who’s driving your company?€¦ · link up and learn who’s driving your company? volume 2...

A Market Intelligence Primer

Win/Loss Analysis Checklist for Product Managers

Product Management and RFPs

Collateral Is No Way toSupport the Sales Force

Product Roadmaps

Link Up and Learn

Who’s Driving Your Company?

Vo lume 2 Issue 2 M a r c h / A p r i l 2 0 0 4

Many of us ponder howwe would run a companyif we were in charge. Mydream business was onewhere there were no

meetings. Having worked in a varietyof large high-tech companies, I grew to despise the unbridled litany ofmeetings that, as a product manager, I was expected to attend. Havingfounded Pragmatic Marketing about tenyears ago, I must admit that we do stillhave meetings, but we keep it down to about one per year.

It seems like we often fall into the trapof revisiting topics that had alreadyreached deadlock in previous meetings.Yes, we could solve this issue if weonly had a bigger budget, more people,or code delivered on time, none ofwhich is going to happen. Onecompany I visited even invented acode-name for this problem, called“blue.” If a topic had already beendiscussed in a previous meeting withno hope of resolution, someone wouldsimply say, “blue” and everyone knewto stop beating this dead horse andmove on.

Many of the topics discussed inmeetings are focused on internalproblems. This tends to lead productmanagement into a tactical fire-fightingmode, thereby ignoring their role asthe messenger for market problems.

Imagine my delight when I visited acompany that started their meetingwith a simple question, “What customer,or prospective customer, problem arewe here to solve today?” I asked myselfif I was delirious. Had I heard thiscorrectly? Apparently, all their meetingsbegin that way. If there isn’t a credibleanswer to the question, serious doubtis cast about the validity of conductingthe meeting. I could see that this was a company that took their businessseriously, realizing they weren’t a technology company, rather, aproblem-solving company—whoincidentally provided technology as part of the solution.

Craig StullPresident and CEOPragmatic Marketing, Inc.

Whose problems are we going to solve?Whose problems are we going to solve?Whose problems are we going to solve?

1 • productmarketing.com • March/April 2004

productmarketing.com • March/April 2004 • 2

Inside this issue:productmarketing.com

16035 N. 80th Street, Suite FScottsdale, AZ 85260

President and CEOCraig Stull

Pragmatic Marketing, Inc.

Managing EditorKristyn Benmoussa

Contributing WritersEd CrowleySue Duris

Michael FischlerSteve JohnsonJacques Murphy

Gabriel Steinhardt

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About Pragmatic Marketing, Inc.Pragmatic Marketing, Inc. was formed in 1993 toprovide product marketing training and consulting to high-tech firms by focusing on strategic, market-driven techniques. Pragmatic’s trainingcourses emphasize business-oriented definition of market problems, resulting in reduced risk andfaster product delivery and adoption. Since itsinception, Pragmatic Marketing has successfullygraduated over 25,000 product managers andmarketing professionals. For more information, visitwww.PragmaticMarketing.com or call 480-515-1411.

™

1 Whose problems are we going to solve?A letter from Craig Stull,Pragmatic Marketing President and CEO

3 A Market Intelligence Primer True power comes from the integration of all four cornerstones of Market Intelligence.

7 Win/Loss Analysis Checklist for Product ManagersSo, now that you are conducting win/loss analysis, what is the next step? Use this handy checklist and you will be on your way to performingeffective win/loss analyses.

11 Product Management and RFPsMake RFPs less painful and streamline the processso that fewer resources are needed.

17 Who’s Driving Your Company?Corporate business goals and wants are relatively similaracross diverse industries, but the methods they use toreach their goals vary greatly. Explore these differentapproaches to product delivery strategies, known astechnology-driven, sales-driven and market-driven.

21 Collateral Is No Way to Support the Sales ForceQuit forcing 5,000 words of collateral to say the 100words of your company’s most important message.Create more streamlined messages for Sales andincrease your competitive advantage.

25 Product RoadmapsJust like planning a trip, a roadmap communicates in broad strokes what you plan to do. Explore ways to the most direct route.

28 Link Up and LearnA conversation with five industry gurus about productmanagement associations.

35 Calendar of Upcoming Pragmatic Marketing Seminars

✔✔

✔✔

Volume 2 Issue 2


A MarketIntelligence

PrimerBy Ed Crowley


So what is Market Intelligence? In itsbroadest sense, Market Intelligence isthe capturing of information relevantto a company’s markets. In a morepractical context, it is the gathering,analysis, and dissemination ofinformation that is relevant to themarket segments your companyparticipates, or wishes to participatein. As the diagram below shows, this encompasses four cornerstones:Competitor Intelligence, ProductIntelligence, Market Understanding,and Customer Understanding. MarketIntelligence is not just data.

Each of these areas can be a disciplinein and of itself. However, their truepower comes from the integration of all four of these disciplines. Forexample, you may know that acompetitor is pricing a product belowtheir normal pricing range (ProductIntelligence). However, when you alsoknow that this company is planning toreplace this product with an entirelynew line of products (again ProductIntelligence), the reason for their pricingaction becomes clear. When thisinformation is combined with the

knowledge that the company’s boardof directors has challenged the CEOwith growing market share (CompetitorIntelligence) and that they have astrategic goal of entering into a newmarket segment (again CompetitorIntelligence), this information becomesmuch more valuable.

Knowing that a competitor has reducedpricing in order to prepare for the entryof a new product line in order to gainshare in a new market segment isvaluable. But how valuable is thismarket segment, and what will it taketo be successful in the market segment?This is where Market Understandingand Customer Understanding comesin. By analyzing secondary dataregarding the market, market sharetrends, and other market data, one canunderstand whether this is a segmentthat will “fuel the competitors” growth,or whether it will be a drain on theirresources (Market Understanding).Market Research provides tailored insightinto the key customer requirements,loyalty of customers to existing vendors,and other factors which will impact afirm’s potential for success in a new

(or existing) market segment. It’s thiscombination of data and analysis thatgenerates information which is relevantto making decisions.

So what does it take to deliver world-class Market Intelligence? There are fourkey ingredients for a world-class MarketIntelligence organization.

1.Data sources and ‘field’ resources

2.Analytical skills and processes topull the data together

3.Technology foundation andplatforms to deliver, store, process,and distribute the information

4.The support of, and access to, top management

Data gathering and field resources are the foundation for any MarketIntelligence organization. This is theset of individuals, processes, andinformation services (often third partycompanies such as IDC) that providethe basic data on product shipments,competitor profiling, and other data relevant to the market. A world-class

Types of MI

M ar ke t I n t e l l i g e n ceBoard, Executives

Comprehensiveness

Bridging to the Unknown

DepthComplete Picture

EfficiencyImmediacyCost Management

Executives,Development,Finance

Executives,Development,Geography Teams,Sales, Finance

• Investments• Org. Changes• Strategy

• Pricing• Product Intros• Promotions

Clients Challenges

CompetitiveUnderstanding

MarketUnderstanding

CompetitorIntelligence

ProductIntelligence

MarketUnderstanding

CustomerUnderstanding

• Market Share• Opportunity Forecasts• Market Volume Analysis

• Product Definition• Customer Requirements• Loyalty/Satisfaction



MI organization finds ways to turn the entire organization into one largeintelligence-gathering unit. By the useof incentives, education, and existinginformation infrastructure (such asemail) the entire organization includingSales, Purchasing, Finance, andDevelopment can become a source for gathering competitive and marketinformation. For example, one Fortune500 Company offers its Sales people a monetary incentive to turn incompetitive tips. As a result, the Salespeople are always on the lookout fornew products in customer and resellerlocations. In some cases, these Salespeople have even encountered pre-introduction beta or evaluationproducts in customer locations. These“first looks” at competitive productscan be invaluable in planning pre-emptive actions to attack newproducts from your competitors.

However, gathering the data is notenough. Without rigorous analysis andinsightful reporting, the data remainssimply… data, it never becomes usefulinformation. In order for MarketIntelligence to be useful, different typesof data (market share, competitorproduct cost data, etc.) must be mergedtogether into information which isrelevant to key decision-makers andthe decisions they are making. Theultimate test of the data and theanalysis is whether it provides theright information in order to let thedecision-makers make decisions with confidence.

For example, reporting to the executiveteam that the company is gaining marketshare in a specific market is important.However, that data is only marginallybeneficial. The data’s true power isunlocked when it is combined withinformation about competitor’s actions,sales and channel activities that haveresulted in competitive advantage, anda succinct and accurate definition of allthe other factors that are driving themarket share gains. And it will only

have impact if it is presented in aconcise and well-articulated report or presentation.

Another key aspect is having the rightinformation infrastructure to supportthe flow of information in and out ofthe analytical team and to ensure thatthe ‘data’ is processed with as littlemanual intervention as possible. Forexample, often times the data on marketshare provided by large market dataproviders such as IDC (InternationalData Corporation) or DataQuest is notin the right format, or is not definedin such a way as to be useful to theultimate marketing decision maker.For example, it may be composed of product segmentation based onprocessor speed (in the case of PC’s)when the decision-maker uses segmentsbased on customer types. In thissituation, an investment in developinga database to convert the data provider’ssegments into the segments used bythe decision-maker is critical. Withoutthis investment in automation, veryexperienced market analysts mustspend considerable time makingmanual conversions using spreadsheets,pivot tables, and PowerPoint® slides!This is a very inefficient use of valuablemarket intelligence resources.

Finally, it is very critical that the MarketIntelligence group has access to topdecision-makers. This can be a challengefor many reasons. Often this is due to the decision-makers believing thatMarket Intelligence has little valuerelative to their own ‘gut’ instinct.Sometimes the Market Intelligenceorganization has historically provided“low impact” Market Intelligence andthus has little perceived value with the decision-makers. And in the worstcase, it can be the result of missedexpectations in the past resulting in lowcredibility for the Market Intelligenceorganization.

No matter what the current state ofthe Market Intelligence team’s accessto decision-makers is, it is possible to

improve the situation. And the morethis situation improves, the better the Market Intelligence team willunderstand the key decision-maker’sneeds. This, in turn, will result inbetter analysis and information beingprovided to the decision-makers,which in turn will result in greateraccess to these same decision-makers.

