A discussion of Product Management’s many faces.

Jim Payne

Product Manager (I Think…)

Product Management Defined

 What Can We Agree On?  What is PM and What is Not PM.  What’s a Product?   Is this Marketing?  What’s a Simple Working Definition?

Product Management Defined

 What Can We Agree On?  What is PM and What is Not PM.  What’s a Product?   Is this Marketing?  What’s a Simple Working Definition?

  A person that takes responsibility for the creation, promotion, and support of a key company capability.

Types of Products and Industries

 Can We Still Call It Product Management, If the Product is a:   Professional Service – Business Planning or

Solution Architecture  CPG – Retail or Agronomy   Financial Service – Banks or Insurance  Commodity – Gasoline or Aluminum  Not For Sale – Mobile App or a Website  One of a Kind – Real Estate

Functions / Tasks   Can We Still Call It Product Management, If

the Tasks DON’T Include:   Roadmapping   Personas   Launch Plans   Use Cases   Requirements   Market Definitions   Pricing   Sales Training

Management Goals – Maybe They Decide?  Upper Management or HR Decides on a

Job Title   Increased Focus on Products?   It Sounds Cool   Its all the Rage   It Describes What They Want   The CEO went to a ProductCamp

Are there Broad Classifications or Types of PM?  Pragmatic Triad

  Strategic Product Manager   Technical Product Manager   Product Marketing Manager

  Internal Product Manager?   Infrastructure Product Manager?  Services Product Manager?  Portfolio Product Manager?

The Value of Product Management

 When Does this Way of Approaching “Products” Still Add Value – or Not

  If We can Define the “Product” Can We Still Apply the Product Management Discipline to the Company’s Benefit?

 Do Some Types of Products or Classes of Industries Make it Just Too Hard to Justify the Effort?

What If We Wanted to Understand the Value Question?  What Would a Survey Ask?

  (ideas?)

Tune in at the Next ProductCamp Minnesota for the Results   Jim Payne   james.m.payne @comcast.net   linkedin.com/in/jamesmatthewpayne/  @jamesmpayne