide variety of t...

How do you review the maturity of a PM function? We use a 360 review:

• People

Without the right team in place it’s impossible to excel. We review the team through capability (Do they have the potential to be a great PM?), skills (Do they have the right PM experience?) and scale (Is there enough of them?)

• Processes

We review the full process, reporting, RACI, etc, viewing the process in terms of fit to your business (Risk vs reward vs scale vs speed vs certainty vs evidence vs innovation)

• Tools

Without standardisation, product managers use such a wide variety of tools that it becomes increasingly difficult for a management team to make reasoned decisions – they cannot do an ‘apples to apples’ comparison. We review the complete process suite for robustness, ease of use, visibility and adherence.

• Environment

A great PM team, with the right processes, tools and templates can still fail to thrive because of the environment - stakeholders, supporting processes and management not aligning with product. We review stakeholder teams leadership engagement and adjacent processes to asses alignment.

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Managing feature parity

Three customers I’m working with at the moment all have the same core issue; they’re going through a platform rewrite and are struggling with feature parity – thinking that the new product should offer EVERYTHING that the old product offered and more on day one. The start point is often bad customer- communication “Of course the new platform will deliver everything that the old one did” followed by blind panic at the realisation that feature parity will take years. Here are our tips for dealing with this:

• Find your new platform USP and make that the narrative – perhaps bette...

Three customers I’m working with at the moment all have the same core issue; they’re going through a platform rewrite and are struggling with feature parity – thinking that the new product should offer EVERYTHING that the old product offered and more on day one. The start point is often bad customer- communication “Of course the new platform will deliver everything that the old one did” followed by blind panic at the realisation that feature parity will take years. Here are our tips for dealing with this:

• Find your new platform USP and make that the narrative – perhaps better security, speed, data. Something the old platform doesn’t do has to be the focus

• Make the list and prioritise – there’s nearly always an 80/20 rule, so list every feature and find the 20% that customers really use to help define the MVP. Hard research required

• Find you initial sector – Don’t attempt a big bang release – find that sector who see most benefit around your new USP and who match your MVP

• Build from there – It took years to build your current platform. It will take time to build the new one.

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Aligning with the sales team

What do your sales team sell? Might sound a weird question and many Product Managers would respond with “They sell my products!” .But in truth some sales teams don’t sell product, they sell capability. Think of it like this; if the sales team hasn’t traditionally been well-served with great go-to-market messaging and collateral about the product set then they tend to develop a habit of selling capability – an approach where they say “You tell me what you want and we will get it built”. The most obvious symptom of this is that every customer has special requirements that load deve...

What do your sales team sell? Might sound a weird question and many Product Managers would respond with “They sell my products!” .But in truth some sales teams don’t sell product, they sell capability. Think of it like this; if the sales team hasn’t traditionally been well-served with great go-to-market messaging and collateral about the product set then they tend to develop a habit of selling capability – an approach where they say “You tell me what you want and we will get it built”. The most obvious symptom of this is that every customer has special requirements that load development and reduce product profitability. From a Product Manager perspective the best response is to get in front of your sales team, deliver great go-to-market content and make sure they are ready, willing and able to sell the product you’ve built. From a business perspective it’s worth thinking about how sales teams are rewarded – getting a bigger commission cheque for selling off-the-shelf vs could be the right incentive.

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Automation

Meet my new travel buddy. Not sure of his name, but he works in the hotel I’m staying in and can deliver things to my room. A gimmick or the start of a revolution?

In product management we often think of mega trends and the impact those trends will have on our market. My robot buddy fits into the trend of ‘automation’. This trend could drive huge change from autonomous vehicles through to robotic accounting. How impactful will automation be? We don’t know, but as product managers we better have a plan. The risk of no plan? Ask Kodak about digital photography or blockbuster about onl...

Meet my new travel buddy. Not sure of his name, but he works in the hotel I’m staying in and can deliver things to my room. A gimmick or the start of a revolution?

In product management we often think of mega trends and the impact those trends will have on our market. My robot buddy fits into the trend of ‘automation’. This trend could drive huge change from autonomous vehicles through to robotic accounting. How impactful will automation be? We don’t know, but as product managers we better have a plan. The risk of no plan? Ask Kodak about digital photography or blockbuster about online movie delivery and see the risks of ignoring trends.

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Measuring Product Managers

How do you measure product managers?

It’s a regular question - how should I assess a product manager? My view is a simple one - don’t assess what they do, assess what they help the business achieve. There are three things that an effective product manager can help a business achieve:

These are valuable to the business and define the value of product management to the organisation

How do you measure product managers?

It’s a regular question - how should I assess a product manager? My view is a simple one - don’t assess what they do, assess what they help the business achieve. There are three things that an effective product manager can help a business achieve:

These are valuable to the business and define the value of product management to the organisation

Marginal gain in action

Marginal gain in the Product Management world is about sweating the small stuff - taking care of the details that might just get you ahead of the competition. Here’s my real-world example. I landed in Shanghai yesterday, got to my hotel and found my laptop power supply not working. In a bit of a panic (I’ve got three days of presentation ahead of me) I went down to the hotel lobby for help. They checked if any were in lost property, and when that didn’t work they actually took me to a local store, dealt with the translation and, much to my relief, got me a temporary fix that will get me ...

Marginal gain in the Product Management world is about sweating the small stuff - taking care of the details that might just get you ahead of the competition. Here’s my real-world example. I landed in Shanghai yesterday, got to my hotel and found my laptop power supply not working. In a bit of a panic (I’ve got three days of presentation ahead of me) I went down to the hotel lobby for help. They checked if any were in lost property, and when that didn’t work they actually took me to a local store, dealt with the translation and, much to my relief, got me a temporary fix that will get me through the next few days. So how does this translate into marginal gain? Well next time I’m booking a hotel, this very positive experience of the Crowne Plaza will stay with me and make me more likely to book with them. Marginal gain works in aggregate – taking care of small stuff really does add up and make a difference.

Good job Cowne Plaza Shangai Xiayang Lake!

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What’s in a name?

Here is England the new royal baby has just been named - Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. For Archie it’s less important, but for most of us our name gives all sorts of clues as to who we are, where we came from, our gender, our age, etc. The same’s true with product naming. What we call our product, service or business can have significant impact on its success and position (Think Easyjet and you have a business name that can’t be exclusive and high-end). Then there are local language issues (Think Mitsubishi Pajero in South America), search engine optimisation problems, (call it so...

Here is England the new royal baby has just been named - Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. For Archie it’s less important, but for most of us our name gives all sorts of clues as to who we are, where we came from, our gender, our age, etc. The same’s true with product naming. What we call our product, service or business can have significant impact on its success and position (Think Easyjet and you have a business name that can’t be exclusive and high-end). Then there are local language issues (Think Mitsubishi Pajero in South America), search engine optimisation problems, (call it something so common it will be on page 5 of the search results or so complex and no-one will be able to spell it), etc. Here’s our checklist of things to think about when you name a product

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Customer Research

Making sense of customer research

So you’re conducting some customer research in the b2b world, trying to figure out if that new product idea is something your customers will buy and use. But how can you tell? You present your slide deck and they seem positive – but does that mean they will buy? This is a typical product management issue – trying to interpret customer reaction and turn it in to a revenue forecast. Here’s a simple tip. When you present your new idea hold three pieces of information back:

1. The price
2. The delivery date
3. Some integration details

Customers ...

