Product Management 101

Amit RanjanCofounder, SlideShare

Presentation Flow

• Product Management ‐ what, why, who

• Product Manager skillsets

• Difference between Consumer & Enterprise products

• Strategies for Hacking Growth

•Product Management is the function that manages the product life cycle through activities like planning, forecasting, production, marketing.

• The Product Management role can have different flavours

‐ engineering, design, sales, user acquisition, marketing, data etc

• Product Managers have responsibility but no authority

• They own the product, but don’t manage the people building the product

The Product Management Dilemma

“A great product manager has the brain of an engineer, the heart of a designer, and the speech of a diplomat…”

“The best Product Managers become CEOs of their products (minus P&L responsibilities)…”

Product Management owns the vision, design, and execution of the product

•Vision‐ align org goals with market conditions & user needs

‐ ‘get’ the pulse of the product (think movie directors)

•Design‐ give shape to the product: feature mix, user

experience

• Execution‐ work with engineering, quality, marketing to deliver

Identifying a Good Product Manager

• Strong product sense/instinct

• Carries multiple points of views

• Communicates clearly

• Simplifies & prioritizes

• Measures & iterates

• Understands good design

• Writes effective copy

“Product Managers are God’s gift to mankind…. against feature bloat”

"Every failed product had an awesome spreadsheet…"

Product Managers: “The Art of Saying No”

• So many reasons to say yes‐ “But the data looks good…”

‐ “But it’ll only take a few minutes….”

‐ “But this customer is about to quit…”

‐ “But we can just make it optional…”

‐ “But my cousin’s neighbour said…”

‐ “But we’re allowed to work on whatever we want…”

‐ “But 713,000 people said they want it…”

‐ “But we’ll achieve our monthly target…”

How to tackle casual product feedback

• One person's opinion (OPO)‐ what if the one-person is Steve Jobs

• Strong suggestion

• Vocal minority phenomenon

• Mandate

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140602024642-22330283-avoiding-the-unintended-consequences-of-casual-feedback

3 point thumb rule for product prioritization

• Product features (prioritizing for a product)‐ Metrics movers

‐ Satisfiers

‐ Delighters

• Product Roadmap (prioritizing overall product plan)‐ Core

‐ Strategic

‐ Venture

Both consumer & enterprise products deliver user values & functionality but…

- Consumer: you build for end-usersEnterprise: you build for end-users & buyers

- Consumer: satisfies the user’s emotional needEnterprise: workflow efficiency is focus

- Consumer: build what users love (partners: Eng/Design/Pdt.)Enterprise: revenue driven (partners: Sales/Marketing)

- Consumer: often requires an artistic mindsetEnterprise: requires a business mindset

Early Stage Startups - Growth Strategies

“A startup is a temporary organization which is searching for a repeatable and scalable business model…”

Startups = Growth

Three stages of startup growth….

• Initial period of slow or no growth‐ startup tries to figure out what it's doing

• After product market fit‐ rapid growth, reach as many people as possible

• Startup grows into a big company‐ growth slows due limits of market size &

organizational bloat

Growth Strategies

• Consumer Products case study

• Enterprise Products case study

References

• http://crankypm.com/2006/11/08/that-all-the-responsibility-and-no-authority-saying/

• http://steveblank.com/2010/01/25/whats-a-startup-first-principles/

• http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html

• http://blog.intercom.io/product-strategy-means-saying-no/

• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140602024642-22330283-avoiding-the-unintended-consequences-of-casual-feedback

• https://www.pinterest.com/pin/47850814762416434/

• http://www.sachinrekhi.com/blog/2013/01/28/what-is-product-management

• http://www.quora.com/What-distinguishes-the-Top-1-of-Product-Managers-from-the-Top-10/answer/Ian-McAllister

• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-enterprise-products-differ-from-consumer-angela-yoonjeong-yang

• www.dilbert.com

• http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-ways-to-prioritize-a-list-of-product-features

• http://www.instigatorblog.com/the-role-of-product-managers/2012/06/08/

• https://medium.com/design-of-a-technology-business/ultimate-guide-to-product-prioritization-b08c18d5c00f

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