Creating boundaries for MarketIntelligence. It is also very importantto understand what Market Intelligenceis not. Market Intelligence is not acrystal ball into the future! Whilepredictability is improved with goodMarket Intelligence, there are far toomany variables in the market place to ever provide 100% accuracy intothe future actions of competitors orcustomers/markets. It is also importantto understand that the MarketIntelligence agency is not the decision-making team. In fact, while the MarketIntelligence team needs to have anintimate understanding of the issue athand, to understand the informationneeds of the decision-maker, and toprovide recommendations, they shouldnot be the decision-maker. Why?Because once they become thedecision-maker, they have a vestedinterest in the outcome and loseobjectivity. One of the key functionsof a good Market Intelligenceorganization is the ability to monitorthe firm’s progress versus the marketafter decisions. This monitoring isimportant in order to determine ifmid-course corrections are needed. In order to provideunbiased monitoringand completeobjectivity in

developing recommendations, it iscritical that the Market Intelligenceteam does not ‘own’ the ultimatedecision or have a vested interest in the outcome.

A true-life example. In a recentassignment for a Fortune 500 technologycompany, I was challenged with turninga division-level Marketing Researchorganization into a world-class MarketIntelligence group. While the MarketingResearch team had a significant amountof talent, it was not seen as key to thedivision’s business-making process. Byleveraging the existing talent within theteam, investing in database developmentand automation, focusing on keyexecutive information needs, andreaching across organizationalboundaries to integrate all types of market intelligence sources, thisdivision-level research team becamethe premier Market Intelligenceorganization for the corporation. Afew of the key actions that enabledthis change are as follows:

• The first step was ensuring thateveryone on the team is sharing acommon vision for what the MarketIntelligence group should be, whatit should deliver, and what are thekey focus areas for improvement. Itis important that the entire team isinvolved in this process, and that theyfeel ownership for the final results.Our efforts in this area resulted in a very actionable mission statement,annual group objectives, and thedefinition of career development

paths. As a result, the entireteam was bought into the

process and focusedon achieving world-class status.

• We invested significant time andfinancial resources in buildingdatabases and tools to automate the analysis process. In fact, at onepoint, one analyst spent about sixmonths of full time effort managingthe development of these tools. This was a difficult investment tomake since the team was alreadyunderstaffed. However, as a result of enabling these tools, we wereable to go from having three staffmembers spending 80% of their timein generating one global market sharereport on a quarterly basis, to havingone staff member and two internsspending 50% of their time ingenerating 42 highly-segmented(and impactful) market share reportsover the course of a year. As aresult of this significant productivityimprovement, the team is able tospend significantly more time indeveloping customized analysis,which is highly-tuned to theexecutives needs.

• Our team began hosting worldwide/cross-divisional summits for themarketing research and competitiveanalysis units within the corporation.These summits resulted in significantcollaboration across teams and a better flow of information andanalysis. This improved theinformation flows and the entireorganization’s analysis.

• During the early stages of thisassignment, and on a regular basisthereafter, the team would meetwith executives and internal clientsto understand what information theyneeded, what they were not getting,and what was working well. As aresult of these meetings, and followingthrough with information tuned tothe clients and executives needs, theteam became “the” source for marketinformation. From the board level,to other Marketing Intelligence teams,to the clients, this team became thesource for critical Market Information.In fact, this information gathering

and analysis process became a criticaland required component of thedecision-making process.

Over the course of three years, thisteam transitioned from a very effectivemarketing research team to a world-class Market Intelligence organization,which is a model and resource for theentire organization. In fact, the teambecame so effective that they begandriving corporate-level issues such asdeveloping a corporate-wide market-forecasting model. This model hasbecome the foundation for the executivestrategic planning process.

In summary, there are many criticalelements to building a world-classMarket Intelligence team. And it is not a quick process. However, withtime, investment, and patience, thedevelopment of a world-class MarketIntelligence team is possible. And thisteam can become a strategic asset tothe company.

Ed Crowley has heldpositions in marketingand general managementfor both start-up and

Fortune 100 companies includingIntelliQuest, Texas Instruments,DataProducts, QMS, and VTEL. Ed hasdeveloped and managed world-classMarket Intelligence systems for bothmanufacturers and Market Intelligencevendors in the technology market.Currently, Ed is manager of world-wide printer marketing for LexmarkInternational’s Product Solutions andServices Division and can be contactedat [email protected].

Ed is also the Executive Editor for theIntelligence Briefing, a newsletter forMarket Intelligence professionals andmarketing decisions makers. Thisnewsletter offers insights and how-to-tips for developing Market Intelligencecapabilities. Subscriptions to theIntelligence Briefing are available at www.photizogroup.com.




So, now that you are conductingwin/loss analysis, what is the nextstep? Use the following handy checklistand you will be on your way toperforming effective win/lossanalyses.

Before the interview■■ Sit down with the sales team

involved in the win or loss. Besure to include the highest-rankingSales person in the discussion. Get the Sales team’s input as to the background such as how thecompany got involved in theproposal, the type of relationshipthey had/have with the customer/prospect, sales processes involved,products or solutions used to closethe sale, the result, and whetherthey anticipated this result.

■■ Schedule the interview with the customer/prospect. Let them know in advance the topicsyou plan to discuss.

During the interview■■ Introduce yourself and thank

the prospect/customer for their time.

■■ Explain upfront that the purposeof the interview is to learn asmuch as possible about thecustomer or prospect’s perceptionsand experience during the recentsales process so your organizationcan continually improve.

■■ Discuss confidentiality. State that you want to communicatefeedback throughout yourorganization, but if the customer/prospect feels there are certainaspects that are too sensitive, theyshould be identified during theconversation.

We have all seen it written that productmanagers should get out of the officeand visit customers, or, at the veryleast, telephone one customer a week. This is important not only forcustomer retention reasons, but alsofor competitive analysis and productperformance reasons as well. With thestate of the economy, and everythingproduct managers have on their platesthese days, that is a task easier saidthan done.

But what if product managers startedparticipating in the back-end of a saleswin or loss? If a win, the productmanager would be helping to developthe new relationship, resulting inretention and obtaining valuablecustomer feedback or, in the event ofa loss, finding out the reasons for theloss, be it a product issue, sales issueor support issue, possibly resulting inthe prospect using the company as abackup vendor or placing the companyon the “short list” for future proposals.

Regardless, the product managerbecomes the objective third party who helps the company and customers/prospects have better success inconverting sales. Product Managementcan easily sell the Sales team onperforming this task by stating thebenefits of doing so:

• Product Management can performthe function, thus saving the salesteam valuable time.

• Product Management acts as anobjective third party, which willresult in a prospect or customer’sability to be more open about thesales win or loss.

• Product Management obtainsfeedback on how to make productsmore robust, thus resulting in moresales down the road.

Win/Loss Analysis ✔ By Sue Duris


Ascertain the following:

■■ Confirm the opportunity,product/solutions, and getcustomer/prospect to expoundon it. What “pain” did/didn’twe solve and what arecustomer/prospect’s expectationsin our ability to solve that pain?

■■ Find out the other firms thatwere competing for the business.Why was your firm included inthe mix? How and why did thecustomer/prospect make it acompetitive process?

■■ Overall, why did/didn’t yourcompany win the business?

■■ Explain the decision-makingprocess. Who was involved inthe decision? What were thekey selection criteria?

■■ What was the customer/prospect’s perception of thequality of the Sales team’smanagement of the relationship?Did the customer/prospectmeet other personnel fromyour organization? What wasthe customer/prospect’sperception of them?

■■ What were the customer/prospect’s thoughts about yourproposal and presentation?

■■ Was the customer/prospectcomfortable with yourcapabilities? Which capabilitieswere most important to them?

■■ What were the customer/prospect’s thoughts about your pricing? Was the customer/prospect able to determine truevalue from your pricing?

■■ How did you stack up againstthe competition? What did thecustomer/prospect view asyour strengths and weaknesses?What did the customer/prospectview as your competitors’strengths and weaknesses?

■■ Did the customer/prospect callyour references? If so, werethey helpful?

■■ What was the customer/prospect’s perception of yourorganization before enteringthe buying cycle? Did theperception change? If so, how did it change?

■■ What advice would the customer/prospect give you for workingwith them in the future?

■■ Would the customer/prospect feel comfortable inrecommending your solutionsto others?

■■ If a win, would customer feelcomfortable in participating ina case study, testimonial, jointpress release, or beta test (for a future solution)?

■■ Does customer/prospect haveany additional comments orsuggestions?

Post-interview■■ Send a thank you note to the

customer/prospect.

■■ Summarize in writing the notesfrom the interview and distributethem to appropriate internalpersonnel.

■■ Conduct the debriefing meetingand list any action items that cameout of the meeting.

Win/Loss Analysis should be conductedregardless of whether business waswon or lost. Consistently implementingthis process will make your solutionsand your company more valuable, and build more credibility in the eyesof your customers and prospects.

Sue Duris is President of Pittsburgh,PA-based M4 Communications, Inc., a

full-service marketing communications firm to high-tech companies. She helps her clients

develop and implement the right sales and marketing strategies to reach, attract, and convert

the right customers.

Checklist for Product Managers

Phil Myers, President and CEO, Cyclone Commerce

“To make marketing a strategicweapon in your business,

Pragmatic Marketing’s Framework is your blueprint. I have used it

for ten years and it works.”

If you are trying to leverage your investment in product management

and marketing, the first place to start is with a proven methodology.

Pragmatic Marketing® has always focused on the unique challenges

of managing and marketing high-tech products.

The Pragmatic Framework has been fine-tuned by 25,000 attendees

over 10 years and has been proven to create high-tech products that

customers want to buy. Pragmatic delivers on the promise in its

name—they present a practical course of action that really works.

– Phil MyersPresident and CEOCyclone Commerce

Visit www.PragmaticMarketing.com to learn more.

The Industry Standard in Technology Product Management Education

One of the biggest headaches forsoftware companies of all sizes is thecreation of Requests for Proposal (RFPs).RFPs are labor-intensive, exhaustive andexhausting efforts to tout the product.The effort to produce RFPs can be adrain on precious resources in Sales,Marketing, and Engineering, and productmanagers get involved more often thanthey wish they did.