Making sense of customer research

So you’re conducting some customer research in the b2b world, trying to figure out if that new product idea is something your customers will buy and use. But how can you tell? You present your slide deck and they seem positive – but does that mean they will buy? This is a typical product management issue – trying to interpret customer reaction and turn it in to a revenue forecast. Here’s a simple tip. When you present your new idea hold three pieces of information back:

1. The price
2. The delivery date
3. Some integration details

Customers with real interest will ask questions like “When can I have it?”, “How much is it?” or “Will it work with our back office processes?”. Customers who don’t ask are probably not interested.

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Building a business case

Building the business case is like doing a maths exam

“Build a business case”. A request many product managers hear when looking for funding for a new product or enhancement. But what do we mean by business case? Many take it to be some financials – a set of numbers to validate that by spending X we’ll gain Y (and hopefully Y is bigger than X!). But the financials are really just the business case summary. The rest of the document tells the full story – why we should build, what our market looks like, etc. It builds the narrative that makes the numbers believable. Think of it like...

Building the business case is like doing a maths exam

“Build a business case”. A request many product managers hear when looking for funding for a new product or enhancement. But what do we mean by business case? Many take it to be some financials – a set of numbers to validate that by spending X we’ll gain Y (and hopefully Y is bigger than X!). But the financials are really just the business case summary. The rest of the document tells the full story – why we should build, what our market looks like, etc. It builds the narrative that makes the numbers believable. Think of it like that maths exam you did at school, 1 point for the answer and 9 points for the method that got you there.

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Four Tips

Four tips for building outstanding Value Propositions

Building a really compelling value proposition is central to great Product Management – a great product needs great messaging to thrive in a market.

So how do we do it? The start point is to use a framework like the one in the image below, complete it, and then review it with these four simple rules:

1. Does it clearly identify a targetable market?
Know who you’re aiming at

2. Does it define a real and substantial need in that market?
Fix a problem they want you to fix

3. Is there clarity in the proposition and the valu...

Four tips for building outstanding Value Propositions

Building a really compelling value proposition is central to great Product Management – a great product needs great messaging to thrive in a market.

So how do we do it? The start point is to use a framework like the one in the image below, complete it, and then review it with these four simple rules:

1. Does it clearly identify a targetable market?
Know who you’re aiming at

2. Does it define a real and substantial need in that market?
Fix a problem they want you to fix

3. Is there clarity in the proposition and the value it delivers?
The market needs to understand what you’re trying to sell to them and why

4. Is there a defensible point of difference?
The market need to know why they should choose your product.

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Competitive landscapes

Here’s a neat tool to help Product Managers assess their competitive landscape . Based on the fact that customers buy or use products for a set of reasons, it takes value proposition thinking and gives more depth and detail. Here’s how to use it:

1. Define a set of factors that drive use and adoption of your product or service. For example, what a guest books a hotel room they will consider price, but they’ll also think about location, facilities, rating, etc

2. Prioritise these factors from most to least important from the customer perspective

3. Plot your product in terms of e...

Here’s a neat tool to help Product Managers assess their competitive landscape . Based on the fact that customers buy or use products for a set of reasons, it takes value proposition thinking and gives more depth and detail. Here’s how to use it:

1. Define a set of factors that drive use and adoption of your product or service. For example, what a guest books a hotel room they will consider price, but they’ll also think about location, facilities, rating, etc

2. Prioritise these factors from most to least important from the customer perspective

3. Plot your product in terms of execution – score high if you deliver really well on a factor, low is you execute poorly

4. Plot your competitors on the same graph

You can then think about action – where to invest or where to promote so that you optimise the value you deliver.

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Beating commoditization

Many Product Managers struggle with a ‘me too’– they believe that their product has no discernible point of difference, so price is the only point they can win on. It’s true that commonization at a feature level is a fact of life for some teams, but that does not mean price is the only difference left. Think about your own purchasing experience – product is important, but so is service, brand, availability, etc. The point is, people buy and use products for a range of factors and Product Managers should try and find points of difference across that range. Here’s our tip, step thr...

Many Product Managers struggle with a ‘me too’– they believe that their product has no discernible point of difference, so price is the only point they can win on. It’s true that commonization at a feature level is a fact of life for some teams, but that does not mean price is the only difference left. Think about your own purchasing experience – product is important, but so is service, brand, availability, etc. The point is, people buy and use products for a range of factors and Product Managers should try and find points of difference across that range. Here’s our tip, step through the 7 P’s of marketing and for each one try and identify a USP – you might find that your commoditized product is in fact a proposition with clear points of difference when you look though this lens.

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Minimal Viable Product

We’re all familiar with the Minimal Viable Product concept. Granted, it gets misused, but the idea of finding a point of initial traction with a product and iterating from there is attractive. So how does this work with things like platform upgrades? It’s a common issue; development have spent months building a new platform, it promises great things in the future, but currently it does not have every single feature of the outgoing product. When sales try and sell it they hit many brick walls. The key problem is that lifecyle management is missed – the team try and promote their new solut...

We’re all familiar with the Minimal Viable Product concept. Granted, it gets misused, but the idea of finding a point of initial traction with a product and iterating from there is attractive. So how does this work with things like platform upgrades? It’s a common issue; development have spent months building a new platform, it promises great things in the future, but currently it does not have every single feature of the outgoing product. When sales try and sell it they hit many brick walls. The key problem is that lifecyle management is missed – the team try and promote their new solution to every customer when in truth only a small number of innovators will be willing to move. The trick is to find those who benefit most from the upgrade and use them as a reference to the rest of the market. For example, if you’ve moved from enterprise to cloud, your innovators are likely to have more issues around on-premise hardware – use that to open the door, build references and cross the chasm. Think of it as a steady transition through the adoption curve rather than a big bang and you’ll be closer to reality.

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Growth – Who’s job is it?

Growth is something we are all familiar with. But are we fully aware of where the responsibility of growth lies?

We all get set our own targets to hit, but growth is more than just a target. Being able to produce the capability of growth, and with that – large scale growth, is a different thing entirely. Growth has become a fundamental of the product itself and therefore a lot of the responsibility lies with the product manager.

So, where does growth start? First, it’s important to note that as a product manager, growth starts with the vision - How big are you looking at the opport...

Growth is something we are all familiar with. But are we fully aware of where the responsibility of growth lies?

We all get set our own targets to hit, but growth is more than just a target. Being able to produce the capability of growth, and with that – large scale growth, is a different thing entirely. Growth has become a fundamental of the product itself and therefore a lot of the responsibility lies with the product manager.

