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The Roles of Product Management

Steve Johnson Applied Frameworks

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Copyright © 2014 Under 10 Consulting, LLC. Clients of Under 10 Consulting are granted a limited license to use internally, for non-‐commercial purposes. Not for resell. More at http://www.under10consulting.com

Expertise and product management It’s hard to find a super-‐hero product manager. It’s more likely you’ll find people with one or more areas of expertise. The product manager triad is one way to look at the Pragmatic Marketing framework with a business leader, a technology leader, and a market leader. And there’s one more skill to consider: the domain expert. What do you need from your product team?

In recent years, we’ve seen new definitions for old titles and many new titles being created. We’ve got product managers, product marketing managers, product owners, business analysts, solution managers, product strategists, product line managers, portfolio managers, and more.

Let’s keep it simple. There are four types of skills needed to define and deliver products to market. Product leaders need to staff their teams with all four types of knowledge but it’s rare to find all of these capabilities in a single person.

Business expertise Business expertise is where your traditional business leader or MBA graduate brings strength. These experts know the mechanics of business and can apply that

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knowledge to your product. A business-‐oriented expert knows how to use research to determine product feasibility, can determine how the product generates profit with lots of financial analysis to back it up. Ideally these business skills need to be combined with one of the other skills or provided as a support role for the other areas of expertise. Typical titles: product strategist, product leader, portfolio manager

Technology expertise Technology expertise is about how the product works. From their daily interactions, technology experts pick up a deep understanding of product and technical capabilities; they achieve this by playing with the product, by discussing it with customers and developers, by reading and reading and reading. For a technology expert, the product almost becomes their personal hobby. They think of themselves as product experts. Typical titles: product manager, product owner, technical product manager, business analyst

Market expertise Market expertise is a focus on geographic or vertical markets, either by country or by industry. They know how business is done in that market. They know the major players, and the jargon or colloquialisms of the market. Market experts define themselves by the market they serve: “I’m a banker” or “I support BRIC.” Typical titles: industry manager, product marketing manager, field marketing manager

Domain expertise Domain expertise is about the discipline your product supports, such as security, fraud detection, or education. Domain experts know (and often define) the standards for the discipline and can explain the latest thinking in that area. They understand the problems that your product endeavors to solve, regardless of the market or industry. And for a domain expert, your product is merely one way of addressing the problems of their specialty. Domain experts define themselves not by the product but by their topic area. “I’m a security guy” or “My focus is on fundraising for non-‐profits.” Typical titles: product scientist, principal product manager

Organizational issues You can see why product leaders struggle in some areas and breeze through others. Most of us understand these four product management skill sets inherently and we also realize that it’s difficult to find one person with all four skills. That’s why it’s

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often so difficult to fill some positions; we are looking for one person when we should be seeking two or more.

Think about the skills you have and the skills you need for your organization. Consider the requests you’re getting from development, marketing, sales, customer support, partners, and so on. Determine which expertise is needed to accurately support your business. Then hire to the skills you need.

Recommended reading Product Management Expertise. Free ebook from http://bit.ly/u10expert From Fragile To Agile: The business role of agile product management. http://bit.ly/afragile Get more free ebooks at http://www.under10consulting.com/writing

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Profile your activities

Activity

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PROCESS ASSESSMENT Profiling the steps of a nimble product life cycle process

CONCEPT DESIRED CURRENT RACI SKILLS TIME

Idea definition

Strategic alignment

Domain leverage

Technology approach

Market priorities

Competitive landscape

BUSINESS AND MARKET DESIRED CURRENT RACI SKILLS TIME

Market definition

Market problems research

Competitive offerings

Portfolio roadmap

Financial forecast (multi-‐year)

Product plan

PRODUCT OR SOLUTION DESIRED CURRENT RACI SKILLS TIME

Product roadmap

User profiles (who)

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Prioritized feature list (when)

Requirements (what)

Specifications (how)

Development support

Managing project schedules

User experience design

Architecture design

Feature acceptance/validation

Quality testing

PROMOTION DESIRED CURRENT RACI SKILLS TIME

Buyer profiles

Product positioning

Market messaging

Promotional plan

Creating content

Launch plan

Staffing trade shows and events

Thought leadership content

Win/Loss analysis (many)

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SALES AND SELLING DESIRED CURRENT RESPONSIBLE SKILLS TIME

Product training

Competitor profiles

Sales process (documented)

Sales enablement tools

Pricing model

Discounting schedule & approvals

Revenue forecasting (monthly)

Delivering presentations & demos

Deal strategies (staff mentoring)

Win/Loss reporting (one)

SERVICES AND SUPPORT DESIRED CURRENT RESPONSIBLE SKILLS TIME

Standard deliverables

Implementation planning

Product expertise support

Inventory planning

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Staff mentoring

Product training

Support dashboard

RETROSPECTIVE DESIRED CURRENT RACI SKILLS TIME

Product scorecard

Process review

Financial review (P&L)

Business review

Market review

Sales approach

Customer success profiles (re-‐segment)

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