The blood, sweat and tears expendedon an RFP is all the more frustratingbecause you’re left in doubt aboutwhether it really makes any differencein winning the sale. Often the RFP is a cruel exercise in jumping throughhoops for a prospect that is using youas “column fodder.” You’re columnfodder if your purpose is to provide a point of comparison, a systematicreview with the pretense of objectivity

that only serves to back up an emotionaldecision, made long ago, to go with a product they like—somebody else’s product.

Yet despite what they tell people in salestraining, you can’t exactly blow off thewhole RFP process and still hope towin a sale. While it’s up to the salesrep to make sure that you have notbeen selected as column fodder, yourcompany must create an RFP that:

• stands out from the others

• demonstrates the uniqueness of your product

• wins over the doubters

• gets you to the next step in the sales process

So if you must do RFPs, how can youmake the whole experience a little lesspainful? How can you streamline theprocess so that fewer resources arespent on what is arguably an ineffectiveway to make a sale? Read on for someguidelines to focus the RFP process.

Sales owns the RFPLots of people help with RFPs, but Saleshas to own them. Yes, it’s business for your whole company, but it’s theircommission checks we’re talking about.The head of Sales must be the oneultimately responsible for making sure RFPs happen, and happen well.

Everyone is tempted to pass along the RFP like a hot potato, so don’t let Sales foist it off on Marketing orProduct Management.

Marketing ensures the messagingMarketing, while not owning RFPs,helps review the wording on both thesurface and at a deeper level. First,Marketing ensures that the content isokay, with correct spelling, punctuation,grammar, and style. Marketing weavesthe correct messages about benefitsand differentiation from yourcompetition.

When there’s a new question, one you haven’t had to answer before,have Marketing draft the first version,then you should review and approvethe final wording.

Product management provides the benefitsThe product manager understands the benefits of the product, and cantell good stories of how others haveused it to their advantage. The productmanager also knows what to say toundermine the selling points of thecompetition.

The role of product manager is tointervene when needed to augmentexisting materials or draft new materials.Use your understanding of the product,on both the technical and marketing

levels, to explain how good theproduct can be—without overstepping

the bounds and committing tofunctionality it doesn’t do.

Product Management and RFPs


Sales engineers do the footworkSales engineers are the ones who workwith the sales reps (an on-demand effort,as with so many sales activities) to buildthe RFP. This includes:

• assigning who provides content

• scheduling work and review meetings

• answering all questions

• requesting help with specific answers

• riding herd on all the content providers

• dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s

A sales engineer should be the one to put together the first draft of theRFP, getting it as complete as possible,following the guidelines from theinitial strategy discussions beforesending it around for review and filling in the holes.

Build a knowledge baseIf Marketing and Product Managementare going to spend the extensive amountof time it takes to strategize, focus thecontent, and write appealing answers,all that hard work better be put togood use over and over again.

Build a knowledge base that collects,categorizes (and even indexes) allanswers to past RFPs, incorporatingcontent from each RFP as it is sent out, to be used as the knowledge baseto answer future RFP questions. Thiscan be as simple as a word processingdocument, with a table of contents orindex, or a number of documents thatare categorized and indexed using a spreadsheet listing the appropriatefilename next to a keyword or under a category. The sales engineer’s job isto use this knowledge base to buildthe first draft of the RFP.

Create small building blocksDon’t try to create large templates orentire sections of answers. Break upyour answers by individual question,because each RFP is going to requirethat you sort and order these blocks of information in different andunpredictable ways.

If you find that you’re frequentlybreaking up blocks of standard contentfrom the knowledge base in new RFPs,take those blocks and break themdown further.

When you put an RFP together in thisway, your first draft will probably readlike it was slapped together. That’s okay.The next step is to take a pass at tyingtogether and unifying.

It’s the online ageMy, how technology makes it easy to publish and link information thesedays! The knowledge base is a perfectexample of something that belongs onan Intranet, where everyone in thecompany can access it as needed.

You can even set up your index as an Intranet page, where you click oncategories, listed questions, or indexwords to jump to standard content.

Answer the question, pleaseAlthough you’re using standard content,it’s critical that the team reads eachquestion and adjusts the content tospecifically address everything in eachquestion. No reader wants to puzzlethrough a response only to realize thatit didn’t answer what was asked.

Which leads us to the next topic...

It’s never really cookie cutterRFPs aren’t cookie-cutter (fortunatelyor unfortunately—I’m not really surewhich side to weigh-in on for this), soyour responses to them can’t be either.An RFP has to read like your companysat down and wrote a specific responseto the questions, concerns, and prioritiesraised in the guidelines.

You can take care of much of this in theExecutive Summary, where you highlightwhat the prospect has indicated are themost important concepts, directingreaders to more detailed sections in thebody of the RFP.

If you do your homework, focus youreffort, work hard and get lucky, yourRFP will get you to the next step inthe sale. Never mind that the final scopeof work may sound nothing like yourinitial proposal. A closed sale is agood thing.

By Jacques Murphy

Jacques Murphy has over 15 years of experience in the softwareindustry. He writes an email newsletter called Product ManagementChallenges that focuses on increasing software product momentumin terms of development, marketing, sales, and profitability in order

to improve the product’s competitive position. Jacques currently works at EntigoCorporation, where he champions a web-based warranty chain managementapplication. To regularly receive helpful tips for software product management,send an email to [email protected] with “subscribe” in the subject line.

Reprinted with permission from PRODUCT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES, a Weekly Newsletter of Tips For Companiesthat Develop Software. Copyright © 2003 Jacques Murphy. All rights reserved.


Practical Product Management

RequirementsThat Work

STR

ATE

GIC

MarketAnalysis

TechnologyAssessment

Win/LossAnalysis Innovation User

Personas

CompetitiveAnalysis

ProductContract

ReleaseMilestones

BusinessCase Positioning

MarketSizing Pricing Sales

Process

MarketResearch

ProductPerformance

Buy, Buildor Partner

MarketRequirements

MarketProblems

ThoughtLeaders

ProductRoadmap

QuantitativeAnalysis

ProductStrategy

ProductPlanning

OperationalMetrics

DistinctiveCompetence

TM

TM

CompleteCurriculum for

High-TechProduct

Managers

Pragmatic Marketing seminars

introduce a framework that

gives technology marketers

the tools necessary to deliver

market-driven products that

people want to buy. We focus

on all practical aspects of

juggling daily tactical demands

with strategic activities

necessary to become expert

on the market.

Visit www.PragmaticMarketing.com to learn more.


Effective Marketing Programs

TACTIC

AL

SalesReadiness

ChannelSupport

Collateral &Sales Tools

ChannelTraining

BuyerPersonas

"Special"Calls

MarketMessages

WhitePapers

EventSupport

LaunchPlan

CompetitiveWrite-Up

AnswerDesk

LeadGeneration

MarketingPlan

AwarenessPlan

CustomerAcquisition

CustomerRetention

ProgramStrategy

Presentations& Demos

TM

Do you understand the relationship between prospect management and product management?

Does it seem that product managers are overloaded with tactical activities?

Are you getting the most out of your investment in Product Management and Product Marketing?

Does your Product Management function need more structure and process?

Are product managers spending too much time supporting Sales? Development? Marketing Communications?

Do your product managers and product marketing managers understand their roles?

Are your product managers trailing the other departments instead of leading them by six or more months?

Are requirements a moving target?

Do your product managers rely on the sales channel for productrequirements, positioning, name, or pricing?

Are your Market Requirements Documents not providing enoughdetail to Development so they know what to build?

Do your product managers wander into design in the MarketRequirements Document rather than provide the market facts that Development needs?

Are you struggling to keep control during the product planning process?

Is there agreement between Product Management and Development on what to do?

Does Marketing need a consistent process to build and deliver market messages that influence each of our target buyers and markets?

Do you need a process for selecting and designing programs that produce strategic results?

Is Marketing disconnected from the sales process—generating leads and sales tools that go nowhere?

Can you accurately measure marketing’s contribution to the company’s goals for revenue growth, customer retention and positioning awareness?

Do the people who plan and implement go-to-market activities need to know how their individual roles fit together?

Practical Product Management™

Practical Product Management is for product managers and those who manage or contribute to aspects of product marketing and management. This two-day

seminar fully explores the role of technical product management, providing tools and a framework to help get products to market more efficiently.

I. Strategic Role of Product Management• What is marketing?

• Definition of the role of product management• Contrasting product management and product marketing• Assigning ownership of responsibilities• Identifying the “first steps” with gap analysis

II. Market Analysis• Distinctive competence• Market research• Market problems• Technology assessment• Competitive analysis

III. Quantitative Analysis• Market sizing• Product performance• Operational metrics• Win/loss analysis

IV. Product Strategy• Business case• Pricing• Buy, build, or partner?• Thought leaders• Innovation

V. Product Planning• Positioning• Sales process

VI. Case StudyVII. Delineating Responsibilities

• Communicating market facts to Development,Marcom, and Sales

• Drawing the line between ProductManagement and the other departments

DAY 3 Requirements That Work™

(For those who write requirements)

VIII. Building the Market Requirements Document (MRD)• Writing requirements• Implementing use-case scenarios• Programming for the “persona”• Determining product feature sets• Creating the MRD

IX. Analyzing Business and Technology Drivers• Reviewing specifications• Prioritizing the product feature set

X. Getting (and Keeping) Commitments• Product contract

• Getting the product team in sync• Getting executive support

• Communicating the plan in the company and in the market

Build Market-Driven

Products byListening to the Market

Pragmatic Marketing has

always focused on the unique

challenges of marketing

technology products and

services.

The framework we teach,

refined and perfected over

20 years, shows specific

processes to find and develop

profitable opportunities, plan

market-focused products and

create winning promotional

and sales campaigns. Each

seminar offers immediate

actionable ideas, templates

and tools.

Visit www.PragmaticMarketing.com or call (800) 816-7861 to register


Requirements That Work™

Requirements That Work is an intensive one-day coursethat introduces a straight forward method for creating

product plans that product managers can write,developers readily embrace, and that produce solutions

the market wants to buy.