So, where does growth start? First, it’s important to note that as a product manager, growth starts with the vision - How big are you looking at the opportunity you’ve identified? You will not be able to influence growth if you aren’t planning for growth.

Planning growth cannot happen if you, as a product manager, don’t have a deep understanding of your product! With a clear and deep understanding of your product, it is possible to coherently communicate concise points of value to the customer.

Ultimately, the goal is to manage the communication of the product so that target customers move to a point of curiosity and interest as quickly as possible… within seconds of seeing your product!

As product managers, we are pulling on the strings of influence as oppose to directing this process first hand!

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Are Apple Pro?

Apple are very good at using marginal gains each product release to maintain a point of difference over the competitor. Once you include Apple ID, iTunes, Apple music and iCloud, it becomes a whole infrastructure that surrounds their products. A slightly different approach to retaining a customer base.

Apple becomes part of your lifestyle, which makes it more difficult to change over to a different brand later on. Being aware of this helps us to realise that each product release has become more iterative as appose to innovative, in recent years. In fact, some changes caused more pain for th...

Apple are very good at using marginal gains each product release to maintain a point of difference over the competitor. Once you include Apple ID, iTunes, Apple music and iCloud, it becomes a whole infrastructure that surrounds their products. A slightly different approach to retaining a customer base.

Apple becomes part of your lifestyle, which makes it more difficult to change over to a different brand later on. Being aware of this helps us to realise that each product release has become more iterative as appose to innovative, in recent years. In fact, some changes caused more pain for the consumer than good. Take the headphone jack, or lack off, as an example.

This wasn’t always the case for Apple – Their Pro systems and phones were innovations that changed workflow for photo, video and music editing, amongst plenty more professional application that required a lot of computing power!

From a customer perspective you might be scared off to other brands when considering the cost of being an Apple user today. This may explain how Samsung and Huawei are selling more smart phones than Apple, by a considerable margin.

But Apple are getting something right, even with a lack of market share they are pulling in dominant revenue figures!

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Testing Process

Samsung have some serious work to do to fix ‘foldgate’ – the new foldable handset that seems remarkably easy to break in the hands of the media who have versions ahead of release date.

The launch has been delayed, but some warm words from Samsung won’t fix this – would you put $2000 of your money into one when Samsung says “we’ve fixed the issue” in a few weeks time? Thought not. A sceptical market will need many proof points before they’ll be willing to spend. And the impact will be felt outside Samsung. They were in a race to beat Motorola, Huawei and others with a fol...

Samsung have some serious work to do to fix ‘foldgate’ – the new foldable handset that seems remarkably easy to break in the hands of the media who have versions ahead of release date.

The launch has been delayed, but some warm words from Samsung won’t fix this – would you put $2000 of your money into one when Samsung says “we’ve fixed the issue” in a few weeks time? Thought not. A sceptical market will need many proof points before they’ll be willing to spend. And the impact will be felt outside Samsung. They were in a race to beat Motorola, Huawei and others with a foldable device. Samsung have made the chasm bigger for everyone to cross.

The one Product Management lesson I take from this is the testing process. Samsung proudly released videos of the fold being stress tested by robots. The problem is this; robots are not people, and people treat your product in ways you didn’t expect. I would always recommend the use of external test labs where people who don’t live and breathe your product get to show you how it works in the real world.

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Presenting to your peers Pt.2

4. Start Strongly you have 3 minutes to impress
The first three minutes, as when you first meet someone, is so important to a presentation. Make eye contact and smile, make sure the first 3 minutes of the presentation holds the stakeholder’s attention. Make them laugh!
Think of a story that is relevant at the start of the presentation which will hold the audience

5. Don’t use the presentation as a script
Don’t bore the audience with ‘Death by PowerPoint’. By all means use the presentation as a reminder but do this in as fewer words as possible and use images if you can.
You...

4. Start Strongly you have 3 minutes to impress
The first three minutes, as when you first meet someone, is so important to a presentation. Make eye contact and smile, make sure the first 3 minutes of the presentation holds the stakeholder’s attention. Make them laugh!
Think of a story that is relevant at the start of the presentation which will hold the audience

5. Don’t use the presentation as a script
Don’t bore the audience with ‘Death by PowerPoint’. By all means use the presentation as a reminder but do this in as fewer words as possible and use images if you can.
You want your stakeholders to listen to you, not be deciphering what the slides are saying

6. Tell stories
The best presenters are raconteurs, who can tell a story about the subject and keep an audience’s attention. We all relate to stories, we also remember things better through stories.
Make your story funny and about you

7. Relax and enjoy
Many people find it hard to relax and enjoy a presentation, but your body language and the speed you speak will have a major effect on the stakeholder’s perception, if you know your subject and if you can get a message across. Breath, and slow your delivery of the presentation down.
Remember you know more about your solution than they do.

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Presenting to your peers Pt.1

The ability to communicate well is an important skill for any Product Manager. This means, among other things, that you should be able to present about your solution fluently and to different stakeholders, who will require different levels of information.

A persuasive presentation not only requires thorough preparation of content, but also good style. For this purpose, here are some tips to offer guidance and help you on the way to delivering a memorable presentation.

1. Show your Passion and Connect with your Audience

But time and again, the great presenters say that the most importa...

The ability to communicate well is an important skill for any Product Manager. This means, among other things, that you should be able to present about your solution fluently and to different stakeholders, who will require different levels of information.

A persuasive presentation not only requires thorough preparation of content, but also good style. For this purpose, here are some tips to offer guidance and help you on the way to delivering a memorable presentation.

1. Show your Passion and Connect with your Audience

But time and again, the great presenters say that the most important thing is to connect with your audience, and the best way to do this is to let passion for your solution shine through.

Be enthusiastic and honest, and the audience will respond.

2. Focus on your Stakeholders Needs

As you prepare the presentation, you always need to bear in mind what your stakeholders need and what they want to know, not what you can tell them.

Don’t show your homework, just because it makes you feel good

3. Keep it Simple: Concentrate on your Core Message

You should be able to communicate that key message very succinctly.

Always have in mind what are the core three points I want to get across?

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Strategy

Beating the competition with Strategy

Strategy is at the core of delivering a solution effectively. For Product Mangers, it is absolutely vital that they become acquainted with strategic thinking in order to plan for the future and always be that one step ahead of the competition.

Strategy can come into play in many areas.

- How have you set your team up?

- What methods are in place to communicate with transparency?

- What does the future of your product look like?

- How do you plan to attain your product vision?

All of these points relate to strategic thinking and could b...

Beating the competition with Strategy

Strategy is at the core of delivering a solution effectively. For Product Mangers, it is absolutely vital that they become acquainted with strategic thinking in order to plan for the future and always be that one step ahead of the competition.

Strategy can come into play in many areas.

- How have you set your team up?

- What methods are in place to communicate with transparency?

- What does the future of your product look like?

- How do you plan to attain your product vision?

All of these points relate to strategic thinking and could be the difference between 1st and 2nd place.

