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Product Management: Briefly Explained

We’ve been preaching Product Management to a much wider audience recently. Last Saturday (9.3.2013) we rocked on up to a class of 60 MBA students at the Australian Graduate School of Management.

Here’s a summary of what we spoke about. We’ve also included a copy of the slidedeck for you to spread the word about Product Management.

What is Product Management?

  1. Product Management is a process for delivering and managing a product or service through its lifecycle.
  2. Product Management is also a function in a business.
  3. Product Management is good, solid business thinking.
  4. Product Management is a set of skills.
  5. Product Management is leadership.

What are the Objectives of Product Management?

  1. Product Management creates customer value.
  2. And delivers measurable business benefits.
  3. By finding unsolved customer problems.
  4. To create seamless, elegant product experiences.
  5. That outwit the competition.
  6. Over a sustainable period.

Why is it Important to Embrace Product Management?

“Superior and differentiated products

– ones that deliver unique benefits and superior value to the customer –

are the number one driver of product success and product profitability.” Robert Cooper, 2005

We need to embrace Product Management because…

Many products fail.

“Only 56% of businesses’ new product development projects achieve their financial goals,
and only 51% are launched on time”. Robert Cooper 2005
Launch does not guarantee success:
  1. Competitors move faster providing customers with exponential choice.
  2. Products have to stand out.
  3. And captivate the right market.

Product Management is Not New!

The concept began in the 1930s at Proctor and Gamble as an approach to revive the Camay soap.
Product Management gained momentum after Harvard Business school taught the 4 P’s of marketing.
It became popular as the tech industry adopted it.
Its now applied by many different types of companies.

So…. What is a Product?

“A product is more than its physical form or content.” Berlin Asong
  1. A product is a combination of goods and services.
  2. That satisfies a specific market need.
  3. A product is deliberately created. Not accidental or naturally occurring.
  4. A product encompasses the entire customer experience.

If any component of the product (price, placement, promotion, provision of service) fails, the entire product experience is poor.

The Brainmates Product Management Framework

Methodology wheel

The Brainmates Framework consists of 2 operational modes:

  1. Day to Day Product Management.
  2. Product Delivery.

Day to day management focuses on 5 key areas:

  1. The product,
  2. The physical environment,
  3. The price,
  4. Promotions
  5. Placement

Product delivery consists of 3 phases:

  1. Innovation
  2. Design
  3. Implementation

The purpose of Innovation:

  1. Generate and rank ideas.
  2. Validate the ideas against the external Marketplace.
  3. Determine if the business should invest to develop ideas into a product.

The purpose of Design:

  1. Immerse the team in the customer problem to be solved.
  2. Define a solution description in sufficient detail to enable Product Build to commence.

The purpose of Implementation:

  1. Oversee the build of the Product
  2. Prepare the external messaging to communicate the product’s value.
  3. Ensures the internal Launch readiness to ensure the product’s success!

Having an established product delivery process is vital but equally important is working well with others to get the product out the door.

Many People Do Product Management:

  1. Product Manager
  2. Corporate Strategist
  3. Product Marketing
  4. Producer
  5. Brand Manager
  6. User Experience Manager
  7. Product Owner
  8. Founder

In our opinion, Product Management thinking should be adopted by everyone involved in the business.

Here’s a copy of our presentation at the Executive Australian Graduate School of Management program – Product Management Briefly Explained.

Drop us an email at info@brainmates.com.au if you want us to speak about Product Management at your school or company.

Product Management Training

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