I. Defining Roles and Methodology• Understand the source of conflict between

Development and Marketing• Define clear roles and responsibilities• Introduce a product planning methodology

II. Gathering Input• Channels of input to product planning• Organizing product ideas• Quantifying market needs

III. Building the Market Requirements Document • Writing requirements• Implementing use-case scenarios• Programming for the “persona”• Determining product feature sets• Creating the Market Requirements Document (MRD)

IV. Analyzing Business and Technology Drivers• Reviewing specifications• Prioritizing the product feature set

V. Getting (and Keeping) Commitments• Product contract• Getting the product team in sync• Getting executive support• Communicating the plan in the company

and in the market

Effective Marketing Programs™

Effective Marketing Programs is a two-day seminar designed for those responsible for planning or execution

of programs and tools that build market share in high-tech markets.

This course explains how the most successful high-tech companies plan, execute, and measuremarketing programs and sales tools.

I. Roles and Responsibilities• The Pragmatic Marketing® Framework• The Effective Marketing Programs Process• Role definitions & skills assessment

II. Buyer Personas• Positioning by type of buyer• Creating buyer personas• The sales channel persona

III. The Strategic Programs Plan• The business case for marketing programs• Supporting sales goals• Metrics that engender management support• Building the right marketing budget

IV. High ROI Sales Tools • Writing useful, high-impact collateral• How to generate success stories• Real thought leadership in whitepapers• Building a strategic website

V. Goal-Oriented Program Execution• Controlling lead quality and throughput• When to use online marketing• Measure results without CRM• Program priorities for each goal

VI. Start Where You Are• Prioritizing next steps• Start with existing programs• Setting measurable goals


Introduction Every company claims it wants todeliver value to its customers, beprofitable, and establish leadership inits core markets. Such assertions seemonly natural and one would expect tobe presented with a correspondingcorporate strategy that supports suchgoals. However, closer inspectionreveals that many companies oftenemploy product delivery strategies thatlead these companies far away fromtheir business objectives.

Delivering products is a process that begins with a combination ofinnovation, technology, and marketsensing. Each of these driving elementscontribute to the initial product conceptand its development, but over time and depending on the company, somedriving elements will demonstrate astronger and more lasting impact onthe product concept and its roadmap.This is not necessarily due to merit ormarket forces, but more commonly isan outcome of the corporate cultureand business perspectives whichdominate the company.

Certain corporate functions that embodythe aforementioned driving elementstake charge of directing the company’soverall product delivery strategy. Forexample, in one U.S. software firm, abusiness unit manager noted, “Marketinghas had a relatively limited role in thepast; technology is what has driven thiscompany. We’re a technology-orientedfirm.” In contrast, in a U.S. packaged-goods firm, a marketing manager said,“Engineering has absolutely no sense ofthe consumer. They’re a group of educatedtechnology scientists who can do amazingthings, but they need focus.”

Who’sDriving

YourCompany?

By Gabriel Steinhardt


Corporate business goals and wants are relatively similar across diverseindustries, but the methods they use to reach their goals vary greatly. Let us explore these different approachesto product delivery strategies, knownas technology-driven, sales-driven and market-driven.

Take my road: Technology-DrivenSome companies believe they know whatis best for the customer. They operateunder the notion that they can developtechnology, design products based onthat technology, and have entire marketsbuy their products because they are“technologically superior.” Thesetechnology-driven companies, whoseproduct delivery strategy is determinedby their engineering departments, oftencreate products without thoroughlyresearching the market and withoutfully understanding the prevailingmarket requirements.

This sounds somewhat detached fromend-user needs, and may very well beso, but a technology-driven approachhas its advantages. It enables a companyto rapidly deliver products to marketsince it skims/skips lengthy traditionalmarket research, and consequentlybases product design decisions oninternal company expertise.

An example of a company who choseto strive forward with a plan to launcha new product in the market withouthaving conducted market-research firstis that of Sir Clive Sinclair, a Britishentrepreneur who was also a brilliantengineer and consummate salesman.Sinclair trusted his intuition for all hisproduct decisions. At the time, hebelieved that the moment had arrived

where thegeneral public wassufficiently interestedin electronic wizardryto provide for a completelynew market of inexpensive andrelatively simple-to-use computers.Without conducting any marketresearch whatsoever, in 1980 heordered 100,000 sets of parts so hecould launch at high-volume his newZX80 computer. By 1982, Sinclair’scompany revenue was £30million,compared with £4.65million theprevious year.

Sinclair and his engineers hadintuitively succeeded in assessing thecombined potential of technologicaldevelopments and changing consumerneeds, as opposed to researching themarket potential for an innovativeproduct. Sinclair’s business decisionsproved enormously successful, yet very fortuitous.

Technology-driven products are oftenadvanced and therefore appeal to earlyadopters and niche markets who seekthe latest technological developments.

Additionally, technology-drivenproducts may also become a high-risk/high-reward venue to be favoredby speculative investors. Such productsawait a triggering event that causes a dramatic surge in demand. Those events may range from the hypothetical(for example, future governmentallegislation that would promote vehicleswith fuel cell engines) to the actual (sales of survival gear when people



were confronted with the spectra ofY2K, or the tremendous demand forsecurity equipment post 9/11).

But this is the problem with beingtechnology-driven; it is a risky approachto delivering products. Adopting atechnology-driven posture has, overtime, proven low growth potential dueto failure to implement proper marketingactivities and because of the isolatedmanner in which products are managed.Many technology-driven products arecharacterized by having complexfeatures or unnecessary features, andsome technology-driven products arerealistically unneeded.

At the 2004 Consumer ElectronicsShow (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada;Gerard Kleisterlee, the CEO of Philips,quoted data from a Yankee Groupsurvey:

“30 percent of all recently introduced home networking products sold today werereturned because the consumer could not get them to work; and 48 percent of potential digital camera owners weredelaying their purchase because theyperceived the products to be toocomplicated.”

The conclusion is quiteobvious. Although some may

succeed with a technology-drivenapproach to product development andmanagement, there is a bigger chancethat driving the best technology tocustomers will not yield a prosperousoutcome. This is simply because thecompany and its product are focusedon providing better technology; andnot on closely matching customerneeds and abilities with thattechnology.

A cruising taxi: Sales-DrivenA technology-driven company is focusedon its technology; and a sales-drivencompany is focused on maximizingshort-term return on investment.Accordingly, the prime responsibilityof most corporate departments in asales-driven company is to help thesales channels with knowledge, ways to sell, and sales support.

Like a taxi driver cruising city streetslooking for passengers who are headingto different locations, sales-drivencompanies cruise their markets seekingdeals with customers who very oftenhave different needs. Such as with theproverbial taxi driver who will deviateout of his way to accommodate thepassenger going in the oppositedirection, so will these companies alter their product’s features in orderto accommodate the particular wishesof a specific customer.

There is nothing fundamentally wrongwith being sales-driven and providingcustom work. Generations of tailorshave sewn fitted clothes to people ofdifferent shapes and sizes; and scoresof taxi drivers worldwide transportpassengers to their varied destinations.

The advantage of being sales-driven is less risk because there are alwaysunique business opportunities andindividual needs to satisfy. A sales-drivenproduct strategy can be a lifesaver andused as a survival mode tactic if marketsegments start deteriorating or are in a chaotic phase which precludestargeted marketing programs.

The downside is that a sales-drivenproduct strategy is a short-term approachthat does not build highly-sustainableproduct lines. Without those sustainableproduct lines it is very hard to buildmarket leadership and promotecompany growth.

The eventual outcome of a sales-drivenapproach in high-tech companies is aplethora of product variants (producedvia modification of core products)which are sold to different customers.These product variants are full ofhighly-individualized custom featuresthat are developed, tested, documentedand supported. This situation invariablyleads to resource duplication, wastedeffort, loss of distinctive competenceand great difficulty in implementingproduct roadmaps.

Due to market dynamics, the majorityof sales-driven companies struggle inthe long run because there is nothing

Who’s driving your company?

much to differentiate them from thecompetition, other than price, whichbecomes their primary marketing tool.

Driven to success: Market-DrivenTo gain a status of being market-driven,a company has to engage its customersand listen to their needs. It is all amatter of timing since asking customerswhat they want during the sales processis not considered actually listening tothe market.

Only by taking a long hard look atend-markets and paying attention tocustomers’ demands before proceedingto develop a technology platform or products, can be regarded as amarket-driven approach to productdevelopment and management.

A case of sales-driven culture posingas market-driven happened to Big Blue.IBM®, was the dominant force in thetechnology industry and synonymouswith innovation and cutting-edgetechnology. IBM achieved its leadershipposition through a market-drivenapproach by using its massive salesforce to determine customer needs.However, the company ran intotrouble when it stopped listening forneeds and began telling customersabout its latest new product ortechnology.

Applying a market-driven approachdemands commitment and disciplineas it is a very procedural approach.Companies with an informal workculture and loose organizationalstructures fail at applying thismethodology and so do companies

eager to rush into the market becauseof the time involved in executing allphases of the market-driven process.But when properly applied, the resultis a product that will solve a pervasivemarket problem in an establishedmarket segment, and for whichcustomers are willing to pay.Experience has shown that rewards do come for those who patientlyfollow the course.

Market-driven companies producesustainable products with visiblynotable targeted value. The biggestreward is that a market-driven producthelps establish market leadership andrevenue-growth potential.

ConclusionA study conducted several years agoby querying top marketing executivesworking at one-hundred leading U.S. technology companies, showedthat despite all the talk about beingmarket-driven and customer-focused,54% of respondents viewed theircompany as actually being technology-driven. Companies do understandwhich approach they should follow

and publicly declare it, but indeed it is hard to mend ways and transitionbecause becoming market-driven willdemand a painful shift in corporateculture and business practices.

For those who take the path, successis lasting. In the high-tech world (e.g. Microsoft®) and consumer goodsindustry (e.g. Procter & Gamble), a leadership position can beestablished and maintained by being a very effective market-drivenorganization that has superior skills in understanding, attracting, andkeeping valuable customers withproducts that deliver real value. Thisis not just a cliché but a formula for success.