For example - Take the Formula 1 season so far, three races in and Mercedes have done what was only last done by the Williams team in 1992. Starting the season with 3 back-to-back 1-2 finishes. Dominating the points table.

BUT!

They haven't been as dominant as the points might suggest, with the Ferrari pace causing them issues. So, how have they got themselves into such a strong position so early on?

Strategy!

In practice, in qualifying and in race. They have executed strategy throughout the entire team so coherently and effectively that, so far, they haven't made a mistake and capitalised on other’s issues!

It pays to be ahead with strategy!

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Part 2

Getting Product culture right in your organisation Part 2.

The Product Manager is the person responsible for defining the Why? When and What? of the product that the engineering team builds. It is an important organisational role that:

- Sets the vision and strategy for the business solutions

- Communicates the roadmap

- Defines the feature definition for a product or product line.

- The position may also include marketing, forecasting, and profit and loss (P&L) responsibilities. In many ways, the role of a Product Manager is similar in concept to being a CEO of a solution.

...

Getting Product culture right in your organisation Part 2.

The Product Manager is the person responsible for defining the Why? When and What? of the product that the engineering team builds. It is an important organisational role that:

- Sets the vision and strategy for the business solutions

- Communicates the roadmap

- Defines the feature definition for a product or product line.

- The position may also include marketing, forecasting, and profit and loss (P&L) responsibilities. In many ways, the role of a Product Manager is similar in concept to being a CEO of a solution.

Product Managers provide the deep product expertise needed to lead the organisation and make strategic product decisions. They analyse market and competitive conditions, laying out a product vision that is differentiated and delivers unique value based on customer needs. The role spans many activities from strategic to tactical and provides important cross-functional leadership most notably between engineering, marketing, sales, and support teams.

The help in transparent cross-team communication means that everyone in the company is working towards the same goal and product messages don’t get diluted or misrepresented, it’s this accuracy in communicating that helps drive product success!!

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Part 1

Getting product culture in your organisation part 1.

Through the many years of working with different companies, it is amazing how many people say the product sells itself. Yet the truth in many cases is:

- The solution has cost far more than it had to, because they didn’t truly understand their market needs, so compensated by building everything a customer wants.

- Had no control on costs and this means no control on profit.

- The price normally was too low, as no understanding of the competition or value.

- The product was not used to its full potential, so customers didn’...

Getting product culture in your organisation part 1.

Through the many years of working with different companies, it is amazing how many people say the product sells itself. Yet the truth in many cases is:

- The solution has cost far more than it had to, because they didn’t truly understand their market needs, so compensated by building everything a customer wants.

- Had no control on costs and this means no control on profit.

- The price normally was too low, as no understanding of the competition or value.

- The product was not used to its full potential, so customers didn’t understand the true benefit.

- The business doesn’t understand the value of the solution, so direction of where the business is going is organic, with no true vision.

If you see truth in the above then maybe your organisation isn’t quite hitting the mark in getting product culture right and therefore product management, and the organisation could benefit massively by making some small changes to this.

This is where Product Managers are able to add value to a company, driving the commercial success of a product and leading the cross functional teams to deliver a solution that meets the needs of customers and drives the greatest growth for the business.

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Importance of persona’s Part 2

The importance of persona’s Part 2

The Benefits of Persona Development

If you don’t think Personas are worth the trouble, think again. Benefits include:

· Personas give stakeholders an opportunity to discuss critical features of a redesign: Using Personas to walk stakeholders through common interactions unveils frustrations and pain-points that will help clarify actual user priorities over the stakeholder’s personal wish list.

· They help team members share a consistent understanding of the user group: Personas take data and make the stories more compelling and fun, thus ma...

The importance of persona’s Part 2

The Benefits of Persona Development

If you don’t think Personas are worth the trouble, think again. Benefits include:

· Personas give stakeholders an opportunity to discuss critical features of a redesign: Using Personas to walk stakeholders through common interactions unveils frustrations and pain-points that will help clarify actual user priorities over the stakeholder’s personal wish list.

· They help team members share a consistent understanding of the user group: Personas take data and make the stories more compelling and fun, thus making them easier to remember and consider when the team is working towards a solution – together.

· Personas help designers develop informed wireframes and site architecture: Since Personas focus on the needs of the users, the team can walk through scenarios and determine optimal placement of content to specifically support the goal of the product. This is vital to the success of a website or application and could save a lot of time, effort and money!

· Personas provide a “face” to the user story, creating more empathy and understanding about the person using
the product: This prevents designers and developers from applying their own mental models to the product design which may not align with actual user needs.

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Importance of Personas Part 1

The importance of Personas Part 1

A “Persona” is a fictional representation of an actual user and is applied in the early stages of product development or product redesign. Personas are vital to the success of a product because they drive design decisions by taking common user needs and bringing them to the forefront of planning before design has actually started. Personas provide the team with a shared understanding of users in terms of goals and capabilities.

We use a persona map to efficiently store all of the information of our personas. The canvas is split into sections – Give...

The importance of Personas Part 1

A “Persona” is a fictional representation of an actual user and is applied in the early stages of product development or product redesign. Personas are vital to the success of a product because they drive design decisions by taking common user needs and bringing them to the forefront of planning before design has actually started. Personas provide the team with a shared understanding of users in terms of goals and capabilities.

We use a persona map to efficiently store all of the information of our personas. The canvas is split into sections – Give your persona a name and fill out their background information i.e. age, occupation. Try to include as much background information as possible! Then we have to get into the minds of the persona and generate as much detail as we can about; how they think and feel, the environments they are exposed to, what they hear and what they see.

Collecting Data to Make Persona’s

Because Personas are fictional representations of actual users, they’ll only work if you fully understand who your users are – or will be. The more information you have, the better. Generally, 4-7 Personas (whittled down from several user groups) are sufficient to capture and document a majority of user requirements.

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better product communicators

Leaders of Product Management often ask how to get their team to be better product communicators - to be able to get their message across well. My response is to ask one simple question “When did you last ask the team about value propositions?”. Here are some simple tips to drive better product communications:

1. Be value proposition obsessed
Test the team regularly by getting them to present the following:
• Elevator pitch
• Five minute overview
• Product vision
• Value proposition
• Objection handling

2. Measure communications effectiveness
• E.g. does the sal...

Leaders of Product Management often ask how to get their team to be better product communicators - to be able to get their message across well. My response is to ask one simple question “When did you last ask the team about value propositions?”. Here are some simple tips to drive better product communications:

1. Be value proposition obsessed
Test the team regularly by getting them to present the following:
• Elevator pitch
• Five minute overview
• Product vision
• Value proposition
• Objection handling

2. Measure communications effectiveness
• E.g. does the sales team know the message

3. Coach on multi-channel delivery
• Face to face
• Audio
• Video
• Written

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Think more strategically

Leaders of Product Management are often concerned that their team are all tactics and no strategy. The question asked is “How do I make product managers more strategy focused”. The answer often lies with the manager – teams focus on what they’re measured, rewarded and questioned on.

