Real-World Tips and Advice for Software Product Managers
Product Managers usually find that their success depends in large part in how well they work with teams of others to accomplish goals related to requirements, marketing collateral, sales support, analyst relations, and much more. It's a situation that involves influence rather than direct control, and direct responsibility but with indirect authority over others. It involves ...
One important contribution that Product Managers make is to play a key role in developing tools for the sales force that qualify prospects and reduce the sales cycle. This is a natural outcome of the Product Manager having deep familiarity not only with the product and benefits but also with the needs and goals of the product's users. When a business buys ...
The ideal company grows in such a way that it contains a balance of all the various strengths it needs: marketing, sales, technical knowledge, customer service, and management. Each function, such as Marketing, has its inherent strengths and weaknesses. One function's weaknesses are balanced out by strengths from other functions. Well, that's the ideal, anyway. But ...
Of the many activities at a software company, customer support or customer care is one of the toughest to provide. Sometimes I think that to avoid burnout, you need to approach the whole business the way an athlete deals with a sport. Realize that it's a team effort, and that you will win some and ...
Something I have seen software companies struggle with again and again is understanding the difference between product development and product launches. In order for a software product to not just work, but succeed, you need not just a product release, but a product launch. The product launch, like Requirements, is one of the very few of ...
This week’s topic is an exciting one: where is the best place to locate Product Management in an organization? Bring it up at your company if you want to spark a lively debate.
It’s a sign of the immaturity of the profession of Software Product Management that there doesn’t seem to be a standard job function where Product Managers report. Companies are all over the map when it comes to which part of the organization is in charge of Product Management.
So often Product Management is not viewed as a vital function at a company, since its purpose and focus is poorly understood. If you read about the management team of a startup, or even a larger software company, you would be shocked if it didn’t include a Finance or CFO function. You’d be pretty surprised if there were no Marketing function. But I’m willing to bet that a large number of experienced venture capitalists and entrepreneurs wouldn’t notice if Product Management weren’t mentioned in the job descriptions of the management team.
And because Product Management for software is as young as it is, you would find very little consensus in the industry about where the Product Management function belongs in the org structure.
Yet if you take a systematic, consistent approach to Product Management, the answer to where the function belongs becomes clear. Read below for a discussion of the various areas where Product Management reports today, with the associated strengths and weaknesses, and where the function belongs in a well run organization.
When it comes to determining where Product Management should be located in an organization, there are a number of issues to consider.
Previous issues have provided tips on competitive analysis to make the sales force more competitive, and to make the product more competitive. Today’s topic covers another important use of competitive analysis, which is to gather valuable information for Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), to find companies that would make good potential acquisitions for or purchasers of your company.
This same activity can have a different outcome from an actual merger or acquisition. It could be “M&A lite,” such as a strategic alliance or partnership that strengthens your product in a new sales channel or adds competitive functionality.
And looking for new functionality, then figuring out how to put it in the product, whether by developing it internally, embedding another company’s technology, or partnering, falls right smack into the area of responsibility of a Product Manager.
Read below for tips on gathering competitive intelligence for use in M&A or strategic alliances.
I am a person who worries. That has been the case for as long as I can remember. I’m quite sure I’m not the only one.
Like so much of our psychology that confounds us in modern times, worry had a vital purpose way back when: survival. Every mother who worriedly watches her toddler’s every move is using a trait that was essential when we walked in the forests and a child could get badly hurt at any moment by falling in rough terrain, eating a poisonous plant, or getting attacked by a wild animal.
Worry is the habit that kept us paranoid enough to be ready to run in case we found a bear or wolf or wildcat around the next bend.
Like many other characteristics that helped us out in a very different environment, worry can be pretty counterproductive in these days of plenty of food, general safety and homeowner’s insurance. It is easy to worry needlessly.
These ingrained traits from the past can’t be eliminated, but they can be channeled into useful avenues for today’s world. Since worry is a big part of my personality, I try to put it to productive use at work as a Product Manager.
Read on below for ideas on how to apply worry usefully to prepare your software product to thrive in tough situations that may arise.
Product Managers are often called upon to analyze the competition, perhaps with an eye to positioning the product to sell better, or as a way of determining which features to add in order to better compete in the market. In the two previous topics, we covered competitive analysis as a general topic and specifically for sales.
This week’s topic continues the discussion with some miscellaneous tactics and techniques, detailed below, to point you in the right direction when you are called upon to analyze the competition.
Competitive intelligence and analysis is a big part of any company’s job, and is a duty that often falls to Product Managers. In last week’s issue, called “Competitive Analysis: Ready When They Are,” we looked at the topic of how to get a read on your competitors’ plans and next moves. This week’s discussion focuses on getting information so that your sales reps can sell better against the competition.
Read on for useful insight and tips to help focus your competitive analysis for use by your sales organization.