What ultimately prevails in companiesis the understanding that product valueis always determined by the customer,not by the company or its technology.This understating in turn leads to therealization that finding technology that solves known market problems is easier and more profitable thanfinding or catering to buyers of thattechnology.


Who’s driving your company?

Gabriel Steinhardt is an independent product managementconsultant who pioneered and designed Pragmatic Marketing’sPMCP certification program. A marketing and information systemsMBA with over a decade of experience in product management and marketing in the computer software and hardware industry,

Gabriel has assumed diverse senior and director-level roles with majorcorporations and startups in marketing, product management and technicalundertakings. For additional information, please visit http://www.blackblot.com

The SceneImagine you’re in Sales.

In response to an inquiry from a qualifiedlead, you sent out your standard collateralpackage. A gorgeous folder. A corporatebrochure, datasheets, annual report, recentpress releases, backgrounder, tear sheets, whitepaper, CD ROM, and a personal cover letter.

Now it’s time for that initial sales call.

You join the prospect in the conferenceroom. She has your package in front of her,with some additional pages from the web,from the analysts, from the competition andfrom her own notepad.

“So,” she begins, “why don’t you give me alittle idea about your company, what you dobest and your history and so on, and thenmaybe a general product review. I know yousent me this very impressive package, but I havebeen so swamped I haven’t had time to reallystudy it.”

In fact, about 90% of this first meeting is arehash of the issues covered somewhere inthat package. Products. Customers. History.Stability. Services. Partners.


Collateral Is No Way toSupport theSales Force

By Michael Fischler


After the meeting, a thought occurs asyou cross the parking lot—one that hasoccurred often, in similar situations andsimilar parking lots: “if only we couldhave gotten down to business insteadof wasting all that time going throughthe basics. If only she had read thatdamn information package.”

But she didn’t. They rarely do, youremind yourself. Your cell rings. With aquiet curse at the Marketing departmentthat created such useless material, youanswer it.

The ProblemThat curse is a righteous one.

As marketers, we do not effectivelysupport the Sales force—and we should.

We create a collateral package, like theone I described above. Some of us evencall that package a sales tool. But whatwe really create is a kind of promotionalpotpourri. An assemblage of sweetsmelling stuff in an attractive folder.Actually, we don’t even create most of the content. We build the brochureand some data sheets, and then leavelots of pocket space in the folder forthe Sales force to add whatever theycan find—from white papers to annualreports to ad tear sheets. If it’s on thelit shelf it may very well end up in the package.

The primary content-inclusion policy is “bulk is best.”

The primary organizational structure is “pretty in front, ugly in back.”

Now, that kind of package has its place.The corporate brochure, the data sheets,yes, even the press releases, tell peoplethat we exist. They are perfect on atrade show booth table; as a generaldeliverable in response to web requests;

as something to get a ball rolling. Butonce that ball is rolling, once the leadis generated and qualified, once theSales force is ready to begin its difficultprocess of winning that competitivebattle... that random package is of nouse. They need something else to helpthem do their job better, faster, moreeffectively. They need tools. And it’sour job to define, specify and, in thisparticular case, even build them.

It is a strategic marketing challenge—the same strategic challenge we facewhen we deal with our products. Definea marketplace with an identifiable need.And then specify product that servesthat need.

• The marketplace is the sales force.

• The need is for tools to support their effort.

• And the product is a new kind ofcollateral—a targeted, goal-drivenand measurable kind.

The ProofStrategies, marketing or otherwise, beginwith hypotheses: things to prove ordisprove. And that’s where we begin.If we think back to our openingscenario, a clear syllogism presentsitself for validation.

• Shortening the sales process willhave value to the Sales force.

• Sales tools can be created to shortenthe sales process.

• Therefore, creating sales tools willhave value to the Sales force.

The first of the two premises is easy toprove. There is little controversy amongbusiness leaders that the shorter thesales process the lower the cost ofsales. Similarly, there is equally strong

agreement that the more streamlinedyour process, the greater yourcompetitive advantage. If two companiesstart the process at the same time, theone who gets to the CTO first is aheadof the game. There are, of course, as always, exceptions—but they areexceptions that prove the rule.

It’s the second premise that is the morecomplex and difficult to prove. Can toolsthat we build shorten the process?

Be careful how you test this. Theimpulse to “just ask the Sales force” isstrong—resist it. Asking them “will salestools help shorten the sales process?” is asking them to do our analysis forus—it’s not their expertise. In many, if not most, cases the answers will beunderstandably subjective, and in many cases, purely tactical.

Rather, the correct question is, “Wherecan your sales process be shortened?”The answers serve as our initialroadmap. But they’re hardly enough. Arep who hates cold calls will focus onthat. Another who feels swamped willtalk about increased bandwidth. A thirdmight say, “lower the price.” Each willfocus on their own individual needs.Good input. But just a starting point.

We have to find out for ourselves. It’stime for a few ride-alongs with the Salesforce. Experience the sales process inperson, at each identified phase. A fewinitial calls. A few technical meetings. Thefinancial grillings. A few deal closings.You, as a marketer, have to watchwhat happens and reach a reasonedconclusion from a careful analysis asto where and how the process youexperience can be shortened.

Don’t misunderstand. The Sales force,your marketplace, needs to be involvedin this, just as the marketplace for your

Collateral Is No Way to Support the Sales Force

products are involved throughout the development. But that productmarketplace doesn’t write your functionalspecifications, they just provideguideposts. The same is true here.

In the scenario we started with, the bestplace to shorten the process is right atthe start—to create a situation wherethe prospect and the rep can get downto business. You may find that youranswer is different—that some otherelement of the process makes moresense for you. Perhaps it’s getting theright kind of technical information intothe hands of the right technologistsearly on. Perhaps it’s establishing away to broadly demo product for theinfluencing end-user community.Perhaps it’s something else.

But whatever the results of the analysis,what we end up with is a directed, provenunderstanding of the process. Its phases.Its players. Its duration. Its dangers.

Now we can begin to develop a product.

The ProductSticking with our initial scenario, weexperienced that the majority of time inthat first meeting was spent answeringfour basic questions:

1. Are you a good company?

2. Do you make good products?

3. Will your products do what I wantthem to do?

4. Do your customers get value fromyour products?

Our mission is clear. Develop a product—some kind of product—that will, inadvance of the first sales call, clearlyand completely answer those fourquestions. And by answer, I mean with hard evidence. Claims, promises,hyperbole—the foundation of mostcollateral—won’t cut it. Don’t pillageyour existing collateral and startextracting phrases like, “Acme is theleading provider of. . . ” (unless youreally are the one company that truly isthe leader), or “we provide the lowesttotal cost of ownership of any productin the marketplace today” and so on(unless you have an independentanalysis that says so—it’s a claim whenyou say it, and it’s evidence whenAberdeen Group says it).

The goal of this must be: It Has to BeUsed. You have to use every deviceyou can muster—culled from designers,instructional technologists, and othersimilar sources—to compel readership.Since the goal is simple (four questionsanswered) you’re not going to forcethem to study 5,000 words of collateralto find 100 words of evidence. Nothingyou say will stray from the point.

The shape and form of our product will,of course, vary depending on all sortsof factors: from process phase to budgetto media to audience. Maybe it’s complex—a glittering multimedia spectacular.Maybe it’s just as simple as can be: a document called, “The Four Things You Need to Know About Acme.” Buthowever it is built, and whatever it

addresses, Marketing has, at last, doneits job. We have identified a need:create tools that shorten the salesprocess. We have examined the natureof the need and determined how bestto satisfy the need. And we have builtproduct that does the job.

The OutcomeNow let’s revisit our scenario.

You join the prospect in the conferenceroom. She has your package in front ofher, with some additional pages fromthe web, from the analysts, from thecompetition and from her own notepad.

“So,” she begins, “let me ask a coupleof questions.” She opens The FourThings and directs you to page 3.“Here it says that you were awarded‘Best of Breed’ at the Annual SoftwareForum. What other companies wereyou up against?”

About 90% of the conversation focuseson specifics generated from that simpledocument.

After the meeting, a thought occurs asyou cross the parking lot—one that hasoccurred often, in similar situations andsimilar parking lots: “That was veryproductive.”

Michael Fischler is founder and principal of Markitek, astrategic marketing consulting and coaching organizationwhich he started in 1992. In his 27-year career, Michael hashelped companies on five continents and 14 countriesdevelop a stronger strategic approach to marketing. He hasworked closely with executives of startups and Fortune 100 companiesalike, coaching them on developing customer-focused marketing strategiesand tactics—from establishing basic marketing skills to refining andperfecting already sophisticated ones. He is a widely-read columnist, and a popular speaker at marketing conferences worldwide. He can be reachedat [email protected], or www.markitek.com. To learn more about thistopic go to www.markitek.com/nocollateral



In late January, at our Practical Product Management™ seminar inAustin, Texas, Pragmatic Marketingreached an important landmark.That was the point at which our25,000th student completed one ofour high-tech product managementcourses. But rather than blowingour own horn, we asked our25,000th attendee, Tim Johnson,product manager at RightNowTechnologies, Inc., an on-demandCRM software vendor in Bozeman,Montana, to tell us why he came tothe course and what he took awayfrom it. Here’s what he had to say:

For most companies, thechallenge almost always is:What exactly is productmanagement? After working in product management forabout four years, I began torealize there really is a disciplineassociated with this field. And,while I was up on a lot of

areas, there were many things inproduct management I could stilllearn. Some of my co-workers atRightNow had been to the PracticalProduct Management course, andI decided this was the place whereI could take my professional skillsto the next level.

What I got out of the course wasthat we, as product managers,wear a lot of hats. In fact, thereare 37 of them. By going throughthe course, it became obviousthere are certain things I work ondiligently and others I have moreor less ignored. If you want to besuccessful and become a market-driven company, you have tohandle all 37 duties. Rather thanjumping straight into definingproduct features, you have to look at the underlying problems youare trying to solve. And thenstructure your product aroundthose issues.

This course also made me realizethat we are doing pretty well atRightNow. We are striving to bemarket driven, and we actuallydo many of those 37 things. So thecourse helped me validate that weare on the right track and willonly get better. Plus it helped me

understand how I can expand my role beyond the tactical sideand into strategic productmanagement.