So if you want your team to think more strategically here are some simple tips:

1. Set an objective for building a vision – if they have it as an objective, it’s more likely to happen

2. Talk strategy – if you only ever talk to your team about short term, urgent issues, they’ll only focus ...

Leaders of Product Management are often concerned that their team are all tactics and no strategy. The question asked is “How do I make product managers more strategy focused”. The answer often lies with the manager – teams focus on what they’re measured, rewarded and questioned on.

So if you want your team to think more strategically here are some simple tips:

1. Set an objective for building a vision – if they have it as an objective, it’s more likely to happen

2. Talk strategy – if you only ever talk to your team about short term, urgent issues, they’ll only focus on the short term.

3. Coach on urgent vs important – help them understand how to manage workload and recognise that we must take care of our products today (urgent) be we cannot forget about the future and must have an eye on where to go next (important)

4. Test strategy – a quarterly review keeps the team focused

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NFR’s

Make NFR’s one of the first things you understand?

In Systems engineering and Requirements engineering, a non-functional requirement is a requirement that specifies criteria that can be used to judge the operation of a system, rather than specific behaviours. For example: Scalability, Accessibility, Capacity. However, it should be about more than this in a SaaS world!

From an Architecture perspective, you need to get this right or you will have heavy costs fixing issues in the future. More importantly you should be setting out what your expectations of the overall customer experience l...

Make NFR’s one of the first things you understand?

In Systems engineering and Requirements engineering, a non-functional requirement is a requirement that specifies criteria that can be used to judge the operation of a system, rather than specific behaviours. For example: Scalability, Accessibility, Capacity. However, it should be about more than this in a SaaS world!

From an Architecture perspective, you need to get this right or you will have heavy costs fixing issues in the future. More importantly you should be setting out what your expectations of the overall customer experience looks like.

When thinking of your NFR’s, think about the experience you want your customers to have and draw out all these journeys, so that every area of the business is aware of their responsibility. Just some questions to ask are:

- Are we going to offer free trials? If so, how are we going to support them? What do we need from development, sales, pre-sales, marketing?

- What is the work flow for customers to purchase? Do we have Account Managers selling? Are we expecting customers to purchase from a portal?

- Are we going to do all training online? Do we have partners who need to train the software? Who across the business needs to be involved?

- How are we going to support our customers, once they are trained and on-board?

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What Makes a Good PM

How do you identify a good Product Manager?

I'm constantly asked what makes a great Product Manager. In my experience, a strong Product Manager is the CEO of their solution and gets involved in all aspects from inception to launch, and then in-life management. Due to this I am a strong believer in ‘Hire for attitude, train for skill’. If someone has the right behaviours, then you can teach them the skills to be a great product manager.

My approach to interviewing is firstly to understand their personality, so :

1) Can they fit into the team dynamic? (disruption of the ‘status qu...

How do you identify a good Product Manager?

I'm constantly asked what makes a great Product Manager. In my experience, a strong Product Manager is the CEO of their solution and gets involved in all aspects from inception to launch, and then in-life management. Due to this I am a strong believer in ‘Hire for attitude, train for skill’. If someone has the right behaviours, then you can teach them the skills to be a great product manager.

My approach to interviewing is firstly to understand their personality, so :

1) Can they fit into the team dynamic? (disruption of the ‘status quo’ to strengthen is ok as well)

2) What does their personality bring to the team that is currently missing?

3) Do I think they can work within a team, yet be focused enough to work on their own and drive the solutions that they will be managing?

4) Are they tenacious and can they prove this?

5) Have they got the right social skills to be able to work with a number of disciplines around the company?

6) Are they someone that thrives on ownership and responsibility?

An initial 1-2-1 personal interview approach allows the candidate to understand if the company is the right fit for them. They get to know my expectations and the companies.

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Product Strategy

I have worked with many CEO’s who say the trouble with strategising is they don’t see any action! People can procrastinate around strategy and in many cases, boards are reluctant to spend money, if there are any questions unanswered, or like Donald Rumsfeld said, “known unknowns”.

However, like a lot of situations in business, what is the right amount of information to make a decision? You cannot know everything at the beginning and like the rest of the product process you will continue to iterate the strategy as you have more information and realign.

A strategy lays out a plan o...

I have worked with many CEO’s who say the trouble with strategising is they don’t see any action! People can procrastinate around strategy and in many cases, boards are reluctant to spend money, if there are any questions unanswered, or like Donald Rumsfeld said, “known unknowns”.

However, like a lot of situations in business, what is the right amount of information to make a decision? You cannot know everything at the beginning and like the rest of the product process you will continue to iterate the strategy as you have more information and realign.

A strategy lays out a plan on how that goal will be achieved. Without a product strategy, product execution is often haphazard, moving from one crisis to the next or from one deal to the next, as you will be redirected by the different priorities of your internal stakeholders.

If you do not own the strategy, communicate it and get buy-in from all your stakeholders, everyone else will set a strategy in their heads and start to communicate it, it will become hard to own the direction of your solution(s). This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be listening to all stakeholders, but you need to own the strategy and direction of your solution.

Remember you are the CEO of your Products!

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Usage Analytics

Why do people forget usage analytics?

According to McKinsey, if a software company grows at only 20%, it has a 92% chance of ceasing to exist within a few years.

This means that software companies - particularly SaaS companies - must look at every advantage possible to stay alive in an ever-competitive market, remember it is the small margins that can be the deciding factor as to how successful you are.

Customer analytics can be just one way that gives you that competitive edge. Whether it is measuring retention, product usage, or on-boarding, SaaS businesses must have comprehensive d...

Why do people forget usage analytics?

According to McKinsey, if a software company grows at only 20%, it has a 92% chance of ceasing to exist within a few years.

This means that software companies - particularly SaaS companies - must look at every advantage possible to stay alive in an ever-competitive market, remember it is the small margins that can be the deciding factor as to how successful you are.

Customer analytics can be just one way that gives you that competitive edge. Whether it is measuring retention, product usage, or on-boarding, SaaS businesses must have comprehensive data collection and usage analytics, thus enabling them to make agile decisions as to the priorities and direction of their overall solution.

When starting a project, make sure that usage analytics are part of the initial NFR’s think about, what information do you want to understand and act upon. Ask your stakeholders what information would they find useful to support their business area and so they can offer the best service they possibly can. Ensure the Architect and development lead build in these analytics from the beginning, as you want the feedback at every opportunity.

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Maintaining a business case

How many of us build out a business case to get our product funded and then simply forget it? It worth remembering that the business case changes as conditions change; customers, markets, competition, risks, numbers, etc all can change. To build the business case once and then forget it is to neglect this fundamental of change. And if we build the business case and forget it, we’re building a product for historical market conditions – what our markets used to look like.

Simple product management tip – make a habit of reviewing your business case and updating it – 15 minutes per wee...

