What is product management?

This presentation seeks to answer the following questions:

What is product
management?

What do product
managers do?

Who does product

management?

How does one become a

product manager?
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The role of product management

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The role of product management
The role of Product Management is to define, develop, deploy
and maintain products and services that:

Provide more value than the competition.

Help build a sustainable competitive advantage.

Deliver financial benefit to the business.

P
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The accidental profession
It’s a pretty safe bet to say that few – if any – product managers
have a Bachelor degree in Product Management

“Everyone comes from somewhere else”

Steven Haines – The Product Managers Desk Reference

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Past lives of product managers
Most product managers have roots in other professions

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So what do product managers do?

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 Past lives of product managers
Product managers like to solve problems

PICTURE OF DUDE UNDER CAR

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Product managers spend time understanding
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what customers need and want…
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…Then develop solutions that solve these
problems and satisfy needs & wants

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Product managers have a duty to deliver and
maintain financial benefit to the business

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Product managers see things
differently

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The carpenter doesn’t want a drill.
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He wants a hole
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How a product manager sees it
The carpenter has a problem. He needs a hole in the wall. A drill
can solve this problem, but there’s much more to it than just
creating a hole. The carpenter is concerned with multiple factors:

The speed at which the hole is made

The accuracy of the cut
The safety of the device that makes the hole
The ease of using the device
The reliability of the device
Where the device can be purchased or accessed
The price of the device
After sales support of the device

Product managers define the problem using criteria such as these

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before working on possible solutions
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The product management domain
Product management can be observed as the intersection of
product planning and product marketing

Strategic Product Management

Product Product
Planning Marketing
User Focus Buyer Focus

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Content Copyright © 2008 Blackblot.

Used by permission.
 Many roles in product management
There are many roles that range in terms of strategic or tactical
focus and marketing or engineering skill sets
Strategic

Product Product
Marketing Planning

Marketing /
Sales Product Architect / Engineering
Design

Sales
Manager Lead
Project Developer
Manager
Product
MarComms Operations
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Tactical / Operational
Guiding product and market strategy
Product managers
Senior
must deliver value to managers
the business and play Strategy Marketing
a strategic role in
determining the
actions to achieve
this. Finance Sales
Product
Manager
But their role is also
hands-on and
Customer
involves collaboration R&D
service
with multiple internal
stakeholders
Production Operations
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Diagram Derived from original model published in: 17

The Product Manager's Handbook : The Complete Product
Management Resource, Linda Gorchels, 2000
Product management in action

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brainmates product delivery cycle

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Stage 1 - Idea
Key stage actions
• Ideation and innovation workshops
• Interviews and discussions with
customers
• Market analysis including foreign
markets

Key stage deliverables

• Market Problem
• Market Opportunity Discussion
Report

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Stage 2 – Product Strategy
Key stage actions
• Investigate idea concept
• Contrast market problems, needs
and wants with organisational
capabilities and competitive threats
• Conduct due diligence to determine
if idea presents a feasible
opportunity

Key stage deliverables

• Business case
• Competitive analysis
• Product comparison documents (of
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Stage 3 – Product Planning
Key stage actions
• Articulate the market problem
• Develop and define market
requirement
• Identity and understand customers
including buyers, users and
influencers

Key stage deliverables

• Market segmentation and targeting
• Personas
• Use cases
• Market requirements document
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Stage 4 – Product Definition
Key stage actions
• Articulate the solution that will
solve the market problem and satisfy
needs/wants
• Provide inputs for development and
other teams that will build and
deliver the solution

Key stage deliverables

• Product requirements document
• Product comparison document
• Deliver prototype

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Stage 5 – Launch Planning
Key stage actions
• Prepare customer facing messaging
• Prepare customer facing teams
including sales, support and
marketing communications

Key stage deliverables

• Value proposition
• Product-Solution-Feature-Benefit
table
• Sales collateral
• Marketing plan
• Launch plan

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Stage 6 - Launch
Key stage actions
• Manage product launch and
maintain velocity
• Coordinate internal and external
parties involved – ad agencies,
support teams, sales teams
• Act on feedback immediately

Key stage deliverables

• Marketing communications
materials
• Sales materials
• Be available to colleagues as –Page no.
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Stage 7 – Day-to-Day Product Management
Key stage actions
• Continue to refine and improve
product
• Assist marketing, support and sales
teams in selling and maintaining the
product

Key stage deliverables

• Product in-life reports
• Product roadmap
• Product profile and collateral
• Product marketing plans

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How does one get into product
management?

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Becoming a product manager
Become good at understanding problems and following a logical
process to define and develop solutions that could solve these
problems.

Read books and blogs, listen to podcasts and watch

videos to learn more about the product management
profession
Talk to product managers
Use principles of product management in your current
role
Look at products and services that you buy & use and
apply a product manager’s perspective to these
Apply for jobs in product management
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Dream big!
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So to summarise

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In summary
Good product management is about delivering products that
customers love.

Product managers use logic, insight and a degree of creativity in

defining, developing, deploying and maintaining these
products.

Product managers must guide and collaborate with other parts

of the business and external stakeholders.

Product managers have a duty to deliver financial benefits to

their organisation.

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