Barb Nelson was a great instructor.She delivered the material withoutreferring to the notes, which tellsme she really knows it. It was morethan having it memorized; it waspractical experience she drew onfrom her work experience thatdirectly relates to the challengesI’m going through as a productmanager—it’s not just theory.

To me, being the 25,000th person to attend this course means there is a real need for it in the market. It validates that there is anindustry methodology aroundproduct management—rather thaneverybody going about it differently.There are certain things you shouldbe doing. Are you market driven,or are you not? Anyone who wantsto understand product managementand what it takes to be a market-driven company absolutely needsto attend.

PragmaticMarketing Hits a MajorMilestone25,000 students take the product management plunge

Pragmatic Marketing instructor, Barbara Nelson,

presents a Garmin GPS system to our 25,000th

student, Tim Johnson, product manager at

RightNow Technologies.



A product roadmap is a frequentrequest from the sales force andothers in the company. “What’scoming in the next release and theones after that?” Long buying cyclescommon with strategic products oftenmean the buyers need to know whatthe product will contain when thecycle ends. A roadmap details thefeatures and platforms for futurereleases over the upcoming monthsand years. A product roadmap reveals your current plans but is not a commitment.

Just like planning a trip, a roadmapcommunicates in broad strokes whatyou plan to do. One normally plans aroute for a trip, but rarely follows theroute precisely. You may see arestaurant and decide to deviate fromyour plan and lunch there. You mighthear a traffic or weather report andchange your route to bypass theproblem. You can make corrections tothe plan and still make it to yourdestination.

By Steve Johnson

Product Roadmaps


What should be in a roadmap? Typically, a roadmap contains releasenames and approximate delivery dates.Break the table into major features:impacts on client-side and server-sideapplications, platform support, andmarkets served. We often see thisdone in a table with dates across thetop and product areas down the left,as shown below:

Market forces impact each level of the roadmap. Key industry events, newoperating systems and platforms, newcompetitors, all act as market forcesthat should be documented in theroadmap. Changes in market forcesusually result in changed priorities in your roadmap.

A roadmap should contain those itemsthat are virtually certain. My advice:stick to the truth. The more you know,the more you can comfortably tell.

Major features that are mandatory canbe assigned to a release schedule. Butdon’t put “hoped for” features on thelist. Remember: the sales channel and the customer will assume that theroadmap will be delivered, so onlypublish what you know to beguaranteed.

What is the downside? A product roadmap shows the saleschannel and our major customerswhere the product is headed and whatfeatures to expect in future productreleases. Unfortunately, it also tells thecompetition. The competitor may aceyour new features before your producthits the street.

Once a roadmap is published, itcannot easily be changed. More thanone product manager has been shockedto see the roadmap stapled to a contractas an attachment. What began as aplan has now become a commitment.Many companies find that they needtwo roadmaps: one for internal use andanother for external delivery. Whilethis may be necessary, a better rule is“never print your roadmap.” Only theproduct manager should talk aboutproduct futures. A product managermay use the roadmap in a presentationbut should never print or distributethe presentation.

2Q03 (“blue”) 2H03 (“taco”) 2004 (“earwax”) 2005 (“popeye”)

Major Feature Maps Fault Correlation Peer-to-peer installs

Client/User Interface Web enablement standalone 3D maps Onscreen assistance

Server/Architecture New data model J2EE rewrite

Platform SQL Server support Discontinue Win98, Win NT support

Linux as primary OS

Market US EMEA AP

Product Roadmaps

Be prepared for this: once you hint at the feature-set of the “blue” release,the sales channel will ask for a littlemore detail. “Will it be Java? Will italso have reporting?” Before you knowit, they’ve dragged information out ofyou that you hadn’t intended to reveal.They will absolutely complain that they

need more specifics, and thenthey’ll need demos, and

then they’ll need anearly copy to close

a deal.

Decide what will becommunicated in your

product roadmap andthen don’t say any more.

Solve the right problem

A product roadmap is oftenan effective sales tool in a

long sales cycle. It may also beperceived by the Sales people as a

“magic document” to help close adeal. But perhaps you don’t need to

talk about roadmaps at all. Interviewyour sales people to find the root

cause behind their requests for aroadmap. The two most common rootcauses for a roadmap are missed deliverydates and unfocused segmentationstrategy—neither of which can be curedwith a roadmap.

In order to publish a roadmapofficially, a development organizationmust be able to hit scheduled dates.The best way to achieve this is toreduce the size of every feature set towhat can be achieved in 90 to 180days. With smaller releases, your

product comes out more often; thedeal-closer feature ships this yearinstead of next year. PragmaticMarketing’s Requirements That Work™

class teaches how to define smallerreleases that ship more often, oftencompletely nullifying the channel’sneed to sell futures. One organizationwith two to three years betweenproduct releases used this method tocut their delivery time to a releaseevery quarter. Their customers askedthem to ship less often!

The other common reason thatchannels sell futures is a mismatch of customer and product. Without a market segmentation strategy, weoften find the channel pitching theproduct to people that it isn’t reallydefined for. As a result, the productlacks certain features that are necessaryto solve the customer’s problem. TheSales people attempt to convince thecustomer that their necessary featurewill be in the next product release,and then campaign to get that featurein the release. That’s how customrequirements end up in contracts.

Next steps A roadmap can be an effective sales tool in a long sales cycle if itcommunicates without committing.Review your product plans for thenext few releases and see what itemsare certain. Put those on a grid withdates. Now discuss the roadmap with your manager and with yourDevelopment lead. Are they (and areyou) willing to share this informationwith Sales people, customers andcompetitors?

Steve Johnson is an expert in technology product management. He works for Pragmatic Marketing® as aninstructor for the top-rated courses “Practical Product Management™” and “Requirements That Work™” aswell as onsite courses. Steve is also a frequent presenter for various technology marketing forums throughoutthe United States and Europe, author of many articles on technology product management, and is thewebmaster of http://productmarketing.com—a website devoted to technology product management.



Link Up and LearnA conversation with

five industry gurus

about product

management

associations

Now that you’ve taken a Pragmatic Marketing®

course—or perhaps several—where can you goto continue to exchange ideas, discover newresources, and network with your peers? It’seasy—a local product management association(PMA). In recent years, PMAs have explodedacross the country, offering an engaging and safeplace to discuss product management issues andchallenges, listen to informative speakers, accessuseful templates and plans, make valuableconnections, and much more.

For this issue, productmarketing.com sat down withfounders and leaders from five of the most activePMAs for a Q&A about the value of participatingin a product management association and advicefor those who want to start or grow a PMA. Takingpart in the discussion were:

BOB LEVY, product manager for IBM RationalSoftware, co-founder and past president of theBoston Product Management Association(www.bostonproducts.org)

KEITH BOSWELL, 20-year software industryveteran, partner at Market Acuity, andmoderator for the Triangle ProductManagement Association in Research Triangle,North Carolina(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/trianglepma)

JASMINE DE GAIA, senior product manager forLucent Technologies and executive director ofthe Silicon Valley Product ManagementAssociation (www.svpma.org)

ANTHONY HUMPHREYS, product manager forDatatel, Inc. and president of the DC ProductManagement Association in (www.dcpma.com)Washington, DC

ALAN ARMSTRONG, product manager for WilyTech and co-founder and long-time leader ofthe Toronto Product Management Association(www.tpma.ca)


Link Up and Learn: A conversation with five industry gurus about product management associations

Q&A on Participating in aProduct Management Association

Q What are the challenges facingproduct managers today that

make a product managementassociation viable and important?

BOB: Product managers arechallenged by the rate of change,the volume of information, and the professional scope required touncover new business opportunities.Augmenting oneself by developingclose ties with those who complementour skills and abilities is a compellingvehicle to overcome professionalchallenges. That was the fundamentalpremise motivating the founding ofthe Boston Product ManagementAssociation.

ANTHONY: The problem is two-fold:First, within the organization, the product manager’s role and responsibilities are oftenmisunderstood. So we need helpmaking the company aware of whatwe do or should be doing. Thesecond problem is the productmanager being able to deliver onwhat he or she should be doing.Things like being an expert on themarket, pricing, all the things thatare so critical in product marketingand product management—but forwhich we often have no formaltraining. Much of the PMA’s effort isplaced on educational activities thathelp product managers know whatthey should be doing and improveon their skills.

Q Why do you think a PMA is well-suited to helping product managers

solve some of these challenges?

ALAN: Product management is such aunique position; there haven’t beenthe kinds of resources we need togrow and develop our careers. ThePMAs have sprung up recently to fillthat void. Most marketing courses,like AMA, are not particularly relevantto high-tech product managers. Interms of networking and learning,it’s much more valuable to networkwith high-tech professionals.

KEITH: The typical marketing associationsare heavily consumer-oriented andmarcom-focused, where they dealwith traditional aspects of marketing—rather than being geared to whatmost product managers do, which issetting product direction. How doyou cross-manage all the differentdepartments in a company to bringa product to market? How do youresearch new markets to potentiallyenter? Product management has the ultimate matrix managementnightmare, where you need everydepartment in the company to be on board to bring a release to market. Yet none of thosedepartments reports directly toproduct management. Where do you get resources for that? BeyondPragmatic Marketing® and a fewbooks, there are very few tools out there to help product managerslearn. That’s where the PMAs come in.

ANTHONY: An association like this can bring an unbiased voice to acommunity of product managers. Itcan bring a level playing field to allproduct managers and make countlessresources available for their use. Anassociation brings community to anarea where there is none. It is a

place where you can get togetherand learn, network, and shareinformation surrounding that uniqueniche that is product management.At DCPMA, we’re looking to givemembers a place where they can findgreat training, a place where they cancome learn with great presentations,a discussion board, links to otherresources, and more.

Q What is the core value product managers can gain

from participating in this type ofassociation?