How many of us build out a business case to get our product funded and then simply forget it? It worth remembering that the business case changes as conditions change; customers, markets, competition, risks, numbers, etc all can change. To build the business case once and then forget it is to neglect this fundamental of change. And if we build the business case and forget it, we’re building a product for historical market conditions – what our markets used to look like.

Simple product management tip – make a habit of reviewing your business case and updating it – 15 minutes per week where you record any new information that you’ve uncovered over the last 7 days so you always have an up-to-date record.

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marginal improvement program

I’m working with a team who have a 5% market share and falling vs a competitor at 35%. Simple question – what should they do?. To answer this Product Managers first need to establish how competitive their product offer is. It’s very easy to think the competition is too far ahead by looking simply at market share, but that’s not always the full picture – it could be that the competitor is marginally better, and that marginal advantage turns into market dominance (i.e. most customers choose the competitor because it’s ever so slightly better). So before throwing your product away and...

I’m working with a team who have a 5% market share and falling vs a competitor at 35%. Simple question – what should they do?. To answer this Product Managers first need to establish how competitive their product offer is. It’s very easy to think the competition is too far ahead by looking simply at market share, but that’s not always the full picture – it could be that the competitor is marginally better, and that marginal advantage turns into market dominance (i.e. most customers choose the competitor because it’s ever so slightly better). So before throwing your product away and starting again, think about a marginal improvement program.

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Do Product Management have power

A question that comes up frequently on the basis that we often have significant responsibility for our product. So, don’t we need enough authority to execute our responsibilities? The short answer is no - product management is a role of influence rather than direct control. We influence leadership teams to invest in products, right the way through to influencing sales teams to focus on our product. So how do we gain influence? Through evidence - coherent and compelling market research. Want to secure that 7 figure investment from your leadership team? Compelling evidence is what it takes. Re...

A question that comes up frequently on the basis that we often have significant responsibility for our product. So, don’t we need enough authority to execute our responsibilities? The short answer is no - product management is a role of influence rather than direct control. We influence leadership teams to invest in products, right the way through to influencing sales teams to focus on our product. So how do we gain influence? Through evidence - coherent and compelling market research. Want to secure that 7 figure investment from your leadership team? Compelling evidence is what it takes. Remember, no one is really interested in the opinion of the product management team, they’re interested in the evidence you bring from the markets you serve.

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Pricing is a strategy

Pricing is a strategy, not just a number Too many product teams treat pricing as an afterthought - they come up with a number some time near launch when asked “how much is it?”. Pricing should be something we start thinking about at ideation and build a strategy for through to launch. Think of products such as the HP inkjet - it’s priced using a penetration and premium model (printers are low price to penetrate the market, ink is high price to generate profit). This pricing model directs design decisions (e.g. make printers with different ink cartridge design to protect the market from ...

Pricing is a strategy, not just a number Too many product teams treat pricing as an afterthought - they come up with a number some time near launch when asked “how much is it?”. Pricing should be something we start thinking about at ideation and build a strategy for through to launch. Think of products such as the HP inkjet - it’s priced using a penetration and premium model (printers are low price to penetrate the market, ink is high price to generate profit). This pricing model directs design decisions (e.g. make printers with different ink cartridge design to protect the market from a third party ink manufacturers). It’s clearly thought about way in advance. And it’s not an isolated case - think of google with a free to use search engine and the ad words business. Don’t think of a number just before launch!

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Building the product funnel

Sales team often think of sales pipeline – a tool that enables them to describe where customers are in the sales process from initial contact through to closed. It helps the sales manager build a robust forecast, track progress within the sales team and give an early indicator of issues – no new leads in the pipeline won’t affect this quarter but will impact the next. Product managers can adopt this technique too – building a product funnel that helps them visualise how their product is tracking. Think of building a suite of metrics that don’t just measure success (e.g. revenue, prof...

Sales team often think of sales pipeline – a tool that enables them to describe where customers are in the sales process from initial contact through to closed. It helps the sales manager build a robust forecast, track progress within the sales team and give an early indicator of issues – no new leads in the pipeline won’t affect this quarter but will impact the next. Product managers can adopt this technique too – building a product funnel that helps them visualise how their product is tracking. Think of building a suite of metrics that don’t just measure success (e.g. revenue, profit), but also lead metrics that show we’re heading in the right direction (e.g. Lighthouse customer reference, product launch date, customer feedback, etc). This gives confidence that your tracking to plan.

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Why is growth so important?

We all want our business to grow, but how important is it? Growth is much more than a nice-to-have. It’s a fundamental for success; competition is a daily reality and without growth, you are offering opportunities for others to establish in your markets. Think of it like this, over 20,000 tech businesses were registered across Europe last year alone. That’s 20,000 more reasons to grow before they start to take a share of your business. Growing isn’t about greed, it’s about survival.

We all want our business to grow, but how important is it? Growth is much more than a nice-to-have. It’s a fundamental for success; competition is a daily reality and without growth, you are offering opportunities for others to establish in your markets. Think of it like this, over 20,000 tech businesses were registered across Europe last year alone. That’s 20,000 more reasons to grow before they start to take a share of your business. Growing isn’t about greed, it’s about survival.

Building trust in a brand

A team I was working with earlier this week have a goal of being “The trusted brand” in their sector and they were looking at how to make that happen. This is one of those topics with no shortcut - building brand trust takes time. My example; having just stepped off flight number 18 of the year so far the one constant travel companion over the last 20 years has been #samsonite. The picture below shows my current selection that has been beaten and battered through more airport terminals than I care to remember. They never let me down. Building brand trust isn’t about getting it right onc...

A team I was working with earlier this week have a goal of being “The trusted brand” in their sector and they were looking at how to make that happen. This is one of those topics with no shortcut - building brand trust takes time. My example; having just stepped off flight number 18 of the year so far the one constant travel companion over the last 20 years has been #samsonite. The picture below shows my current selection that has been beaten and battered through more airport terminals than I care to remember. They never let me down. Building brand trust isn’t about getting it right once, it’s repeatedly delivering. So every time you release a product ask the question “does this live up to our brand goals”, and trust will eventually follow.

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Life-cycle

You can’t size a product opportunity without knowing about Life-cycle

A recurring theme in my world is a frustration in many organisations about their inability to forecast. It’s pretty obvious why we need to do this – if you can’t scale an opportunity then you can’t right-size the organisation. But I constantly meet teams where the forecast is orders of magnitude wrong. Fundamental to this is lack of understanding life-cycle – a model that describes how a market turns on and off over time as different types of users buy in to your product. The main point being that a market is ...

You can’t size a product opportunity without knowing about Life-cycle

A recurring theme in my world is a frustration in many organisations about their inability to forecast. It’s pretty obvious why we need to do this – if you can’t scale an opportunity then you can’t right-size the organisation. But I constantly meet teams where the forecast is orders of magnitude wrong. Fundamental to this is lack of understanding life-cycle – a model that describes how a market turns on and off over time as different types of users buy in to your product. The main point being that a market is not available on one day – some customers buy in early, some much later. Think of this as an adoption model and when you’re trying to build a revenue forecast your Total Addressable Market is limited to that stage of life-cycle your product is in. For example, a $100M market won’t be bigger than $5M in the introductory phase until some lighthouse customers have bought in.