KEITH: It’s like having a virtual mentorto go to when you don’t have ananswer to something. A lot of productmanagers operate alone, or theydon’t have a product managementguru in their organizations. A PMA is a great source of information. It’slike having your own library oftemplates and advisors you can tapwhen you run into a problem. Youhave the ability to tap resources youwould never have access to or youwould have to pay for. It’s almostthe open source effect. You benefitfrom the collective intelligence ofthe community—even for those ofus who have been doing this a longtime. I’ve been in product marketingfor quite a few years, and I still learnthings and am able to get informationfrom my group. Plus, from aprofessional standpoint, it’s good tonetwork and see what other peopleare doing and make sure you’re upto speed—especially in this extremelyvolatile and competitive job market.It’s a fantastic way to advance your career. If you’re an eloquentcontributor, you’ll get recognitionand credibility among your peers in the region.

ALAN: The networking aspect is hugefor members. As product managers,we can be pretty isolated. There isnobody else in the company whodoes our job and nobody to talk to



about the job itself. In Toronto, wewanted to create a place wherepeople could find that personal andprofessional development—and maybejust a bit of group psychology.Product managers should look atthese associations as a long-terminvestment in their professionalnetwork. You get to know who’swho, which companies are which. If you need to collaborate with acompany, you know where to look.And you know people, so if you getstumped or need a resource, youhave someone to call. And the pizza isn’t bad either.

Q What’s the value of a local orregional group versus just an

online discussion group or a nationalassociation?

JASMINE: I think you need that face-to-face interaction. The big benefit isthat we are a community. Peopleknow each other now and can havemeaningful conversations instead of just making small talk. And that is really beneficial because productmanagement is fairly new as aprofession or a specific career. It’snot like you can go back to youralumni if you went to engineeringschool. Most of those people areengineers; they aren’t productmanagers. So I think it’s importantthat we help each other.

ANTHONY: It’s getting product managerstogether with other product managersin their area. The value of a regionalgroup is to shake someone’s hand,to network for jobs, to meet newcontacts, to discuss MRDs and productroadmaps—and ask questions andtake off on other people’s questions.Our mission statement is: the placeto network, innovate, and share.That community is what everyone’slooking for.

Q What does a PMA offer thatproduct managers can’t get

elsewhere?

JASMINE: What we offer members is education, community, andnetworking. The monthly speakerswe have are very high quality. Forexample, we had a great session byMarissa Mayer, Google™ productmanager. We had Yahoo® host anevent and they were recruiting, sowe had a huge turnout, probably150 people, because a lot of peopleare looking for jobs. PragmaticMarketing® presented a workshopabout how to position yourself as a product manager and a sessionbased on best practices in productmanagement, which drew both newand seasoned product managers.Every other month, on Saturdaymornings, we hold an interactiveworkshop series with smaller groups.So you can learn something duringthe monthly speaker lecture, andthen apply it hands-on during theworkshop. We offer a host of otherresources, including discussionforums, job postings, a newsletter,and a website with a lot of content,including presentations from all of our past events.

KEITH: First and foremost, my groupprovides a forum for people to sharethoughts and ideas about productmarketing. I wanted to create awatering hole for other productmarketing people in the area. Asecond goal is to provide memberswith networking opportunities. It’sgreat to get to know other peoplewho are in the same role. The thirdthing is that Triangle PMA has becomeone of the go-to places for productmarketing job postings in the ResearchTriangle Park. The fourth thing is thetemplates, providing people with aplace to exchange tools. If you goto the file section of the site, thereare things ranging from sample betachecklists, GA checklists, and tools

for releasing a product. One of thebig things people ask for is the Launchof Product X Master Plan.

ANTHONY: At DCPMA, we have hadnumerous high-level outside speakerscome in. It’s a chance to get a vicepresident of marketing or a presidentof a company who clearly has somesignificant experience in areas wherewe, as product managers, might not.It’s being able to get someone likeSteve Johnson from PragmaticMarketing®, who has been in thefield for 20 years. Or it’s Bob Martinfrom IFR Consulting, Inc. sharingknowledge that most productmanagers want but yet don’t have.It’s the ability to get expert resourcesfrom the outside to bring in freshperspectives and ideas. About a yearago, we launched www.dcpma.comas a way to have an events calendar,a link to our discussion board,resource links, board membercontacts, and bios. That has workedextremely well as an archive for all the event presentations and as a home for templates, MRDdocuments, roadmaps, and all thetools that keep professionals comingback over and over.

Q&A on Building a ProductManagement Association

Q How did you get startedbuilding your PMA, and

what are some of the secrets for early success?

BOB: Success factors during our group’searly growth included quality speakersand content, content aligned withgroup interests, clear vision, andfocused networking opportunities.We began with the assumption thatyou can obtain the essentials yourgroup needs to thrive either free or via corporate sponsorship. Forexample, one member’s workplacewill undoubtedly have meeting space,



another will have contact withquality presenters, and many onlinetools can be used free-of-charge. It’s important to establish an onlinecommunity early. While the BPMAhas since graduated to a professionallydeveloped site, Yahoo Groups(http://groups.yahoo.com) is freeand meets early-stage requirements:email discussion group, online polling,and the ability to post files.

KEITH: I’m able to run the Trianglegroup by myself, because we’reusing Yahoo Groups. It’s a fantasticplace to set up calendars and eventsfor a group. It also has the ability tolet people easily add files or photosor links. It’s low on graphics, butwe’re more content-focused,anyway. The downside is thatYahoo puts advertisements on everystream, and they automatically optyou in to numerous categories. So you need to tell people whosubscribe how to opt out. I send all new members an article,Protecting Your Privacy in the Yahoo Environment.

JASMINE: We started over three yearsago as a small group of peopleattending the Pragmatic Marketing®

course. After the course was over,we wanted to continue to discussideas, problems, and issues. It wasvery grassroots, very free-form. Weset it up as a monthly event, and theidea was to bring in speakers, localproduct managers, people who arehaving success in the industry totalk to the rest of the group andshare ideas. All the speakers werevolunteers, and the location wasdonated by companies. Once it gotoff the ground, we had 20 or 25people at each meeting, most weremid-level product managers andsome junior people starting out andlooking for a network. As we grew,we defined what the mandates of

the organization were: a communityfor networking, education for productmanagers in the Bay area, and a safeplace for people to express ideas andtalk about issues.

ALAN: The Toronto PMA co-founderand I initially met each other throughpostings on a Pragmatic Marketing®

forum. It took us three or four weeksto realize that we actually worked in the same building in Toronto. Wepulled together our first meeting andhad 35 or 40 people attend. I didn’tknow there were that many productmanagers in my area. It was amazing.And now three years later, theassociation has its own independentexecutive team, six or seven corporatesponsors, and a large and activemembership base. We also set up aYahoo Group, which is an effectiveway to host a discussion group and do polling. We had executivemeetings to do planning. We reliedon getting very good speakers atleast every other month—for example,local marketing professors fromuniversities.

Q How do you go about recruitingvolunteers and leaders?

BOB: We allocated 20 minutes duringour kickoff meeting to brainstormnext actions and roles. While notevery volunteer will stick to his orher commitment, many long-termvolunteers will have been those whosuggested an idea you promptlyinsisted they implement. Delegationis a prerequisite of success and willbe supported by those who buy into the basic premise of the group.Be sure to socialize after this firstmeeting to begin the recruitmentprocess. You can begin spottingcandidates for your leadership teamas the kickoff meeting winds down.Be sure to develop a leadership

pipeline to ensure the growth ofyour association. As you recruitvolunteers, consider that you willundoubtedly elect one of them toassume the job you are currentlyperforming, so be sure to coach and mentor appropriately.

ANTHONY: When you decide to buildan organization, you do it just likeyou would in a corporate settingwhere you have to build supportpeople. So we did. We have apresident, VP of marketing who isour webmaster, a VP of membership,a VP of events, and a VP ofdevelopment who is responsible for membership.

JASMINE: Having well-defined roles and responsibilities for your leadership team is incrediblyimportant. We took a look at many successful associations, andstructured our team roles aroundthat model. [See the accompanyingsidebar for the SVPMA’s Roles andResponsibilities.] Because everyone’sa volunteer and everyone’s busy in their jobs, you have to spend time determining how to structureresponsibilities, spread the work,and get people to do what theycommitted to. Early on, we spent a lot of time on that—just gettingpeople to define their roles.

Q What steps can you take toensure that speakers and topics

resonate with members?

ALAN: We treated our first meeting as a requirements-gathering session.We billed it as a get-together to talkabout the problems that productmanagers face in everyday workenvironments. We got the grouptalking about what was going on in their everyday lives. What bigproblem did you have today or



yesterday or last month? What came out of that was a list of rawcomments. And we stood back andlooked at the list and said: These arethe things product managers arestruggling with, and we can usethese themes to shape topics forfuture sessions. Come to think of it,we actually used the PragmaticMarketing® Framework to build our PMA—it was a market-drivenprocess. Some of those topicsincluded: the basics of doing the job,requirements-gathering techniques,making business cases. Another big theme was negotiating with andpresenting to executives. That was a big challenge.

BOB: Aligning future content withgroup interests can also be achievedvia periodic online polling of thetopic content ideas you havecollected. Yahoo Groups or otheronline polling tools are adequate aslong as you promote and reinforcepolls during your meetings.

Q How important is it to holdregular meetings?

BOB: Consistency of timing and venuehelps maximize the value of word-of-mouth and facilitates retention.The BPMA has established atradition of meetings being held onthe third Thursday of each month,except August and December whenmembers are most inclined to takevacation. These meetings are mostalways hosted in the same location.

ANTHONY: When our group first started,the location moved around a goodbit—primarily because we havemembers spread over two states and the District of Columbia. But we realized we needed to take downsome of the potential barriers topeople attending, where they mightnot remember when and where the

next meeting was. Now, we meetthe third Thursday of every monthat the same location to keep thecontinuity going. Most of our membersare located in Virginia, so that’s wherewe hold the meetings. We get a lotof the same people back, which iswonderful for richness. And we havebeen fortunate in having a lot ofnew members come. We are also in the process of trying to buildmore community activities, thingslike a twice-a-year barbeque or a social event.

KEITH: I hold group meetings once a quarter: usually two networkingmeetings and two topics. In thepast, I’ve had speakers fromPragmatic Marketing® or a localconsultant. Next time, I intend tohave it about product automationtools. I’m convinced that will packthe house. Just the past few years,people in software have startedpaying attention to product lifecyclemanagement. While there have beenrequirements management tools forquite a while, there haven’t beenmany tools for product managers to manage the lifecycle of a productor manage a change request frombeginning to end. And those toolsare starting to appear.