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Five of five – Drive

Over the week we’re going to step through the Product Management process. We call this our 5D process; Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver & Drive.

Process Is vital for successful Product Management – it ensures we build the right products at the right price point in the right time time frame, communicated well to the right customers.

So, let’s continue with Drive – Build on your success

Getting a product successfully out to market is a huge success. Great job! But, let’s not forget that on launch day you’re likely to have spent huge amounts on developing your product. Now i...

Over the week we’re going to step through the Product Management process. We call this our 5D process; Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver & Drive.

Process Is vital for successful Product Management – it ensures we build the right products at the right price point in the right time time frame, communicated well to the right customers.

So, let’s continue with Drive – Build on your success

Getting a product successfully out to market is a huge success. Great job! But, let’s not forget that on launch day you’re likely to have spent huge amounts on developing your product. Now it’s time to see a return on that investment. Throughout the drive phase, Product Managers use a marginal gain model – identifying small improvements to all aspects of their product that will make them more competitive for longer. They use win/loss analysis, competitor and customer insight, trend data, etc to continuously improve because they recognise that their markets are not static. Using this model they maximise the benefit of their solution to customers, maximise the return to their business and lengthen the lifecyle of their product before taking it through a planned replacement and withdrawal process.

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Four of five - Deliver

Over the week we’re going to step through the Product Management process. We call this our 5D process; Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver & Drive.

Process Is vital for successful Product Management – it ensures we build the right products at the right price point in the right time timeframe, communicated well to the right customers.

So, let’s continue with Deliver – launch with momentum

Building a great product is only part-way to success– great technology needs great messaging, marketing and planning to turn it into a world class solution. Product Managers work with marketin...

Over the week we’re going to step through the Product Management process. We call this our 5D process; Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver & Drive.

Process Is vital for successful Product Management – it ensures we build the right products at the right price point in the right time timeframe, communicated well to the right customers.

So, let’s continue with Deliver – launch with momentum

Building a great product is only part-way to success– great technology needs great messaging, marketing and planning to turn it into a world class solution. Product Managers work with marketing teams to ensure the value of the product is clearly articulated by producing winning value propositions for target personas, launch planning and creating campaigns. They also work with delivery teams to ensure an effective launch - making sure elements such as naming, pricing, or support don’t get forgotten in the rush to market.

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Three of five - Define

Over the week we’re going to step through the Product Management process. We call this our 5D process; Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver & Drive.

Process Is vital for successful Product Management – it ensures we build the right products at the right price point in the right time timeframe, communicated well to the right customers.

So, let’s continue with Define – translating the best opportunities into business cases and user stories.

The next step is to do a deep dive – clearly understand the market need, translate it for our development and delivery teams, and build out a...

Over the week we’re going to step through the Product Management process. We call this our 5D process; Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver & Drive.

Process Is vital for successful Product Management – it ensures we build the right products at the right price point in the right time timeframe, communicated well to the right customers.

So, let’s continue with Define – translating the best opportunities into business cases and user stories.

The next step is to do a deep dive – clearly understand the market need, translate it for our development and delivery teams, and build out a robust plan. . To do this, Product Managers construct a business case. This provides justification for undertaking the project by demonstrating the value delivered versus the cost and risk involved. It focuses on validating a set of core questions that drive the business case. As part of this process, we start to build out requirements - Personas, user journeys and high-level user stories that translate customer needs into the language that development and build teams use that we prioritise and track through to product launch. All of this work is driven by deep dive market research

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Two of five - Discover

Over the week we’re going to step through the Product Management process. We call this our 5D process; Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver & Drive.

Process Is vital for successful Product Management – it ensures we build the right products at the right price point in the right time time frame, communicated well to the right customers.

So, let’s continue with Discover – assessing new ideas

Into the product management world comes with huge numbers of ideas. These ideas range in scope and type; new products, new markets, enhancements, pricing initiatives…. the list is endless. Al...

Over the week we’re going to step through the Product Management process. We call this our 5D process; Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver & Drive.

Process Is vital for successful Product Management – it ensures we build the right products at the right price point in the right time time frame, communicated well to the right customers.

So, let’s continue with Discover – assessing new ideas

Into the product management world comes with huge numbers of ideas. These ideas range in scope and type; new products, new markets, enhancements, pricing initiatives…. the list is endless. All ideas are welcome, but not all should be delivered. Some just don’t make sense; they might not deliver benefit or fit with vision, or perhaps they overlap with our existing products. As for the rest, we prioritise them based on how well they serve our customers and how they fit with our plans.

We use our one-page innovation canvas to structure this process; 10 questions that help us uncover winning ideas and prioritise those that remain. The key is quick feedback; delivering bad news is always best done quickly so we let idea originators know how we’ve prioritised their idea before their expectation & anticipation builds.

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One of five - Direct

Over the week we’re going to step through the Product Management process. We call this our 5D process; Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver & Drive.e of five - Direct

Process Is vital for successful Product Management – it ensures we build the right products at the right price point in the right time timeframe, communicated well to the right customers.

So, let’s start with Direct – setting the product vision.

Imagine stepping on a plane and the Captain announces “Not sure where we’re going today, we’ll just take off and fly and see where we end up”. Pretty unnerving, but ...

Over the week we’re going to step through the Product Management process. We call this our 5D process; Direct, Discover, Define, Deliver & Drive.e of five - Direct

Process Is vital for successful Product Management – it ensures we build the right products at the right price point in the right time timeframe, communicated well to the right customers.

So, let’s start with Direct – setting the product vision.

Imagine stepping on a plane and the Captain announces “Not sure where we’re going today, we’ll just take off and fly and see where we end up”. Pretty unnerving, but this is how many product managers captain their product – no sense of final destination.

Having a product vision underpins our work. Without one we run the risk of being directionless; busy with work but doing nothing to move our product towards a grand vision. Essentially we go around in circles.

To address this Product Managers set a clear and coherent direction for their product. Building a 360-degree view of the landscape - markets, competition, current offers, mega trends and business goals - and then defining a product vision to drive the desired result.

You wouldn’t set out on a flight with a plan. Don’t set out on a product journey with a vision.

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Building a tech business

Stephen Allott shared his thoughts about building a tech business at the PMC launch this week. Stephen has an incredible track record in the tech sector and has built a business to a $7Bn market capitalisation.

1. Hire the best
He talked through some of his hiring at Micromuse, for him one of the magic ingredients for success was an insistence on hiring the best. Not ‘good enough’ and not a body to fill a hole in an org chart, but world-class individuals.

2. Dream big and clearly
His view was to step five years into the future and imagine your perfect scenario. Not an ambiguous dr...

Stephen Allott shared his thoughts about building a tech business at the PMC launch this week. Stephen has an incredible track record in the tech sector and has built a business to a $7Bn market capitalisation.