JASMINE: I think you really need thatface-to-face interaction to build therelationships and build people’scommitment to the organization.

Q How do you go about gettingnew members or attendees

at the events?

BOB: Word-of-mouth has proven the single most effective marketingvehicle to generate in-personattendance at BPMA monthly meetings.Runners-up include posting meetingdetail in local trade publications.

JASMINE: It has really been organic, by word-of-mouth. PragmaticMarketing® was also very helpful,because they point people to thePMAs after they take the courses.

Q How do you handle recruitersand vendors?

KEITH: I approve people to participateand keep tight controls over vendorsand recruiters. I do not let them postdirectly to the list, and they will beautomatically banned from my groupif they do. I actually provide a veryspecific set of rules for all participantson the discussion list to prevent grossself-promotion.

ALAN: In Toronto, we made sure thatthe association was not a recruitingforum. We specifically discouragejob postings to our lists; in fact, ifsomebody did that, we shut themdown. The reason was two-fold: Wewanted this to be focused on productmanagement expertise and networkingwith peers; and we wanted companiesto feel comfortable about theiremployees attending.

Q Do you charge membership duesor fees to attend events?

JASMINE: We set up a regularmembership structure, which went a long way toward building memberloyalty. In the beginning, membershipin SVPMA was free. Then we startedcharging $5 at the door of our events,just to pay for food and refreshments.But there was no real commitment.With our annual membershipstructure, it still works out to thesame $5 per event, but you pay your $60 up front.

President. Ensures organization operates to meetgoals and acts as spokesperson for organization.

Director of Communications. Responsible fornewsletter, meeting minutes and event summaries.

Director of Events. Selects meeting topics,coordinates and schedules speakers and setslogistics agenda.

Director of Membership. Owns communicationswith members about events, as well as managingmembership list.

Director of Web. Updates SVPMA.org website,maintains event and presentation archive,administers forum and makes technologyrecommendations to Board.

Director of Finance. Accountable for collectingevent revenue and paying expenses and forensuring that SVPMA operates in a fiscally-responsible manner.

Director of Marketing. Three words: branding,promotion and partnership.

So we get much more of a communityof people. We’re seeing a lot moreof the same faces at our events. We also started holding the eventsat a hotel, which has become ourregular location. That way we aren’tspending time trying to hunt downcompanies to host us, and we couldfree up our time to work on biggerthings for the organization.

ANTHONY: We’re looking at the ideaof sponsorships for events, and we’reactively considering membershipdues. The purpose there is two-fold:number one to generate revenue inorder to make the association havesome staying power; but, moreimportantly to get commitment frommembership. On our discussion list,we have up to 250 active membersof DCPMA. But on any given month,we have only 40 members show up for a meeting. We want to getadditional buy-in from our members.So we’re considering institutingmembership dues later this year.

ALAN: At first, we were charging $2 a session just to cover the cost ofthe pizza. But we needed funds tocreate a more professional structureand some resources. So we ended upgoing with $10 per session, or $50per year. That boost did not hurt

attendance in any way. Plus with anannual receipt for membership, peopleare sometimes more inclined toexpense the $50 than they are $2.

Q What about the decision to becomea non-profit organization?

JASMINE: We stayed at the grassrootslevel for a year and a half. We hadconsiderable discussion over whetherwe wanted to continue at that levelor grow to something bigger. If wewere going to grow, everybodyneeded to be on board. We also wentthrough all of the normal group issues:your forming and your storming (wespent a lot of time on storming). Thenwe finally got to norming, and nowI would say we’re performing. Thenwe reorganized the board, definedroles, and started to have structuredmeetings. We have one in-personboard meeting and one conferencecall every month. We also make sureeveryone on board makes it a priorityto attend the events, as well. Theother piece is assigning responsibilitiesand action items and holding peopleaccountable to them. All of thosethings started coming together. Webecame more professional as anorganization and started gainingmomentum and growth.

JASMINE: We had a bit of a debateover becoming a non-profitorganization. There were somemembers who felt we should stay at the grassroots level and keepthings simple and low key. Ofcourse, the group was still somewhatunstructured at that point. Once we got a lot more order to theorganization, it instilled a level ofconfidence that we needed to growup and become what we really couldbe. I got a California NOLO bookand handled the process myself. Thebenefits we saw for the organizationbecoming a non-profit were: 1) wewanted to get the credibility of anon-profit association, 2) it actuallyhelps you get discounts on thingslike meeting space if you are a non-profit, 3) it’s easier to get sponsors,and 4) it’s also a bit easier to justifythe annual membership.

Q Any lessons learned or advice tothose starting a new association

or growing one?

JASMINE: I would say be patient. Ittakes some time. Surround yourselfwith a good team that has well-defined roles. That’s really important,because there’s a lot of work involved,and you don’t want people stepping



SVPMA Board Roles and Responsibilities

As a high-tech executive, are you unclear about the strategic role of product management?

Does the role of product manager in your company need to be defined to the CEO so support can be given tostrategic activities?

As a product manager, do you strive to lead the organization rather thanreact to it?

This half-day session is a subset of the Practical Product Management™

seminar and introduces the industrystandard for high-tech marketing, the Pragmatic Marketing Framework.Refined over ten years and implementedby hundreds of technologycompanies, this framework showshow Product Management andMarketing personnel can move fromtactical activities to quantifiable,strategic actions that delivertremendous value to the company.This session includes immediateactionable ideas about how to best establish the role of ProductMarketing/Management and definemarket-driven products that make customers want to buy.

The Strategic Role of Product Management™

Seats are limited, so early registration

is recommended. Seeavailable dates on

back cover.

This seminar is open to anyonecurrently employed in high-techmarketing, including seniormanagement, product marketingmanagers, and product managers.

There is no fee to attend,but registration is required via our website.www.PragmaticMarketing.com

Freeseminar!

The Industry Standard in TechnologyProduct Management Education

How to Find a Product Management Association in Your AreaFor a complete list of regional PMAs, visithttp://productmarketing.com/assoc.htm.

Make ConnectionsDiscover how you can make connections and share knowledgewith your product management peers. Get involved in yourlocal PMA. Come to an event…join an online discussion…volunteer. If there’s not an association in your area, start one.For inspiration and information about launching a new PMA,contact Pragmatic Marketing or any of the board members ofexisting associations.

over each other. I would also say just let it grow as it is. It will take shape by itself. If we had tried to push ourorganization to become a non-profit a year ago, I don’t think we would havebeen as successful as we are now.

ANTHONY: I recommend having regular,standalone board meetings where you can focus on setting strategy to makethe association better. Don’t try to relyon meeting with your board during orafter meetings. The second thing is to try to engage sponsors right off the bat.The third thing is to make sure you havecontinuity—that your meeting is always in the same place at the same time.Another critical piece is to always focuson what your membership wants to getfrom the association. Finally, learn fromand adopt best practices from othersuccessful PMAs.

ALAN: I think I speak for the group insaying that anybody who has built aproduct management association wouldbe glad to help out others with ideas or to talk things over. Touch base withsomeone who’s already lived through it and learned the pitfalls. Send us anote—we’ll be glad to help out.

Calendar of Upcoming Pragmatic Marketing Seminars

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* Requirements That Work, Day 3

Practical Product Management™

May 17 – 19* ....................................Bedford, MAMay 24 – 26* ....................................San Francisco, CAJune 14 – 16* ....................................Bedford, MAJune 21 – 23* ....................................San Francisco, CAJune 28 – 30* ....................................Atlanta, GAJuly 12 – 14*......................................Cambridge, MAJuly 14 – 16* ....................................San Francisco, CAJuly 26 – 28* ....................................Vienna, VAAugust 9 – 11*..................................San Francisco, CAAugust 16 – 18*................................Bedford, MAAugust 23 – 25* ..............................Minneapolis, MNAugust 30 – 1* ................................Toronto, Ontario

* Requirements That Work, Day 3

Requirements That Work™

May 19..........................................Bedford, MAMay 26 ........................................San Francisco, CAJune 16 ......................................Bedford, MAJune 23 ......................................San Francisco, CAJune 30 ....................................Atlanta, GAJuly 14 ....................................Cambridge, MAJuly 16....................................San Francisco, CAJuly 28 ..................................Vienna, VAAugust 11 ............................San Francisco, CAAugust 18 ..........................Bedford, MAAugust 25 ........................Minneapolis, MNSeptember 1 ..................Toronto, Ontario

Effective Marketing Programs™

May 19 – 20 ............Bedford, MAJune 23 – 24..........San Francisco, CAJuly 14 – 15 ........Cambridge, MAAugust 11 – 12..San Francisco, CA

Illustrates a practical process for deliveringprograms that measurably impact revenue,market positioning and customer retention.Product marketing and marcom professionalswill clearly understand how they contributeto the company's strategic and tactical goals.

Call (800) 816-7861 or go to www.PragmaticMarketing.com to register!

Provides a repeatable method for productplanning resulting in a Market RequirementsDocument that others read and use.Establishes clear roles for product planningteam members and teaches a process thatcreates an executable plan that deliverssolutions that sell.

Introduces a framework that gives productmanagers the tools to deliver market-drivenproducts that people want to buy. Focuseson the practical aspects of juggling dailytactical demands of supporting the channelwith strategic activities necessary tobecome expert on the market.

16035 N. 80th Street, Suite FScottsdale, AZ 85260

PRSRT STDUS POSTAGE

PAIDPHOENIX, AZPERMIT 995

productmarketing.com™

The Strategic Role ofProduct Management™

Free

May 20................Bedford, MAMay 27................Santa Clara, CAJuly 15 ................New York, NYJuly 23 ................San Jose, CAAugust 26 ..........Minneapolis, MN

A subset of the two-day Practical ProductManagement seminar, this session introduces the industry standard for high-tech marketing.

Shows how Product Management and Marketing personnel can move from tactical

to strategic activities.

Registration for this free seminar is required via our website:

www.PragmaticMarketing.com