1. Hire the best
He talked through some of his hiring at Micromuse, for him one of the magic ingredients for success was an insistence on hiring the best. Not ‘good enough’ and not a body to fill a hole in an org chart, but world-class individuals.

2. Dream big and clearly
His view was to step five years into the future and imagine your perfect scenario. Not an ambiguous dream like “we want to be big”, but the detail of what you will achieve. Then track it back to today and plan a path to it.

3. Embrace the difficult journey
The clearest point was this. He talked of times where Micromuse was days from running out of cash, of key people setting up in opposition, of difficult legal wrangles with early deals. The point was simple; the journey is difficult and to grow a tech business you’ve got to be ready to take the blows and stand back up every time. Problems happen, don’t let them kill your dream.
Inspirational points from a great leader who's been there and done it more often and more successfully than anyone I know

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Building a tech business

Stephen Allott shared his thoughts about building a tech business at the PMC launch this week. Stephen has an incredible track record in the tech sector and has built a business to a $7Bn market capitalisation.

1. Hire the best
He talked through some of his hiring at Micromuse, for him one of the magic ingredients for success was an insistence on hiring the best. Not ‘good enough’ and not a body to fill a hole in an org chart, but world-class individuals.

2. Dream big and clearly
His view was to step five years into the future and imagine your perfect scenario. Not an ambiguous dr...

Stephen Allott shared his thoughts about building a tech business at the PMC launch this week. Stephen has an incredible track record in the tech sector and has built a business to a $7Bn market capitalisation.

1. Hire the best
He talked through some of his hiring at Micromuse, for him one of the magic ingredients for success was an insistence on hiring the best. Not ‘good enough’ and not a body to fill a hole in an org chart, but world-class individuals.

2. Dream big and clearly
His view was to step five years into the future and imagine your perfect scenario. Not an ambiguous dream like “we want to be big”, but the detail of what you will achieve. Then track it back to today and plan a path to it.

3. Embrace the difficult journey
The clearest point was this. He talked of times where Micromuse was days from running out of cash, of key people setting up in opposition, of difficult legal wrangles with early deals. The point was simple; the journey is difficult and to grow a tech business you’ve got to be ready to take the blows and stand back up every time. Problems happen, don’t let them kill your dream.

Inspirational points from a great leader who's been there and done it more often and more successfully than anyone I know

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Learning on demand

“Knowledge is power” goes the old adage.

Most Product Managers I meet have an appetite to learn – we’re an intellectually inquisitive bunch! But as a product management trainer I have this dilemma; we immerse teams in the whole Product management process from ideation through to retirement in the sure knowledge that most of the team won’t use most of the learning in the next few months. They’ll focus on the topics that directly impact their immediate work and forget the rest. It’s a completely rational response, but it highlights a real issue; learning and work are out of sync...

“Knowledge is power” goes the old adage.

Most Product Managers I meet have an appetite to learn – we’re an intellectually inquisitive bunch! But as a product management trainer I have this dilemma; we immerse teams in the whole Product management process from ideation through to retirement in the sure knowledge that most of the team won’t use most of the learning in the next few months. They’ll focus on the topics that directly impact their immediate work and forget the rest. It’s a completely rational response, but it highlights a real issue; learning and work are out of sync.

So how can we address this?
Our response is Product Management Central – Our online platform that breaks product management work down into a set of skills that you can learn at your own pace through videos, papers, webinars and blogs, and at a time that suits you. Learn what you need to learn, when you need to learn it. Lets adapt the original quote to 21st century product management “Knowledge is power, but gaining knowledge at the right time makes it more useful”

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Don’t overload you presentation

I’ve just sat through presentation torture – a product manager with slides full of 10 point font! It was an hour of staring at the back of a the persons head as they read their own slides. I understand why this happens - nervousness. They think “I’ll never remember everything I need to say so I’ll write in it the deck as support”. But the problem when they present is that either the audience just read the slides or the presenter reads for them - both are pretty dull and completely unengaging.

Remember, slide decks are a presentation aid, they do not tell the full story and proba...

I’ve just sat through presentation torture – a product manager with slides full of 10 point font! It was an hour of staring at the back of a the persons head as they read their own slides. I understand why this happens - nervousness. They think “I’ll never remember everything I need to say so I’ll write in it the deck as support”. But the problem when they present is that either the audience just read the slides or the presenter reads for them - both are pretty dull and completely unengaging.

Remember, slide decks are a presentation aid, they do not tell the full story and probably make little sense without the presenter. So use them as an aid – three or four big statements per slide that gives your presentation structure and direction.

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Marginal Gain

How can we as Product Managers use marginal gain to ensure we always stay ahead of our competitors ?

First gaining prominence with Sir Dave Brailsford, Performance Director for Team Sky, the UK’s professional cycling team, he pushed the team to search for the 1% in hundreds of tiny areas that were overlooked by their competitors: they looked at more obscure areas such as taking their favourite pillows on tour to get the best night’s sleep and teaching riders how to wash their hands to avoid illness and time off training. They were relentless in their pursuit of marginal gains and it pai...

How can we as Product Managers use marginal gain to ensure we always stay ahead of our competitors ?

First gaining prominence with Sir Dave Brailsford, Performance Director for Team Sky, the UK’s professional cycling team, he pushed the team to search for the 1% in hundreds of tiny areas that were overlooked by their competitors: they looked at more obscure areas such as taking their favourite pillows on tour to get the best night’s sleep and teaching riders how to wash their hands to avoid illness and time off training. They were relentless in their pursuit of marginal gains and it paid off.

What can we learn from this? Lots of small gains that in isolation mean nothing can add up to remarkable aggregate improvements over time. Think of apple and blackberry handsets – a product that is marginally better across the piece translates into a hugely dominant market performance.

Marginal gains in your product can mean the difference between success and failure, because when product deals are won, it can be on the smallest of margins.

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Getting to ‘no’

Sales teams often talk about ‘getting to yes’, but for Product Managers I’d argue that getting to ‘no’ is just as important when managing new ideas. In fact, getting to ‘no’ quickly and cleanly is a really useful skill. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen products blown off course by deals being won that created more distraction than dollars – dev teams burning huge resource to try and fit what’s been sold into what’s already been built.

The key to rejection is to act quickly (wait too long and expectation builds) and logically (saying ‘no’ without r...

Sales teams often talk about ‘getting to yes’, but for Product Managers I’d argue that getting to ‘no’ is just as important when managing new ideas. In fact, getting to ‘no’ quickly and cleanly is a really useful skill. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen products blown off course by deals being won that created more distraction than dollars – dev teams burning huge resource to try and fit what’s been sold into what’s already been built.

The key to rejection is to act quickly (wait too long and expectation builds) and logically (saying ‘no’ without rationale just won’t work).

My advice? ASAP spend 20 minutes with an innovation canvas and establish if that new idea really makes sense before support for it builds – a fast ‘no’ is so much more positive than a slow and reluctant ‘perhaps’.